Lean App MVP
Tech startups succeed when they build the right pieces of their web & mobile apps at the right time for the right people. Do this with BOUNDLESS and position your minimum viable product (MVP) for success!
Get Started Quickly With an MVP
Many entrepreneurs don’t know how to get started. They plan and design for too long, and miss the opportunity to build what their customers really want.
One of the most difficult things to do with web & mobile apps is taking that first step because a lot of information needs to be organized and documented. As it turns out, the most effective thing to do when getting started is to throw out all the details! Focus on the one or two things that are most important, and set a goal for your vision. What’s the most important problem we are solving with the app and for whom? Distilling a project down to those two things is a bit more difficult than it sounds because we love to imagine all the great things our app will do. But that’s where our experience as an app developer really helps. As a vigilant partner, we’ll keep the short and long-term goals grounded, and get things moving quickly with your MVP.
Better Planning and Better Execution
Every development company has a similar process they use to build web & mobile apps, and you might even be tired of reading the same regurgitated stuff on company websites.
The other guy’s process usually involves discussions up-front to “get everyone on the same page”, and a number of iterations with milestones to “make sure it’s right”. What companies and developers don’t tell you is that this iterative approach doesn’t work when contracts dictate both scope and price together. In this type of environment, development companies are forced to make the contract work by cutting corners and distorting the original intent of poorly-written requirements where necessary. Of course there are plenty of good old-fashioned communication & management blunders too, and many developers even reduce management hours to pump up profit margins while technically meeting the scope requirements.
ENOUGH! This antiquated method for contract negotiation and management is garbage, so we refuse to do it.
Enter BOUNDLESS with the flat fee approach.
Our contracts are based on a fixed time commitment instead of a fixed scope of work. This key difference allows our clients to enjoy a fixed price, while we are free to focus on discovering and building the components that will make web & mobile apps successful. There is an art to accomplishing this, and it involves a blend of marketing (graphic & information design), architecture (technical design), and requirements (business design). We define and prioritize features based on information from target customers, and it’s OK if things change over time. Features are evaluated and re-prioritized on a weekly basis as we build and play with the app. This arrangement is much more in-tune with the way companies develop their web and mobile apps internally, and it avoids the strain of the separate agendas outlined in the previous section.
At BOUNDLESS, we’re pretty good at identifying what’s important.
Through experience, we know that tech companies evolve at different paces, and the web or mobile apps they build cost a wide range of prices depending on complexities. However, we also know that all apps can start out the same way in the beginning. Every startup can produce a minimum viable product (MVP) that solves the most important problems for their most important customers. This allows us to use the same flat fee structure for all projects, further standardizing the process for new applications. To do this, we base the first version of a web or mobile app on a fixed number of days for planning, design, build, & launch. We’ve gotten pretty good at identifying what’s important, as well as what isn’t important for each startup. Working with a flat fee allows us to be very agile week-to-week, and we can eliminate excess overhead and frustration associated with the other guy’s contracts.
Launch Your App & Start Your Journey
There is a significant difference between just building an app, and building a company around an app.
Customer-driven development processes mean a good portion of time is spent on customer needs throughout, and launch preparation for real users near the end. Creating the right parts of your app and making sure they work well is terribly important for your startup. The MVP development process discourages over-engineering and the tendency to do it all right away, keeping efforts grounded in reality with customer validation. Our goal does not stop with fulfilling requirements in a contract, and we make sure the company we help you create doesn’t fall victim to the high failure rate. Our mission is to lay the foundation for your app’s success and confirm that the app is viable.
The Principals at BOUNDLESS have been designing and developing software systems, user interfaces, and applications of all kinds in Phoenix, Arizona for over 20 years. All this experience makes a big difference when creating a web or mobile app for your startup. There are many subtle things to keep in mind that other companies and developers either overlook or honestly don’t care about because it takes more time and effort. With BOUNDLESS, your app is designed and developed with an organic process and a high degree of communication because that is the only way it works. Whatever your goals for your mobile app or web app, we can handle the challenge.
A Truly Integrated Approach
We define and prioritize features based on information from target customers, and it’s OK if things change over time. This arrangement is much more in-tune with the way companies develop their apps internally, and it avoids the extra expense of traditional fixed scope arrangements.
Blueprint Stage
Spend some time creating a blueprint for your idea. We’ll help nail down what should be done, and more importantly, when it should be done. We’ll create organizational clarity (purpose & values) for your startup, put together a short business plan with just the right info, and then walk you through the steps to validate your plan. We’ll also craft a software roadmap based on the business plan with prioritized features so you have a clear picture of must-haves vs. nice-to-haves. Finally, we develop the look & feel of the app so everyone can get excited about building!
Concept Stage
Confirm that the planned course of action is on target by building functioning prototypes (what we call concept apps). We distribute these apps to the project team and other private users so we can touch and swipe with real data. Once the app is a working example of our high priority features, we move on to the next stage. We also apply the look & feel for the app, make the screens look beautiful, and tidy up user controls for a fantastic user experience.
Launch Stage
Prepare the app for consumer use by squashing bugs and shoring up performance & security. We then configure servers & services, submit the app for any approvals needed, and wrap up any remaining details for launch.
Project Review & Planning
Although just about every app and startup begins the same way, they differ considerably after launch. Since different companies have different needs for maintenance and growth, we spend some time reviewing what has been done and identifying the best way to proceed.
Cross-Platform Technology is Better
At BOUNDLESS, we have experience with systems of all kinds, ranging from old-school embedded systems, through Windows desktop applications, to web & mobile apps today.
All this experience allows us to sift through the various technology pros & cons, and make choices based on what we feel is the best for our clients. With startups in mind, we’ve chosen HTML and JavaScript along with helper technologies like PhoneGap to do the things they can’t (yet). The advantages we see with cross-platform technologies are pretty overwhelming, and it’s only getting better as devices mature over time.
Build Faster For Less
Using cross-platform technologies is certainly key for bootstrapping companies looking to manage development costs, but it also makes a lot of sense for anyone building from the ground up. Not only does building this way cost less, but it is faster and easier to make changes and iterate. People expect their apps to be available everywhere, and making the decision to hit iPhone users over Android users doesn’t work out well as a demographic in most cases. Additionally, cross-platform technologies support all your favorite screen transitions and swipe actions, so there are very few situations that call for starting out any other way.
The Cloud Is Now
History also hints that installed apps are on their way out. We used to install all kinds of programs on our PC’s because the experience was better. Huge installation packages would configure our systems to run the programs we bought, and after loading up hundreds of applications our PCs would start to crap out. Now we keep them pretty clean except for the occasional application that serves a specific purpose. We use cloud apps to do what installed applications did before.
The browser Is Future
Gone are the days of download, install, and configure for the PC, and soon the apps on our devices will just be bookmarked and cached apps served from the internet. Native apps still have a little time left, but they’ll get phased out in no time like their cousin applications on the PC.
At BOUNDLESS, my business partner and I have over 35 years of collective experience building software. We’ve helped many startups clarify their ideas, find workable solutions, and build their apps. You can check out our company website and read about some of our happy clients below!
