Dos and Don'ts for Startups Developing Custom Apps

One thing unites all startup entrepreneurs: they use innovation to improve the world via their work. Given the popularity of mobile applications, current entrepreneurs most often choose to incorporate their innovations into software in order to offer them a specific shape that the general public can utilize. The software development business is a very receptive environment for new ideas and improvements because of its quick pace and significant cash flow. This does not imply, however, that tech entrepreneurs never face difficulties in their quest for recognition. Even one of these issues—a lack of funding, inadequate technical know-how, a lack of personnel, and, of course, a lack of comprehension and confidence in the product you're attempting to develop—can be difficult to deal with. This post will examine the reasons why some app startups thrive while others fail, as well as the procedures you must follow to turn your business into a corporation.

App-Based Startup: What You Need To Know

#1. Verify your hypothesis.

Any business, no matter the industry, begins with an idea. Consider if your app is even worth developing for a moment before employing a full-time staff or signing a contract with a software development firm. The following questions must be addressed from the beginning of your trip, regardless of whether you think your concept is worth it or not:

• Which issue will my app address?
• Has anybody ever tackled this issue before?
• Who is the intended audience for you? (Hint: not a single person on Earth is correct.)
• How is that issue now handled by people?
• In what way does your solution surpass the existing issues that people are using?

All of these questions must have clear-cut, uncomplicated answers. Your concept has to be improved if it takes you more than a few sentences to address each one.

#2. Select the medium.

Large tech companies almost universally operate their applications on web, iOS, Android, and even platforms we haven't heard of in years, like Windows Phone OS or Symbian. This allows them to reach the greatest number of consumers and enable them to install and use their software goods. A lot of advice on making your first launch multi-platform will be given to you. But as our experience developing bespoke software for startups has shown, this approach is unsuccessful. Rather of attempting to manage your aspiring application on many platforms at once, we advise you to first do a target audience analysis and choose between the two industry heavyweights, iOS and Android. If you're wondering where the online version has disappeared, we strongly advise delaying it until later unless your intended audience is older, since millennials—the oldest of whom is 38 years old as of 2018—prefer mobile devices to desktop and laptop computers.

Software developers often struggle to determine whether to publish their apps on iOS or Android, even in cases when the choice between the two platforms is clear-cut. Well, a lot of this depends on the area you want to target. As of right now, iOS is more widely used in English-speaking nations like the US, Canada, and the UK, but Android remains the most widely used mobile operating system globally.

Examine the tech stack, security, adaptability, and affordability of these two operating systems before making your ultimate choice. For instance, unlike iOS, Android is an open-source platform with free SDKs and tools available to anybody. But this openness increases the risk of cyberattacks, and iOS is regarded as far more secure than Android.

#3. Put the project's scope in writing.

If you're not new to company in any field—not just IT—you may already be aware of the need of having a thorough business strategy in writing. From the beginning, every facet of the development process, including app functionality, financing, required human resources, monetization strategies, planned updates, and many more, has to be clearly outlined on paper and addressed with all parties involved. Avoid trying to retain all of this knowledge in your brain since it will ultimately cause you to get stressed out and maybe collapse.

The following elements of your project need to be estimated and included in the text when you define its scope:

• Long-term objectives and strategies that outline your vision for your app in the next years;
• Shorter-term, more focused goals that outline your goals for the project in the following six to twelve months;
• Phases of development, each having specified deadlines and deliverables;
• Duties that you and your group must do at every level;
• Resources—human, gear, software, office space, etc.—that you'll need to accomplish your aim and aims;
• One of the most crucial components of the project scope is the budget. With finance, you can't rely on luck or approximate calculations.
• A precise timetable that you and your group will diligently follow.

#4. Speak with someone about the schedule, finances, technology stack, etc.

As a startup app development firm, we often run against non-technical individuals who have no idea what it takes to produce any kind of programming product. The software development life cycle, including its expenses and timelines, must cease being a mystery to you if you want to become an app owner. You will need to dedicate a significant portion of your workday to consulting with relevant specialists throughout the course of your trip.

This is when you have to put theory into reality and talk to people like a project manager, software engineers, UI/UX designers, business analysts, digital marketing managers, QA engineers, and anybody else engaged in the app launch about your project scope (deliverable from step #4). Find out whether there are any areas, such as patents or intellectual property issues that would need more care and knowledge.

#5. Look for a business that specializes in developing apps for startups.

We really think that for startups, outsourcing IT is the greatest option. Why? The primary reason for this is that the startup founders must focus on their strengths and sell their concept extensively. For instance, what are the possibilities that you're proficient in coding if your goal is to use software to address a healthcare-related problem? This also applies to banks, sports, fashion, e-commerce, ecology, and any other industry outside software engineering. If you are someone who really sees the potential of your product, your priorities should be expanding your clientele, looking for funding, and publicizing your offering (either on your own or in conjunction with marketing experts). Instead of wasting time trying to pick up new skills or building together a full-time mobile application creation team, transfer the work to practitioners and avoid taking on far more than you can handle.

There are multiple significant variables to take consideration when deciding on outsourcing software development, particularly the pricing & location of these services. In closing, we propose that you research for a company via specialist website like as Clutch, read peer reviews, and get references from friends or colleagues (if you have relevant experience). Likewise, stick with business that serve a certain economic niche. People that need to create a business CRM system, for instance, need to work together with a company which offers a variety of software for business solutions. The same goes and mobile apps: look for organizations that are trained in software development for entrepreneurs versus employing corporations that declare yourself to be specialists in everyone. If you feel that this isn't sufficient, you may read our guide on IT outsourcing, which goes into every detail of negotiating a contract with an outsourcing company. Rates vary based on the location and the company's standing in the IT community. With local prices as high as $300/hour, North America continues to be the most costly area. Lower hourly wages may be found in Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia, where there is also a good selection of employers.

6. Get a contract signed and start working on the project.

Following your selection of the business, the legal setup stage starts. You must retain the services of qualified attorneys (if you don't already have one) to do a due diligence research on the outsourcing provider of your choosing before you sign any contracts. After doing that, you are free to sign the agreement. The outsourcing provider will probably provide you with a choice between two fundamental legal arrangements: either directly contracting the development to an overseas IT business or entering into a contract with a domestic subsidiary (if any). By ensuring that you and the service provider are operating in the same legal sector, the last alternative significantly reduces the risks associated with numerous legal matters. Whichever legal structure you decide on between a startup owner and a remote software development team, you should give this intricate process your full attention and retain the services of qualified attorneys for your own protection.

At the outset of their app launch journey, company founders should always be encouraged to actively participate in the development process, regardless of their level of expertise and tech proficiency. Your lack of coding expertise shouldn't make you less valuable to the project. As a startup, you were the first to identify a market need for your product and are the only ones with a complete idea of what the app will accomplish, who will use it, how it will alter the industry, etc. Don't cite your lack of experience in software engineering as an excuse in this situation. It is your obligation to provide clear deliverables for the team and to analyze analytics, thus assume full responsibility for these tasks. Engage in ideation sessions, establish strong working relationships with the development team, and take on the software development process, and you'll be surprised at how much more you can do in your career. Achieving success in app development is an intentional compromise between creative thinking, user-centric approach and reactive programming. This is because creating tasks that really answer user requires and expectations is an elaborate undertaking.

#7. Work with the team to develop an MVP version for the launch's first phase.

We understand that you want the best for your target market, therefore you probably won't be excited by an offer to scale down your app's capabilities for the first release. However, our experience working on profitable digital firms shows that it's preferable to properly train consumers to value the tool you're providing them with as opposed to launching an unknown piece of software at them. How would you go about doing that? Simple: remove any feature that wasn't necessary from the app's first release and save them for later releases.

Launching a minimal viable product, or MVP, is the best course of action for companies. First of all, you can save money since you will be working on a rudimentary version of your software, which will probably need fewer personnel and less working hours to create. In addition, feedback from the general audience on your MVP will help you decide what features to add and where to go next. We assure you that they are not always what you had in mind. For instance, Instagram was originally intended to be a location-checking app, but it was later redesigned with an emphasis on picture-based communication. Its emergence as the fastest-growing social networking platform eventually drove up demand for its feature set. In addition to many other features, Instagram users may now open a business account with in-app statistics, submit videos on Instagram TV, live stream, and have their profile promoted. Users just weren't ready to realize the potential of such a broad platform back in 2010, but Instagram easily maintained its market-leading positions since every new feature was introduced with caution and followed by a comprehensive examination of user feedback. As an example, limit your early stages to simply the elements that are absolutely necessary.

Things Not To Do To Help Your Startup Succeed

At Linkitsoft, we have years of experience assisting entrepreneurs in releasing meaningful, high-performing applications that are well-received by users. After using code to realize about a hundred concepts, we came to the conclusion that, most of the time, there are much more things to be aware of than there are things to accomplish. Examine the following list of things not to do as a leader of a tech company, and see whether you are involved in any of the following:

Don't believe that the app can be designed, developed, and tested by one person. It seems just too wonderful to be true. You will require a team to produce a high-performing, all-inclusive programming solution, where all critical roles will be filled and all choices will be supported by expertise. Should you come across a freelancer who claims that he can create software from start to finish, proceed with caution.

Until your app has undergone extensive planning and validation, do not invest. What else is there to be said about the wisdom of buying a pig in a poke when it comes to expensive purchases like software? Keep the money under wraps until the product is thoroughly examined and its worth is established (by impartial third-party analytics, not by your startup's co-founders).

After the first release, don't assume that the job is finished. It takes time and money to build software, even for the most basic mobile application. The application is still alive and continues to interact with people even after it was created. Together with your development team, you must consider post-launch support if you want to ensure that your program runs smoothly and without errors. The most important tasks on your to-do list become timely updates, bug fixes, and troubleshooting only once actual users begin using the product and sending in feedback.

Never employ your loved ones as test subjects or focus groups. It is not a good idea at all to ask your close friends and family members for their honest opinion on something you are truly enthusiastic about. Not only will you make your friends and family uncomfortable by making them fear hurting your emotions, but you'll also make it impossible for them to be objective about your app. It's quite likely that you have previously explained to them what your app would be about or attempted to persuade them of its value in the past. Will you be able to speak with every member of your target audience in the same way? Not likely.

In brief

Though the establishment of a software company is often linked to instability, ongoing stress, and the pursuit of equilibrium on the brink of chaos, we continue to believe that there has never been a better moment to launch a startup than right now. At Linkitsoft, Society is receptive to fresh perspectives and has a willingness to support those working to make our world a better place. In the event that you were thinking about how to solve a particular human issue, we hope that this article provided some insight into where to start.