So, You Wanna Build An App??
I’ve been building software for 12 years. I started my career as a Java Developer in 2006.
When I started my career, only really big companies (mostly) built software and web applications (that supported lots of users). When people asked what I did, I often lied and said I built websites (ppl kinda got the dot-com era stuff) ..sometimes I told people to think about the programs that ran their appliances or pc. ‘
In 2007, my 2nd year as a Software Engineer, the iPhone became a thing. MySpace was nearing it’s peak and Facebook was becoming popular.
And (just about) everyone could now answer the question “What’s an app??”.
Pandora Radio was the most downloaded app in 2008 — I still love many of the playlists I created that year (s/o to The Carter; Ye has been deleted :( ).
A LOT has changed in 10 years. Including how accessible it is to build an app.
Everyone should understand how apps work and are built. Everyone should have access to a career in software and app development.
Everyone does NOT need to build an app.
I’ve been venturing as a Founder in Startup Land for the last 4.5 years — so needless to say I don’t have a lot of time to write think pieces (opinion essays).
In fact, basically as a rule, unless it’s content marketing for one of my products or me publicly gushing over someone whose work I admire.. I save my opinions for friends over lunch.
The exception to that rule is when I am asked different versions of the same question fifty lleven thousand times from a wide range of individuals — including some of which I professionally respect …and i get absolutely tired of giving my thoughts on the topic. (See Diversity != Inclusion)
Nowadays, approximately 1/3rd of all the “Pick Your Brain” Requests that land in my inbox are some version of the following: I have an app idea. I want to build an app. How/How much to get started?
Here’s a quick (hopefully somewhat useful) guide to deciding whether or not you should build that app.
Why do you want to build an app?? (Typically reasons fall into 1 of 3 categories).
1. You think tech is cool and just want to build an app for fun.
→ Awesome! Do it!! Here are some tips on getting started:
- Look for similar apps and find out who built them (do not contact them directly — see the next tip).
- Look to see if they (individual or organization) have published any content about what tech they used and how they did it.
- There are tons of tutorials for building all kinds of things on all kinds of tech stacks.
- Build it yourself and budget a minimal amount of $$ for things like hosting and ssl certs.
Does all of this sound boring and not how you want to spend your time? If yes: YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUILD AN APP.
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2. You want to get rich.
→ Don’t do it. There are SOOOOOO many other ways to get rich that cost WAAAAAY less money and effort.
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3. You believe this app solves an important problem for a critical mass and you will not be able to sleep until you validate (or invalidate) this belief.
→ This is the ONLY reason (besides fun, cool app projects/ reason #1), in my opinion …to Build An App..
- Step 1: Validate Your Idea/MVP → Expect to spend $5K (including sweat equity and other stuff)
- Step 2: Build Something That Scales → Expect to spend a min of $30K minimum plus personally understand the app development lifecycle on an intimate level
Hope this is helpful. Keep building tech that makes the world a better place.
Follow us @ZaMLabs, a tech incubator & media lab. Current portfolio: @useAerial @Appolition
