A passion for pens unlocks dev creativity

User Camp developers take advantage of the newest inking APIs for the Penbook application.

Inspired by Microsoft’s “crazy-good inking APIs” and Slaven Radic’s passion for pens, he and fellow developer Ben Fox, hit upon the idea of building a freehand writing app that would harness the power of the newest inking APIs.

Slaven and Ben co-founded User Camp and have been creating applications that provide high-quality user experiences for niche markets. They’ve built up an impressive portfolio of applications including Penbook, which has been installed by over 100,000 users.

“I’ve been fascinated with pen computing for 20 years,” says Slaven. “So when the Surface Pro 4 launched, I switched to it as my main development environment. The ability to instantly delete anything you write unlocks so much creativity.”

The application is why User Camp was shortlisted for the 2018 Windows Developer Application Creator of the Year Award.

Taking business and life seriously

User Camp, works off of a lean business model and a firm belief that “family comes first.” The approach is certainly resulting in success, as they manage 35 applications and 15 million users with a just couple of remote contractors.

“We’re not venture-backed, so our goal is to build simple, effective apps, spread the ‘gospel’, and make a good living — without working too hard.”

User Camp might be one of “the little guys”, but that gives Slaven and Ben the flexibility to work remotely at their own paces, in “one of the most beautiful parts of the world.” Slaven works from an office in Vancouver, Canada, while Ben works just across the water in Victoria.

“Although we’re split between two cities, we work alongside each other online and have monthly meet ups. We’ll take a float plane to each other’s office and work together for a few days, or we’ll hole up in some neat little coastal town and map out our year.”

Both have young families, so it was important to set themselves up for success in a stress-free environment. There’s no pressure to meet deadlines at the expense of their personal lives, and there’s strictly no work email on their phones.

“No one is expected to answer emails outside of work hours, so why should you have it on your phone?” says Slaven. “We take this company very seriously, but everything we do is prefaced with, ‘is this going to affect our quality of life?’”

Respecting life-changing events, such as becoming a father, he says, is good for business. It affords them time to stop, think, and plan.

“We’ve both made our fair share of mistakes in the past, and learned that if you rush towards launch stage, you end up putting out a product that’s half-baked. Worst of all, you don’t see it at the time because you’re burnt out.”

Contributing to the dev community

All of User Camp’s products are made exclusively in UWP, and they’ve become passionate advocates for indie software on the Microsoft Store.

“We set up User Camp just over three years ago, and we develop applications exclusively for the Microsoft Store,” explains Slaven.

In addition to developing, Slaven and Ben run a popular Medium blog to share their knowledge of the Microsoft Store, as well as a User Camp Slack, where developers can share application marketing tips in an open, high-trust environment.

“Microsoft Store has served us really well so far, so we’re always keen to spread the word. If you have a clear vision and you execute that, you really can’t go wrong.”

One of the most valuable learnings, says Slaven, is to “pick a niche by going where the users are.”

Secondly, he says, it’s important to support your application with an imaginative marketing strategy — something that developers tend to overlook as they race to release the final build.

“Once you’ve developed your app, respect it, and give it the marketing that it deserves. If your app begs for a website where people can host their creations, design one. If it needs its own Twitter feed, start one.”

Lastly, he says, developers should be confident in the value of their work.

“Some apps deserve to be free. But if you are a hardworking indie developer that has created a great user experience, we feel that it’s part of your challenge to convince people that your app is worth paying for.

There are plenty of Microsoft Store users who are willing to support well-designed, useful applications. And with the right approach, you can build your dream company on that same premise.”

Fan favorite

High-profile recognition is great, says Slaven, and bumping into fans of User Camp’s applications is also rewarding.

“I recently ran into an Italian guy who loves Penbook,” he says. “He told me how much he loves to compose his music with it. He actually felt guilty that he got the app while it was available free in the Microsoft Store and wanted to pay us for it. I couldn’t accept, but he did get me a beer, which was very cool!”

Learn more about Penbook in the Microsoft Store.