Breakups are hard to do
There comes a point in some relationships where you feel, in your gut, that it's time to move on. This was the case for me a little over a week ago when I submitted my resignation as Creative Director of Super Deluxe, and effectively ended my full time employment at Turner.
Some will likely wonder, wait a second -- didn't Super Deluxe just launch? True, but the road to launch started a year and a half ago. Myself and a handful of other talented people spent months creating presentations and financial projections, developing wireframes, pitching the concept to focus groups, designing mockups, acquiring staff, and of course developing the brand; all with the end goal of acquiring the "green light" from Turner. You see, Super Deluxe wasn't a directive from above, but rather a concept that had to be sold to the company before it could be started.
We reached that goal early Fall 2006, and immediately followed through with three intense months of development. The site was publicly launched mid-January 2007.
Today, two months later, Super Deluxe is seeing incredible traffic with very little marketing or advertising. Awesome new original content from notable comedic talent (e.g., David Cross) is forthcoming, and the site will soon make the jump to other digital platforms like cable VOD, phones, gaming consoles, etc. Good times ahead, indeed.
So if everything is going so well, why leave?
The answer, in a word, is SlideShowPro.
When I released SlideShowPro in February 2005, I never, ever thought it could be a full time job. I thought I'd make a few bucks and learn some things along the way, but I was completely unprepared for the attention it would receive; not to mention the amount of time it would take to maintain, support, and update the product. 2005 turned out to be a very successful year, but 2006 was something else entirely.
It was in 2006 that I hooked up with Brad Daily, a PHP developer up in Canada, to codevelop the server-side administrative app SlideShowPro Director, which makes publishing images and XML data for SlideShowPro a snap. SlideShowPro drove sales of Director, and Director helped drive sales of SlideShowPro (especially with people who freak out at the thought of hand-coding XML). Together, 2006 was an amazing year for both products, and thus far 2007 looks like it'll be just as great, if not better.
With that, I'm jumping out of the full time corporate world to plunge headfirst into SlideShowPro, and to start developing new software applications and services. No, let me rephrase that -- kick ass software applications and services. If there's one thing I learned from SlideShowPro, it's that I truly enjoy designing and developing tangible products. Client / service work has its advantages, but there's something to be said for pouring all your heart and mind into a product people use and enjoy. It's the most satisfying work I've ever done.
So what's in the cooker? I can't offer specifics just yet, but one will be a new SlideShowPro-related product developed by me and Brad (to hopefully be released this Summer). Second, I'll be partnering with my friend Kenny Bunch -- the man behind a number of fantastic Flash video applications for clients like CNN, Adult Swim, CBS, Super Deluxe -- to create an entirely new product, with an expected launch date of later this year.
Before I close this out though, I have to thank the Super Deluxe creative team -- Aaron, Darrell, Adam, Shari and Jason -- for not only joining the project, but for their talent, enthusiasm, and camaraderie. You made my job easy, and I'll miss working with you every day.
It's going to be a fun year, and I can't wait to get started. And yeah, more blog posts! Seriously!
