C4
When i was in school, my friends and i had a tiered system for rating bands. An eternal favorite like The Beatles: first tier, no question. A good band, who we may not remember in 10 years? Still a second tier band. Then there were the ones that had absolutely made it as rock stars, but there was clearly a gulf between them and their first and second tier counterparts. The archetypal third tier band? Kansas. After spending the weekend at the C4 conference in sweet home Chicago, i return to work inspired, excited, humbled and with full recognition that Helium Foot is a third tier shop.
First the conference. Outstanding. Jonathan "Wolf" Rentsczh has put on this conference for three years now, and in addition to being crazy smart, a consummate geek and a great guy to hang around with, he really puts on a great show. Definitely a first tier guy. The schedule was packed with passionate speakers discussing extremely interesting topics; and the sheer amount of talent amassed was really overwhelming. I met bona fide luminaries, and a ton of smart, hard working folks who are doing exactly what i want to do: make great software and support yourself doing so.
Now that third tier part. I met a lot of really smart people (smarter than i) who are where i was about 18 months ago. They have an idea for an app, or maybe have worked on it, but aren't ready to ship. I've arrived in the sense that i have a shipping app and all of the infrastructure needed to sell and support it. However, when i compare myself to a lot of the people that i met this weekend, well let's just say that i won't be so quick to heap derision on Dust in the Wind anymore. But even the recognition of my place in the Mac indie ecosystem is kind of inspiring. I both have a long way to go, and am excited to work on getting there. We're not staying in Kansas anymore.