How To Make Your Mobile Startup Become A Fabulous Money-Maker

When you embark on the startup journey the main task for you is not to waste money on a time killer project. This guide will help you to make your app work and generate considerable ROI.

Essential Dos & Don’ts

If you are one of those business-minded founders, who is consumed with the idea of launching a successful mobile app startup, and tends to fret over too many issues that may arise, look at the vital dos and don’ts of application development strategy to be aware and understand what it really matters.

Keep the following points in mind and you will have a much better chance of success.

#1 Don’t Leave Your Job Just Yet

People generally tend to think it’s either one or the other – entrepreneur or employee. But there’s a large spectrum and you may very slowly and methodically shift from employee to entrepreneur. If a brilliant mobile app idea has struck you – start working on it while you still continue your day job. Remember that you need to pay some bills.

#2 Be Ready For A Long Journey

When the app made it into the app store, your journey has just started. Building an application is the easiest task on your journey to create a successful startup. Now, you have to get people to use it, and this is one of the most demanding challenges.

Have a clear strategy and marketing plan on the way to get your first hundred, thousand or ten thousand customers. Those early adopters will outline whether or not your app is a cut above the rest.

#3 Don’t Ask Friends For Their Feedback

Asking someone for their opinion on an imaginary product will get you an imaginary reaction. Don’t ever take someone’s advice who doesn’t bear the consequences of this in mind. Trust a person who has used your app. Or better yet, look for advice from those who have paid to use it.

#4 Raise Money Only After The App Is Validated

Raising money is one of the toughest things to do.

Focus on developing a top quality product and getting customers. Your plan A should always be the marketplace, assuming you won’t secure any venture capital (VC) money before you launch the app. Your startup’s ambitions should be independent of a VC – instead, rely on your determination to grow as a successful entrepreneur.

Venture capitalists look for validated ideas, those tested by users, and exhibit growth in signups and retention before they even start to think about making an investment, so your number one task is to provide them with the right food for thought.

Startup Mistakes To Avoid

Don’t let prejudices and expectations mislead you on the road to mobile success.

Myth #1: Native Application For Each Platform Is A Waste Of Time And Money

Reality: Only a native app can get a high rating.

It may seem to be a beneficial decision to build a cross-platform application. You write one code and simply publish it to different stores.

Cross-platform development is the right fit for startups that may have financial challenges and no separate strategy to introduce and promote their program on each mobile operating system. Instead of employing specialists in native development, they start putting their hopes on hybrid HTML5 builders and different sets for app development, like“one-fits-all”. As a result, usability, layout and functionality suffer.

What To Do Instead?

Go native on the platform that is right for your product.

Instead of investigating the platform itself, begin with a preference analysis of your target audience. You may be surprised by the results: iOS or Android may appear not appear to be so popular among your users.

Remember: It is better to properly elaborate on one platform and to create one product of high quality than to be dispersed on everything in sight.

Myth#2: I Can Build An App In-House As Quickly As Outsourcing Contractors

Reality: If you start coding yourself, it will take four times longer.

Don’t think that if you have a team of experts in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, that you will cope with everything at the expense of regular working hours. Usually, the full development requires niche skills and the ability to test mobile products, to program a mobile interface and to provide quality assurance (QA).

With contractors, it is possible to:

• Get access to all above-mentioned experts who will work in parallel;
• Break the development process into iterations;
• Test everything on special devices, screens, resolutions and form factors instead of simple PC emulators;
• Get a professional project manager who will coordinate the work of a team to keep the timeframes.

Opt for specialists and get benefits in time and, what is more important, in quality.

Myth#3: Outsourcing Means There Is Nothing To Do For You

Reality: To get the best result you should work in close cooperation with your development contractor.

A typical mistake of a startup is to think that the developer is you and that you will love all their decisions when it comes to features and designs. Even the most talented сontractor won’t accomplish the entire project satisfactorily without your personal input.

Work closely with developers, QA teams, PMs and involve your in-house managers as well.

Note: Close collaboration allows to avoid mistakes and guessing games: you get exactly what you want.

Myth#4: Start A Cooperation With One Developer And Get Stuck With Them Forever

Reality: Cooperating with an outsourced development company for the first time will help you maintain and upgrade the product yourself.

The irony is that not all developers-contractors are the same:

• Some of them specialize in consulting
• Some in turnkey development
• Others in programming in collaboration with your experts

Work with engineers, developers, QA specialists, designers, and other experts. Ask your development contractor for training on further upgrades and maintenance of the app, ask for additional cooperation options.

Note: Professional companies always offer post-launch support and maintenance options, even if you have built your app with another contractor.

Some Other Tricks To Achieve Success

Here are some points to take into account when planning and developing your app startup:

• Provide your users with an opportunity to pay directly within the app, if your monetization strategy involves payments. Nobody likes to go to the website, register, enter card details, etc.
• Include game mechanics if possible, or partner with gaming companies. Higher interactivity and gaming elements make apps more interesting and engaging.
• Opt for virality. Your users will need options to tell friends about the app or share information on the popular social networks. Choose only those networks popular in the countries of the application distribution.
• Offer regular updates. Every product needs constant tech support and enhancements. What is more, regular updates make it possible to enhance the application in compliance with feedback and grow user engagement.
• Make quality your first preference. If a user sees a mistake in the app chances are they will delete it. The probability of returning back is practically non-existent. Reinvolvement of the user is always much more difficult and expensive than the first acquaintance.
• Allocate a budget on strategy and promotion. Double it. In the highly competitive application market advertising and promotion is an indispensable part of your project lifecycle.

Take these tips into account when starting your first mobile startup and success will surely follow.

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