It feels great to have an idea for an app that you think has real potential. You realise that it’s the same rush that successful founders would have had. You can’t wait to tell your friends. You are about to become an entrepreneur and a founder. Congratulations!
It’s also good to realise that from “I have an app idea” to “I have an app that’s proven and successful” is an eventful journey. It is a systematic process with several steps none of which you can afford to ignore. And it starts with a rephrasing of the line that you will tell yourself and others.
A successful and self-sustaining business starts with validation. That begins with identifying your core value proposition. To arrive at that, instead of saying, “I have an app idea,” try saying “I have a solution to a problem.”
Once you have defined the what, it’s time for the how. Specifically, how your startup will deliver value to its customers. You should address how you plan to continuously acquire, and importantly, retain customers. Here, you should pay attention to your revenue model, and decide what tiers of customers will be willing to pay how much for your services.
Then it’s time to conduct market research. You can let a select group of customers use your product and seek their feedback on what needs to be improved, and how much they would be willing to pay. You can reach out to your friends, classmates, or do a focus-group test and watch how your potential customers interact with your product.
All these will give you an idea about your customer base size. Instead of going for the whole universe, it pays to focus on a particular set that needs your solution the most.
The core of a successful startup is a great team that complements each other. While picking up members for your software development team, look for people with experience in delivering unique products, and whose credentials can be backed with testimonials. Also, pay close attention to their soft skills.
Your design should also provide room to garner actionable analytics and feedback. That data shouldn’t be seen in mere binaries but deeply analysed to understand what is working, and what, if any, is creating pressure points. That will give you a holistic view of your customer interactions with considerable ideas for improvement.
Following these steps will get you to a scalable, secure, and user-friendly app that solves a problem, and one that customers would love to use. That’s how you develop natural traction and market share.