With the accessibility of the internet and technology, many people aspire to build their own startup or an app with a dream to make it big in the business world. Thus, here are some learnings and tips to create a mobile app startup that I got to know in my journey from scratch to reach 2 million users.
1. ‘A founder must know to code’ is a myth
Having skills in code is not necessary at all. In fact – in some ways – it is a drawback. Any startup, mobile app or otherwise, is found to solve a problem that exists in a certain segment of the population.
Building a solution needs to be an immersive process in which the solver understands the consumer’s needs, and accordingly tailors a solution. Having a tech background often hamper this thought process and limit it to the bounds of one’s technological knowledge. Though awareness of technology helps.
For instance, a qualified instrumentation engineer would design a complicated electronic system to identify toothpaste packages that are missing the toothpaste tube while coming off an assembly line. The solver would just put a fan next to the conveyor to blow away the empty packets.
2. Don’t Copy and have a bottom-top approach.
We are today surrounded by success stories of some apps, their astronomical valuations, and the incredible lifestyle of their founders. It is tempting to exactly emulate them. However, budding entrepreneurs need to know that the original idea always finds success. Copycat brands don’t succeed. So have your own unique perspective while creating an app.
Secondly, it is easy to get trapped in an inside-out thought process. By that, I mean the situation where a solution is hatched for a problem that is not common to a huge number of people.
Not including the voice of the consumer is the greatest mistake an entrepreneur can make in identifying the problem to be solved. The solution can be developed within the office walls – but the problem has to be real, felt, and preferably stated by many people, who later become your customer.
3. Plan well, and be careful about your spending
This might sound like a cliché – but the only way to get more mileage out of every dollar is to plan well before you spend it. Deciding on UI changes halfway through a development cycle will set you back.
Every time you launch into a development process without adequate planning, you invite more costs. Especially for a mobile app, ensure that the entire user journey – the UI as well as the UX – is planned, mocked up, debated, rethought over and over again – before the development begins.
It’s like being the director of a movie. What the crew will put on film has to be seen clearly in the director’s imagination, down to the last frame. At my startup (Notebook), the app was designed after endless research into how students would use it, how parents would see them using it, and how teachers would also be a part of the whole discovery and delivery process.
4. Have a human touch on your social media marketing
In today’s world, the term “social media” is a bit of a misnomer. Popular social media sites have today become the greatest portal for content discovery. So, consistently put out content with enough human elements to create an emotional connection with your audience. It is not a shortcut, but over some time, you would see this yielding much greater results.
5. Quality outweighs ‘FREE’ version at the end
Statistically, free apps enjoy much greater visibility and engagement than paid apps. It has also been shown comprehensively that Marketing communication using the word ‘FREE’ get better click-throughs.
However, in my experience, such gimmicks are short-lived, and what ultimately leads to conversions and loyalty is your quality. Be it in terms of UI/UX, or how you solve the consumer need – everything needs to reflect your obsession with quality.
A free version will widen the mouth of the sales funnel, but your sustenance will depend on the quality of whatever value you seek to deliver. Any technology is adopted based on two things – the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use. As long as these shine through, long term growth should not be a challenge.
Read: 5 Functions of an Entrepreneur
6. Consider tough competition as an opportunity than difficulty
A highly competitive market is good news for a startup. A startup fundamentally differs from a large Corporate in just one thing – the initial fund outlay. Anything else – innovation, quality of people, access to technology is the same.
If the market is not competitive, in absolute economical terms, it is either a monopoly or an oligopoly. This means that the barriers to market entry are raised high and needs a large capital outlay to surmount.
In a highly competitive market, on the other hand, barriers to market entry are lowered. So first things first – do not fear or hate a competitive market. Instead, thrive on the fact that it is competitive. Next, specializing in such a market will be a function of four factors:
i. How well do you understand your consumer and her/his need.
ii. How well your product embodies the solution to this need.
iii. How easily can the consumer access this solution.
iv. How well is this ability to solve the need articulated in your communication.
The first point, in particular, goes to the heart of specialization. If your target segment is small, but the problem definition is razor-sharp; you would still find a large enough willingness to pay.
7. In the world of technology don’t forget empathy and humanity
Technology, at the end of the day, is an enabler. It is an obsolete thought that not keeping pace with changes in technology will make one fall behind. Knowing about the latest developments is a good thing – I am not opposed to that.
But the most important learning from evolving technological landscape is that whatever is the bright and shiny new tech today – will eventually also change. Human needs, on the other hand, will remain far more fundamental and perpetual.
At Notebook, we set out to solve the access and relevance problem that millions of students outside urban areas face in their quest to get a quality education. Technology helps in solving both of these; cloud-based architecture, online streaming, seamless content creation processes, all have contributed to us being able to serve our customers.
However, at the core of it all is the deep understanding that the team has about the exact problems students face, the needs of the teachers and parents, and putting together a solution that addresses the gaps in the ecosystem properly.
The language you code in will change. The device you develop apps on will change. The way you interact with an app – will also change. The only thing that won’t change is the primordial human urge to solve problems. As long as that is sharply in focus, the rest will follow.