‘How I Turned My Idea Into an App’
Punkpost founders discuss the life-changing decision to leave their jobs, tricks on getting early users, and learning to code
A little over two years ago husband-and-wife team Santiago Prieto and Alexis Monson decided to quit their jobs at IDEO and Brit+Co to launch an app. Their idea? Help people send personalized and personality-filled, hand-written cards easily. Called Punkpost, the app has since been featured on sites like Brit + Co and STYLECASTER, attracting an influx of new users and prompting the duo to begin working full time on their business. Even if you’re not looking to launch an app of your own, it’s worth checking out this seriously design-driven online experience (and even send a few hand-written thank you notes of your own.)
How long after Punkpost concept did you leave your job and decide to focus on the app full time?
We started working on Punkpost in August 2014, but it was truly just an idea then. Santiago [my co-founder] was on a business trip and found a handwritten “Good Luck” card from me in his hotel room. Being from Mexico, where greeting cards are a rarity because of a poor postal system, he found himself speechless. This experience got him thinking about ways of making such handwritten greetings part of our everyday lives. The idea involving saving time on going to the store, getting stamps, writing and mailing a card was a result of this trip. So in October 2014, he left his job as an industrial designer to work on building the app. Then in June 2015, I joined him to launch a live beta version of Punkpost into the app store. Just in April 2016, we just launched what we consider our first real version of Punkpost and since then things have really taken off.
What practical things did you have to achieve to know it was the right time to focus on the project full time?
Before you go turning in your two weeks notice, test your idea. Get validation and not just like a “yeah, I like that idea” from friends and family, but a real emotional response — excitement and a clear proof of concept. We definitely did this before we decided to take the leap. We tested with anyone who was willing to test on a desktop version simply built on SquareSpace before we committed ourselves fully.
Do you think it’s necessary to leave your job to focus full time on a startup idea?A startup is a lot of work! To make this sucker take off, you should probably be prepared upfront to quit your day job and focus all of your energy on your big idea. And feel confident in this choice. I was recently talking to Gloria Cortina, a successful interior designer in Mexico City. Not long ago, she launched a furniture line. She said to me, “I truly believe that you can make any idea, service or product work if you’re willing to put in the time.” I completely agree with her. However, certainly you need to calculate all of the risks, expenses and account for other factors to ensure that you have all the necessary assets to last for a long while and really focus on all the things you need to be doing for the company.
Read more here: http://www.thedreamjob.com.au/home/how-to-launch-app
