In an era of endless technological advancements and possibilities, it’s exciting to think about creating something that solves a real problem, makes a difference, and even earns income while you sleep.
There are many ways to build an app
Building the app itself is doable. Most people start by:
- Contacting a company or freelancer
- Discussing requirements and features
- Deciding on branding, colours and logo
- Planning screens and buttons
There are agencies, freelancers, no-code tools (Bubble, Adalo, Glide), and AI scaffolding (Builder.ai, GPT-based scaffolding tools) to help you get something live.
Building an app that people actually use
Many well-meaning, capable people focus on building the app as the main component of the process. It feels natural to jump to a solution when you spot a problem. But that’s often the easy part.
The hard part? Getting people to use your app.
To trust it.
Come back to it.
Tell their friends about it.
Pay for it.
This is where many ideas get stuck. Often, there isn’t enough understanding of what would make customers want to use it, or enough consideration of different user groups.
A Stripe overview notes “42% of startups fail because they don’t serve a market need” stripe.com.
How to give your app the best chance
The best way to get people to use your app is to do clear, focused work before you start screen design and development:
- Explore who else has a similar idea, and who they are serving.
- Look at technological, economic, and other macroenvironmental factors that could affect your idea.
- Identify the groups of people who might use your product, and what drives their decisions.
- Write down what you know and don’t know about them.
- Speak to at least five people in each group to check your assumptions.
- Learn from what they share with you about how your app should work.
- Decide which features are needed now, are easiest to build, and easiest to sell.
- Then build your concept and keep improving it to solve the problem, earn income, and bring peace of mind.
The app is not the product
This rate of failure is mostly due to the mindset that the app is the product. On the contrary, it is a channel, a delivery mechanism for a solution.
Brian Chesky of Airbnb spent time understanding the lives of his customers, and the company became a global success.
Get to know your users better than your idea. Validate your assumptions before you launch.
Let’s give your idea a fair chance
Want to build something that people will care about? Email me on hello@leanseed.co for a list of prompts to test your idea, or book a free 1-hour call to chat about the best way to move forward.
Yours in growth design,
Vicka