We’re well into 2018, and I thought it might be a good time to look ahead at what we have planned for the new year.

2018 will be Glowdot’s 16th year in business, and our 15th in Santa Monica (we started out in the downtown area of Los Angeles).  In that time we’ve launched countless software products, from our early days building desktop applications and music software, to the years when web application development was our focus, all the way until 2007 when we started focusing heavily on native mobile apps, games and the occasional mobile web project.

After all this time, we’ve amassed an incredible amount of experience in developing world class software.  But we’ve also accumulated tremendous experience in the overall process of shipping, nurturing, and growing a software platform.  And in my experience, there is nowhere in which that experience is more valuable than in the mobile world.

We are very lucky to be able to work on as many projects as we do, and be involved in the launch of as many mobile startups as we have.  For many who take that big shot and building something great, they have that one idea, and one chance to make it work.  It’s all or nothing for many bootstrapped startups.  But here at Glowdot, we have the incredible privilege to be a part of that process many, many times in a single year.  And of the literally hundreds of products we’ve launched from this office, we’ve been a part of several major successes — from a web platform responding to tens of billions of hits a day, to games which have reached several million players, to social networks which, at their peak, were connecting hundreds of thousands of users, and in a few cases, over a million users at one time.

We’ve learned a lot in the last 16 years.  We’ve learned the importance of building quality software, for sure.  But we’ve also learned what it takes to design user experiences that are intuitive and responsive, and connect with users.  We’ve learned how to grow an audience both quickly and responsibly, and in a way that is both sustainable and manageable.  We’ve learned how to build systems that scale efficiently and affordably, so that when we do launch a successful product, we never risk ruin by our own success — and yes, as strange as it sounds, this is a problem many, many startups face, as servers crash under the weight of too many users, and bandwidth and storage bills skyrocket under increasing use.  We’ve been through all of that, and know not only how to maximize our chances of success, but how to prepare for our own success when the magic comes together.

We’re tremendously good at what we do, and passionate about this industry.  And it shows in everything we build.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to double our project load in 2018.  We’ve already scheduled 6 product launches for 2018, with room for 4 more throughout the year.  Among the scheduled products are:

• A location-based social network for iOS and Android
• A fitness focused social network and utility app for iOS and Android
• A large scale, scalable, and social publishing platform for iOS, Android and the web
• A connected event-planning and group management system for iOS and Android

More information about the other projects will be announced soon.  The first of the projects on our schedule is planned for release by the end of January 2018, so keep an eye out for that announcement.

If you are a funded startup looking for a development and strategic team to help with your product launch in 2018, get in touch with us so we can discuss your needs.