How To Miss Big Opportunities & Move On
The Reminder
This too will pass.
- An ancient Sufi proverb… and about the only thing keeping everything in perspective here at Rocketr right now.
The Story
After a big unveiling of our iPhone app at GROW Conference in Vancouver, we were on cloud 9 after getting some early (and exceptionally positive) product feedback from a whack of new users. We returned to our hometown of Toronto with a lot of back-patting and high hopes.
Just when we thought life was pretty grand as is, we discovered that we were being featured (it’s still running) on the iTunes App Store under the ‘New & Noteworthy’ section. A perfect pun to top it off.
After a few more high fives, we decided to push an update (2.0.1) that fixed a couple of minor bugs…
… and triggered the biggest one of them all.
Rocketr — the social note-taking app — was now featuring a broken note-taking function. Yes, that’s right - the note-taking part of the social note-taking app was down. Gold.
Cue some Saturday night fever (without the dancing).
The Way Out
The “how” of “how did this happen?” is another blog post altogether. When you’re in the midst of a fire, you’re not concerned with “how” everything caught - you’re concerned with coming out alive.
And when you’re developing an application on a native platform like iOS, Apple’s role in all this, becomes the equivalent of having plexiglas windows on the 2nd floor of your house.
Download after download (inclusive of accounts made by people who’s attention we could only hope to have for 15 seconds) - what was previously a buzzing sound I loved hearing from my phone, became the reminder of countless missed opportunities that followed me through a sleepless night. The fix was in. Waiting was all that was left to do.
The Lesson
Now, this isn’t a rant on native platforms and review processes. There are enough of those out there. This is a post on why “blame”, “mistakes”, and “missed opportunities” are not worth the sleep we allow them to steal.
If you don’t know the story about King Solomon, his wise men, and the hidden message in his diamond ring - I suggest you have a read… especially if you’re an entrepreneur. I’ll summarize it this way;
When faced with whatever it is you feel may be a defining moment - remember that this moment too, will pass. You are not any one mistake, no more than you are any one triumph. Life comes and goes. We are only meant to experience it and to understand it.
And then to let it go.
We do hope you’ll give Rocketr one more shot.
Sincerely,
Andrew & Evan
Rocketr to Launch (something) at GROW
So yeah… We’re pretty excited.
As startups, you learn quickly that nothing is ever really handed to you. Heads down, chin up, and all that other good stuff.
When Canada’s premier startup conference puts out a casting call, you tend to look up from your screen, raise your eyebrows towards your neighbour, and crack a little smile out of the side of your mouth.
Sort of the equivalent of asking, “Ready?”
If you voted for our homegrown video, thank you. If you’ve been using the application during our beta period, thank you as well (we’re learning a ton). And if Rocketr has made it’s way into your day-to-day, we have a big announcement planned for GROW… something you’ve been patiently awaiting. We hope it delights.
For those of us going, it’ll be be our first time in Vancouver. We’re excited to meet some amazing people and very proud to be among the awesome startups that were chosen to represent.
Build. Launch. Grow.
