App Development in Startups: A mobile app can play a vital role in shaping the growth trajectory of any startup. In recent times, it has indeed become one of the most common factors that startups include in their business plans now.
But only a few startups navigate successfully while most fail in adopting the technology well. The difference between a successful startup and struggling startups lies around the practices they follow in developing and executing their respective app businesses.
Before a startup can decide whether it can go ahead with developing an application for its company or not, it must care for these multiple points about the art of launching an app business:
- Funds factor
- Not enough resources for a good research
- Always need the fastest solution at the least possible time
- Promotion is a challenge too
App Development in Startups – Funds matter a lot
If there is something that is never sufficient in a startup, that is THE FUNDS! When a startup initially plans its business model, may it be during the beginning or during the expansion stage, the first and foremost thing that is considered is the funds?
Thus, it is very important to familiarise with the kind of funds that are available to start the mobile app development procedure.
Research is the key to success
A good application can be brought forward when an experienced team is working on the same. In an ever-evolving world, there is no space to stop. Constant innovation and implementation of newer features are a must.
But in the case of most of the startups, which ideally consist of 2-15 team members, there would be no specialist to conduct the extensive research to bring about the required results.
After the application goes live, the brand starts focusing on business execution, and the whole team is deployed towards business management. Innovation at times has been left to big brands only.
Stop being followers. Have your own think tanks who can keep researching the market. Invest in R&D non-stop.
The Race
Every city today has at least a minimum of 5 startups working on the same agenda with a slightly different approach.
It becomes really important to be the first one to finish the application that is required to solve the problem statement that the startup is running for.
In such scenarios, most of the startups end up seeking solutions from already existing apps which is nowhere connected to the actual problem that the startup wants to solve.
App Development in Startups – Promotional tactics
A startup as discussed has to always manage all its requirements within the available funds that are always limited.
In such a scenario, expecting a budget for the promotion of the developed app would not make any sense. Keeping this in mind startups should look at the best possible ways to market their app.
Now that we have an overview of the problems that startups face while building an app, let us discuss the best possible ways to come up with the app for the startups:
Identify the bottleneck
As a startup, it should be your primary goal to identify the problems that your target audience (your potential market) is facing.
Once this is identified you can decide what kind of app best suits for your startup. Based on this you can also structure the features of the app as required.
Prepare the draft for the app – App Development in Startups
Once you finish identifying the problem area that your app will address, the next thing you should be doing is to prepare a draft for your app that will contain details like the number and position of the buttons, various functions that the app must be able to perform, the design for your app and always jot down any possible bugs that might arise while developing the app in the near future.
You can also release a BETA version of your app before the final one to receive feedback from the public about your app.
A money-making app
As a startup, your aim should always be on solving a problem along with making money out of it because you are not running an NGO to help people.
Your app should be modeled as a minimum value product that can solve the core problem that it was built for.
It is not required to give in all the other add-on features in the first version of the app itself. You can do this by providing updates every now and then to increase app hits and thus the popularity of your app.
Also, with every update, you should ensure that you include more features in your app that can make money out of it. This can be done through, app-advertising, in-app purchases, freemium modeled apps, etc.
Now that you have understood the best practises to build a successful app for your startup, it’s time to start working on it!
If you think you don’t have all the resources required to build a stable app ensure you find a team that can do this for you.