Almost everyone has had an app idea at some point. Few reach the store, and not because the ideas are bad, but because the road from idea to product is unclear. Below are the seven steps we recommend, in the order they are worth taking.
1. Write down every idea
Even if one idea seems perfect, leave room for others. Write down every idea that comes to you, wherever you are, before you forget it. A list of ten mediocre ideas is more useful than a single one kept in your head, because it forces you to compare. Do not filter at this stage.
2. Pick one
Once you have the list, choose the idea that will not leave you alone: the one you return to every time you read the list. Cut the rest, at least for now, and write the list of features you would want for the chosen idea. Then cut that list too: the first version has to do one thing well.
3. Check the market
Before investing time and money, see whether the idea has real potential. Start with a list of pros and cons. For the weak points, ask whether there are ways to correct them. Then search: has anyone done something similar? If so, what worked and what did not? Competition is not a reason to give up, it is a source of free information.
4. Define the audience
Market research shows you potential customers. The next question is who would actually use the app, because not every potential customer will open it. Describe the typical user: what problem they have, when the problem appears, what they use now to solve it. The audience tells you what still needs fixing in the app before launch and, in the end, decides whether the app succeeds.
5. Give it a name and an identity
This is the moment for a memorable name and a visual identity: the icon, the colours, the way it presents itself in the store. The icon is the first contact with the user and the store page is the second. Both are worth doing before development, not after, because they influence the interface.
6. Build the app
This is the development itself: interface design, choice of technology (native or cross-platform), building the features from the short list in step 2, testing on real devices and publishing to the App Store and Google Play. Start with a minimum version, launch, listen to users and extend based on what they say, not on what you assume.
7. Prepare the pitch
When the app has its first version and a few features ready, it is time to look for partners: companies or channels that would promote or distribute it. Here you use the research from step 3, because you already know which companies fit the idea. Prepare a short, concrete pitch: what problem the app solves, for whom, and what the partner gains.
Conclusion
The road from idea to app is a list of decisions taken in the right order: many ideas, then one; validation, then audience; name, then product; product, then partners. No step is complicated on its own. What matters is not skipping any.
Mobile apps at Amazing Soft
Steps 5 and 6 are the ones we work on with our clients: the identity of the digital product and the development of the app, from interface to store publication and maintenance. Details on the Mobile apps page.