Idea for an app but where to start

[mark_s]

I've recently been thinking of setting up a website for a particular business but its led me to think about developing it as a phone app instead. There is already a very popular app out there which as a design and the way it works would with a few minor changes be ideal. My app would be a completely different market so its not like I'm using someone elses idea, I just think the design would work very well for my particular application.
So my first dilemma is where do I find a developer and once I've explained my app how do I stop them just taking my idea and doing it themselves. Usually I'd have a go at things myself but currently know nothing of app design and wouldn't know where to start.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Nochexman]

There is no shortage of app developers; there are probably several within a five mile radius of you. Have you written a specification of your requirements?

 

[fisicx]

...and once I've explained my app how do I stop them just taking my idea and doing it themselves.

They won't. Developing the app is the (relatively) easy part. The hard part is doing all the marketing, promotion and support and of course getting the thing onto the various app stores.

Developers aren't interested in do all that so they won't steal your idea.

 

[DazRave]

They won't. Developing the app is the (relatively) easy part. The hard part is doing all the marketing, promotion and support and of course getting the thing onto the various app stores.

Developers aren't interested in do all that so they won't steal your idea.

I'll second this. Apart from the story about Facebook (or the film Social Network, if you've seen it) I've never seen an app developer run away with someone's idea. Worst case scenario, get them to sign some sort of NDA etc.

 

[Adam-Smith]

Well, first of all, you have to make a design for that particular app it is a time taking process but a beautiful design and friendly user experience will resolve most of the problems. A complete research will be mandatory, if you have a unique idea it is good but you have to search and find examples of your app design.

 

[ikooloo]

Hi, agree completely with the posts about developers not stealing your idea. They won't.

There's a huge amount to do but let's assume you have thought through the idea enough to know whether you can make money from it. And, let's also assume that you definitely want an app.

I think there are a couple of things I would suggest.

First, read some stuff. Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a good place to start.

Then, simply write down everything you want the app to do. Don't worry about format; just focus on writing down everything, step by step, that you want your customer to see and do. There is a technique called story mapping that you might want to look at.

Once you have done this; you need to understand and determine what aspects of this you need to develop first. Don't think you need to develop it all. I mentor for Virgin Start-ups and I I have seen way too many people waste a huge amount of money building vastly complicated apps/software. You may want to consider building what's called a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) first - this is the minimum you need to prove that your concept will work and is what you should consider getting built first. Depending on how technical you are; you could even build something out yourself (look at something called ionic creator).

Be wary of going straight to an agency. They will be able to help but not many agencies will tell you to build something that costs 10k when they can charge you 30k. They will help you specify all of this but they will charge you a chunk of money for doing something you should be doing yourself.

 

[ikooloo]

Oh, sorry - the other thing I meant to say was talk to potential customers about your idea. See if it resonates; see if it solves a problem they all recognize and, most importantly, see if they will pay money for it.

There's a million and one other things but this is the general path.

 

[StevePoster]

An App that will answers the target users needs and that will be the first thing first for that the created App will be worth it than you imagined.

 

[SuperLiamUK]

They won't. Developing the app is the (relatively) easy part. The hard part is doing all the marketing, promotion and support and of course getting the thing onto the various app stores.

Developers aren't interested in do all that so they won't steal your idea.

This is the perfect answer, I know a lot of people who have apps in the store earning them £1-5 per month from ads, it's never just a case of releasing your app and people will flood to it, it doesn't ever work like that.

You should flip your approach on its head and instead build a simple landing page with a little bit of information about the following:

The problem: What problem does your app solve?
The process: What is going to be your apps functionality?
The USP: Why is your app going to be the best choice for the consumer?

Once you have your landing page setup and you've got all of your content on there, you should then begin marketing your idea and use an email list builder like 'mailchimp' to collect peoples emails who might be interested in your application, once you have enough interest to satisfy your investment then you should come back here and ask if there's a good developer who can build your application for you, until then I have to say as someone who has been building, marketing and selling websites for many years that an idea is absolutely worthless to you or anyone so don't worry about it being stolen.

 

[James X]

Whilst I agree with SuperLiamUK to a certain extent, I'm a bit skeptical of the 'build a landing page and collect emails' approach. I know it's the approach recommended in many of the lean startup books (Tim Ferris etc) but don't you still have to attract people to your landing page? E.g. spend a lot of money on advertising.

I like ikooloo's reply. Work towards an MVP and try and get real paying customers to validate your idea. Email signups do not do this. People paying their hard earned cash do.

Writing down user journeys is a good way to start. Putting these into some mockups using a tool like Balsamiq is the next step. Both of these can be done by you alone at no expense.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. It's true - just the action of creating mockups can sometimes help you visualise whether your idea will work. And it leaves you with a set of assets you can use to communicate your ideas to both investors and app developers.

* Disclaimer: I've built a lot of apps for others but only one for myself. It didn't make any money However I've seen others use the above techniques to a degree of success.

 

[SuperLiamUK]

Whilst I agree with SuperLiamUK to a certain extent, I'm a bit skeptical of the 'build a landing page and collect emails' approach. I know it's the approach recommended in many of the lean startup books (Tim Ferris etc) but don't you still have to attract people to your landing page? E.g. spend a lot of money on advertising.

You don't have to agree but it works, that's why people recommend it, its the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to get your idea in front of consumers and to see if there's a market for it. Yes you are right you still have to attract people to your landing page but let us say you spent £200 on a landing page and you spend £300 on facebook ads (for example) and you get no interest from consumers you're out £500 and it's an experience as opposed to the other option of building the whole thing and sinking £1000's and finding out there is no market for it.

I am speaking from my own experience, when I'm not working on client websites I design, build, market, grow and sell websites on Flippa and I would love to see you try and sell a wireframe

The whole mockup idea does not work for entrepreneurs, it's great for designers/ux but if you're going to go the MVP route then use something like Ruby on Rails to get it up and running fast but don't waste your time doing hundreds of mockups. If you do decide to use a wireframe there's lots of choice in that industry...

- Fluid UI
- UXPin
- Moqups
- Wireframe cc
- Axure
- Picodo
- Visio
- InDesign CC
- PhotoShop CC
- Mockflow
- InVision
- MockPlus
- SimpleDiagrams
- HotGloo
- MockingBot

 

[James X]

It's going a bit off piste from the original post, but agree you can't (unfortunately) sell a wireframe/mockup! But it is a free way to move towards an MVP. The landing page debate is perhaps one for another post...and one I'd be interested in because I'd like to promote my own stuff one day.

What I really mean is some nice drawings can flesh out your idea...you can show these prospective app devs and see what they think. It's a good way to communicate your ideas, as a lot of projects fail because the developers misunderstand what you're asking for. And it allows you to get a semi-accurate estimate.

As for where you find them, it depends on budget! What I would say is find someone who communicates well, understands you, and releases code regularly, ideally as part of a daily automated build...so you get full transparency as to the status of work.

 

[Alan]

It's going a bit off piste from the original post,

Before responding to this thread, note the original post was over 6 months ago, and the thread dead for 4 months until it was reawakened by @SuperLiamUK for no apparent reason

 

[Andrew_P]

There is no shortage of app developers; there are probably several within a five mile radius of you. Have you written a specification of your requirements?

Actually there is a shortage of developers world-wide (and especially good ones), compared to other industries. But one should be careful and cautious choosing them. Don't go with first one and start small.

 

[Andrew_P]

Before responding to this thread, note the original post was over 6 months ago, and the thread dead for 4 months until it was reawakened by @SuperLiamUK for no apparent reason

Oh crap, indeed...but oh well, this info might be useful for others as well...