ProblemNew ideas
I have an app idea and do not know where to start
The expensive mistake is building the whole thing before finding out whether anyone wants it. Almost everything worth learning can be learned before a line of code.
Do not start with the app. Start with the problem and ten real people who have it. Write the idea in one sentence, talk to those ten, and try delivering the service by hand with WhatsApp and a spreadsheet. If people use it and would pay, have a clickable prototype made, which shows the screens without the cost of building them. Ours is N$3,999.99. Only then build a first version with the one feature people asked for.
What you see, and what it usually means
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| You can describe twenty features and not one user | The idea is a product in search of a problem. |
| “Everyone will use it” | Nobody in particular will. First versions succeed with a narrow group. |
| You are afraid to share it in case it is stolen | Ideas are rarely stolen. They fail because they are never tested. |
| A developer quoted a large sum for “the app” | The scope was never cut down to a first version. |
| You want Android, iPhone and a website from day one | Three products. Start with the one your users actually hold. |
What you can do yourself
These cost nothing but time. Do them before paying for software, including ours.
Write it in one sentence
“It helps [who] to [do what] without [the pain].” If you cannot, the idea is not clear yet.
Find ten people with the problem
Not friends being polite. Ask how they solve it today and what that costs them. Listen more than you explain.
Run it by hand first
Take requests on WhatsApp, track them in a sheet, deliver the service yourself. If nobody uses the manual version, software will not change that.
Draw the screens on paper
Five or six boxes. Show them to the ten people and watch where they get stuck.
Choose the one thing version one must do
Write the other nineteen features on a list called “later”.
Work out who pays, and how much
The user, a business, an advertiser, a funder? An app with no payer is a hobby with hosting costs.
Today, and with a system
Today
- An idea described in words
- Quotes that vary wildly, because the scope is vague
- No evidence anyone wants it
- All the money at risk at once
With a system
- Screens people can tap through on a phone
- Feedback from real users before any code
- A written scope and one fixed build price
- A small sum at risk first, the large one later
- People used the manual version and asked for more.
- You need to show the idea to a partner, an investor or a funder.
- You want a fixed price for the real build, based on real screens.
What we would build
We turn the idea into up to eight linked screens you can open on a phone and hand to someone. You watch two real users try it, we make one round of changes, and you receive a written scope with a fixed price for building it. The prototype and the scope are yours to take to any developer.
A clickable prototype is N$3,999.99 and takes one to two weeks. A first working version usually falls between a portal at N$19,999.99 and a mobile app at N$34,999.99.
Common questions
Will you sign a confidentiality agreement?
Yes, if you want one. We would also say gently that secrecy is rarely what protects an idea. Doing it well, first, for people who need it is.
Do I need an app, or would a website do?
Often a web app does everything a first version needs, costs less, and installs from the browser. App or web app explains the difference.
Can you build it for a share of the business instead of a fee?
No. We build for a fixed price, so that you own all of what you paid for.
How do I know my idea is good?
You do not, and neither do we. That is the reason to test cheaply first. Ten honest conversations and a manual trial will tell you more than any opinion.
Describe the problem. We will send back a scope.
Say what is slowing the work down and who is affected. You get a one-page scope in plain words: what would be built first, how long it takes and what it costs. It is free, and you owe nothing if you do not go ahead.