Dream big or go home!
Imagine yourself in the following scenario…You receive an email from the Apple App Store: “Your App made it to the Editors Choice list” or “Your App is #1 in the category.” How cool would that be? Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake?
You might think that is a bit overambitious goal, but we need to dream big, right?
“Reach for the moon! Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars!”
All great adventures start with the first step and the successful App creation starts with the idea.
From there onward, it is time to seriously roll up your sleeves and get to work. It is time to plan – a map with the path to the treasure chest.
So, let’s start!
The path to the treasure chest
There are many stops on your road to successful App development. It is a journey, not a destination. Once you have your idea written down, reduce it a bit, make it more concise and easier to understand. If it takes more than a minute or two to explain (elevator pitch), go back to the drawing board, and redo the pitch/explanation.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”
Albert Einstein
Once you can convey your idea quickly and easily, it is time to validate it. The goal here is to see if your idea makes any business sense. In this chapter, I will go over the steps, what to do and not to do, who’s advice to follow, and why your family members or friends might not be the best source of feedback.
1. Business plan
A solid and reasonable business plan will be central to how you start, grow, and develop your business. Regardless of how big or small, complicated, or easy-going your Project is I recommend you write down some basic information even just for yourself. Not to mention, that if you are looking to onboard an investor(s), they are not even going to talk to you without a business plan.
Here are my top 5 reasons why you need a business plan:
· It will help you steer your business as you start and grow. Think of a business plan as a tool to navigate your business once it starts going. It is here to guide you through all stages of starting and managing your business. It is a way to strategically think through all the key elements of your business.
· It is not that hard, and you do not need to hire a top-notch consultant to do it! Your business plan should project 3-5 years ahead and outlines the path for your business to start earning money. Think of it as a living organism and not as a one-time thing. Try to break it down into mini- tasks – sales, marketing, pricing, operations, and so on. Also, it does not have to have 100+ pages, it is not an encyclopedia and it does not need to contain all the answers in the universe. Keep it simple and smart!
· It will keep your business on the right track. The greatest value about a business plan is it helps you to step back and think a bit. It gives your business a purpose and a good challenge to keep everything on the right path.
· Investors just love a solid business plan. If you are looking for an investment a business plan is a must-have. As already mentioned, these guys will not even look at you without it! Having everything in one place will help your business in the eyes of potential investors, and it will give you more confidence.
· There is no right or wrong way to do it! My suggestion is to pick a format that works best for you. There are 2 most common categories: traditional or lean startup. Traditional is more common, use a standard structure, and “force” you to go into detail in each section. It requires more time and effort upfront, while lean startup business plans are less common, but still structured. Whichever path you choose just remember it is not nuclear
2. Finding the right talent
You can code, great! Can you design? What about content, copyrighting? Marketing? Sales?
App users are accustomed to high standards. They expect the apps to be super-fast, responsive, user friendly, etc. Try to avoid hiring your friends and relatives and offering jobs to people as a personal favor. Surround yourself with capable individuals, experts in their field, who know how to do the job quickly and efficiently. Nowadays, it does not really matter do you work with an agency and or freelancers or you like to keep your team on the payroll. The only thing that matters is to find the right people for the job!
So, there you have it! Two main things you need to do before you can open the path to the treasure chest – a solid business plan and a great team! That is the foundation.
Next time I will go through 3 different ways of building your team with the pros and cons for each!
