Ask HN: Developer & Designer on an iOS project, whats a good split?

2 points·10dpd··4 comments

A formula I've used is to take yourselves out of the equation. Pretend that you are going to hire outsiders to do the design and dev work. Decide how you would split the profit, given that you would be doing zero work yourselves.

Then bill your time back against the revenue at realistic hourly rates for the qualifications and experience. Finally split the profit as decided above.

Well, it depends. I would assume 50:50 as starting point. If there are 30 completely different screens, with little logic behind them - well then the designer needs a higher split.

Why not simply count hours on both sides until 1.0 ships and then split by the ratio of used hours?

I like your second idea. This will vary so drastically from app to app. For some apps you might need the designer to make a logo and a few images (assuming you use out of the box icons). That could be a 95/5 split on effort. A game or super visual app COULD go 50/50 on time expenditure but that's probably rare. Also, depends on the skill levels. Should you assume that value per hour are equal?

For instance, if I were to bring a pro designer onto a project that he was only doing %25 of the time on, I'd probably give him 50% cut (because his time is worth double what mine is). Ultimately, kind of a complicated question.

I don't think time is a good metric as some people are faster than others, but the impact of what they do matters more. Also, a "rockstar" designer or developer is potentially worth more than a novice. At the end of the day, there is no easy way to quantify things (yes, I know -- a non-answer) but things will be a lot easier if you both feel as if you are getting your fair share.

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