I have an amazing idea for an app. Now what?

I have good and bad news for you.

Good news: You are a creative person, and you’re thinking in terms of entrepreneurship, which is indicative of a person that wants to shape the world, instead of just participating in it. Congratulations!

Bad news: An idea is quite unimportant vis-a-vis the bigger picture. The startup.

I don’t mean to discourage you (although if all you aim to have is the idea, perhaps you kind of deserve it), but it is true. An idea is nothing. An idea, accompanied by an entrepreneur, hard (really hard!) work, and good planning is something. And still, chances are stacked against you.

I chose to write on this topic because I meet with entrepreneurs and hear their prospective ideas quite often. From the “I have an idea, you produce it and we’ll go 50–50” entrepreneur, to the “I’ll build this with my tears if I have to” entrepreneur, there are a few things that set apart the ones that make it to the finish line (whether they win the race or not), and that is a strategy.

If you know me and/or read some of my articles, you probably know that I believe in three strategies: A production strategy (how will I build this?), a monetization strategy (how will this make money?), and a distribution strategy(how will I get people to use it?). The first one is most crucial as it defines whether or not you, in particular, can make this happen. A production strategy will help you understand the viability of the project and its estimated investment in both time and money. Although not all-inclusive, here are a few of the main components of that strategy:

STEP 0: RESEARCH

Research is not quite a part of the production strategy, but I list it as step 0 because you should not begin to analyze your idea without this step. The absolute first step is to first (for the love of G-d) google the thing for more than a minute! It’s quite probable that the idea exists, if not exactly as you imagine it, quite similarly. And if it really isn’t out there, _then_the research really starts: Why hasn’t anybody thought of this? If it’s not out there, might it mean that the market isn’t really looking for it? Do I have a particular advantage or opportunity that makes me as an entrepreneur more likely to succeed with this product?

Make sure you speak to a few people in the area and outside of it. If they are your target market, would they use it? (Don’t ask your friends, though. They will say yes).

STEP 1: FUNCTIONALITIES

This is perhaps the most important step, and the one most people make mistakes in. The goal is to choose the core modules that your product needs to survive.

By far, people will overestimate the initial number of functionalities they need on their first version of the app, and lose focus on their app’s main advantage, resulting in a serious lack of practicality. The words you want to keep in mind here are: MVP (Minimum Viable Product). This means that you are trying to build a product that has the minimum set of functionalities required to make the product viable, not functional, but viable (meaning that at least a pilot market will be well served by your product, aka. they will use it willingly).

Good: The app should notify the tow truck that I need rescuing on street X.

Negotiable: The app needs to update the tow truck’s location and show the user where they are (Perhaps you could simplify this with: Notify the user if the truck already on its way, or hasn’t responded. This will save you lots of time and money on the MVP)

Bad: The profile module needs to allow the user to input three images of their car, vacation home address, and a picture of their pet dog “Scotty.”

STEP 2: WIREFRAME

Once you have the functionalities planned, it will pay out to create a wireframe of the prospective screens involved in the app’s functionality. This will immensely help the production team to estimate their time and effort and will allow for a better understanding of what is required in the first round. Trust me, misunderstanding in this area can be incredibly painful and costly.

A good wireframe focuses not on design, but on how the user would (basically) access the different modules of functionalities. It irons out the HOW of your product and lets potential investors and producers visualize the final product before it has been built or designed.

STEP 3: ESTIMATING

Finally, before the actual production, you will likely find a partner or agency to build this for you. By now you have a well thought out product with an understandable wireframe that helps other people visualize your idea, so it should be easy, even matter-of-factly to get estimates on time and cost to produce the product.

The first thing you want to know is whether you will do this with a partner or with an agency. A partner is usually less risky as he is as invested as you are in the idea. However, unless you are providing capital or a significant advantage, production partners are very hard to come across on a framework of “You do the work, I had the idea.”

If you are considering an agency, and especially if you are not so tech-savvy, have a few things in mind. You are paying for working functionalities. Make sure that the team understands exactly what your idea is before they quote (again, the workflow here will prove quite useful), and then ask them to estimate each one in time and cost. Also, make sure to hire a team that you can trust, and ideally, that is geographically close to you. This is especially important if you, again, are not tech-savvy. Have you had the experience of going to a mechanic and blindly accepting their suggestions for repair? Of course, what else would you do given that you have no idea what a “Carbine Turburator” is and why it’s broken. This happens also quite often with programming projects.

Make sure that the team has a responsible system of weekly or bi-weekly deliveries, and to agree before production on what those will be. Ideally, they work SCRUM and they should be intrinsically ready to provide feedback after each “Sprint.” Otherwise, make sure you know in advance what they will show you and when.

Finally, learn what a code repository (or “repo”) is and how to use it. This is your project, and if you ever want to change programming teams, or quite frankly own your product, this is how you gain control over it.

YOU JUST BEGUN!

This is a fraction of the production strategy, which itself is a fraction of the whole strategy. So make sure you plan ahead for questions like who will grow the app consistently as I find out what my users really want (something that unavoidably happens after production)? Will I be prepared for the app to scale if it has some success? Is my production strategy lean enough for me to pivot if I need to?

I hope this few lines gave you a good idea of how to go beyond the idea, and I wish you success if building it! My honest goal is to make you, the reader, more prepared to go beyond the millions of people with ideas, into the realm of production. And hopefully, together, to shape the world.