How to Create An App?
Create an app - Step 1: The Idea
You’ve got an idea. Now it’s time to refine it so that you can create an app that is focused and effective. It boils down to providing a solution to a problem. For example, music students who will not practice. They may really want to be good at their instrument or singing, but simply can’t muster the motivation at practice time to play their scales or mundane exercises in order to build the foundational skills they need. Enter Practopus, a motivational practice app for students designed to reward them for the time and effort they put in.
When you are brainstorming your idea, think about it in terms of what problem it solves. This will ensure that it is purposeful and necessary. It will also help to identify WHO needs it.
“Know your target audience. Always keep them at the forefront of your mind. Understand their lifestyle and what they are looking for. Gather their feedback and use it to tailor your approach.”
– Imran Ahmed
Create an app - Step 2: Identify the Market
If you create an app and no one is there to use it, did you really create an app? Yes, you did. And you probably wasted a lot of money doing it. Hand-in-hand with identifying a problem to solve goes the task of verifying that there are actually people who have it AND will use your app
In the Practopus example above, classroom and private music teachers were the initial target market, which was soon to be narrowed down to mainly classroom band and choral teachers based on initial user feedback. With the movement toward gamification and other technology-based solutions in education, the timing was righ. In addition, collecting practice data is particularly tedious and/or subjective without an automated tool. Teachers were biting at the bit to give Practopus a try.
Remember, just because you can create an app that will solve a problem you have does not mean it applies on a larger scale. The best course when you create an app is to make predictions about who needs your app and then find ways to test your predictions. Take surveys of friends, acquaintances, or other connections who are in a position to provide insight. Do research to see what others have tried and what has worked. And so on… Get creative!
It is also important when you create an app to make sure that the app will be available on platforms that your target market is using. Do all of your potential users have access to mobile devices? If not, it may be important that your app is available on web. Will it be possible to develop the app for only one platform initially, whether Android or iOS?
Once you’ve nailed down your idea and target market, it will be time to decide how the app you create will generate revenue.
Create an app - Step 3: Monetize
The decision for how to monetize when you create an app can sometimes make itself. If your app provides an ongoing service, it might make sense to charge a monthly subscription. If your app includes opportunities for privileges or service charges, you may monetize with in-app purchases or service fees. Other options include a one-time download cost, and advertising revenue from in-app ads. It is important to have a plan before you go into development because the method you choose is PART of the development process. You may need to integrate a payment processor or ad service API, like Google AdMob. You also want to get ahead of any approval you need for a service, like PayPal, Braintree, or Stripe.
Create an app - Step 4: MVP
Scale down your app idea to its most basic and necessary functionality. As part of that process start documenting a “backlog” list with everything else. If you are starting the sentence with “Wouldn’t it be cool if…,” that feature should probably go in the backlog for now. The idea is to create an app for your market, so you want to roll it out in prioritized stages based on what the market wants. In the Practopus example the founders were sure that teachers would not want their students to run a practice timer and accumulate practice points when the Practopus app was not open. They rolled out the MVP with the timer automatically stopped when the app was closed. As it turned out, teachers wanted to choose whether their students could run the timer in the background for various reasons. Sometimes the students needed to view material in other apps or the browser when running the timer, etc… The founders of Practopus were able to take this feedback and build the additional timer functionality. Their early adopters felt heard, and appreciated the new feature. It strengthened the app’s reputation and virality in the market. And the best part was that it had zero risk. There was no guessing and no spending on random features that may or may not be necessary. Sometimes untested features can even backfire if users don’t like them! Therein lies the value in releasing the MVP. You will save time and money, allowing you to continue to build for guaranteed improvement and market demand.
First, solve the problem. Then, write the code.
– John Johnson
Create an app - Step 5: Find Developers
Finding developers is hard. Finding developers who will care about your project and put in 100% is even harder. Not only is development hard when you create an app, it can be very expensive, especially when mistakes are made. There is an illusion looking from the outside in that creating and launching products in this day and age is cheap and easy. We as consumers are accessing free or inexpensive services like Spotify, YouTube, Netflix or various other open-source or free version virtual work tools with seemingly endless content streams and useful features. There is a mythology to successful founders’ stories. Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs started in their garages. Mark Zuckerberg posted Facebook online and it just took off, self-propelled. These may be based on true stories, but they are not nearly the whole story or the typical experience.
Most founders get stuck at the development phase. There are various options though, including teaming up with a friend who codes, using an app building platform, or even hiring low-cost developers direct from India or South America. Each of these has potential problems and even deal-breaking pitfalls. Teaming with a friend who codes, assuming you have one who is willing to partner, is slow (I’ve been there!). More likely than not they have a life and cannot dedicate the time you need to get the job done. Using an app building platform is also limiting. You are dependent on the parameters of the platform and there is little guidance, technical and strategic, in terms of learning and going through the process from conception to release. Read our post about the pros and cons of outsourcing developers.
However, there is one more option. When working with a company like XBit Technology, development remains affordable. You have a dedicated full-time team (or part-time based on your needs). A dedicated project manager will manage the team and be the liaison between you and the developers who are building your product. One of the most beneficial aspects is that the project managers know how to create an app and have experience with the whole process. That guidance is invaluable. The project stays on track, on time, and on budget. The first step when working with an experience project manager is to document the “requirements.”
Create an app - Step 6: Requirements
Create an app - Step 7: The Build
The development team will also be conducting Quality Assurance as part of each sprint to ensure that the deliverable is tested. This incremental testing is critical to preventing a train wreck by continuously building on buggy code. In the end of this round, you’ll end up with a reliable MVP that you can take to market.
Launch
