how to evaluate your app idea
TRANSCRIPT
Evaluating Your App IdeaFrom a Technical Perspective
Vance Lucashttp://vancelucas.com
Target Audience
• Limited technical knowledge/experience
• Anyone interested in everything that goes into making apps
• People who have app ideas, but don’t know who to talk to or where to start
Who are You?• Vance Lucas
• http://vancelucas.com
• Twitter: @vlucas
• Brightbit (local dev. shop) until 2014
• Consulting/Freelance afterwards
• Now full-time at NetSuite
Soundingboard.tv
This IS
• Pre-market validation of idea itself
• Technical feasibility determination
• “Is this idea even possible?”
• “Is this idea worth pursuing?”
This is NOT
• Good / Bad idea judgement
• “Your idea is [awesome|terrible]”
• Determination of success
• Market validation
Topics
• Idea
• Information
• Integrations
• Service
• Competition
• Money
Idea
• What is the idea?
• What problem does it solve?
• How do users solve this problem currently?
• How will your app solve this problem better?
Story: App Idea for Take-Out Menus
Information
• Does my idea require data or information that I don’t have?
• How can I get this data?
• What will it cost (time + money)?
• How hard is this data to get?
• Will I own or control this data?Story: App Idea for Road Trip Guide
Integrations
• Does this require integration with a 3rd party (Twitter, Facebook, data source, etc.)? How deep?
• Does it cost money?
• What are the risks in integrating?
Story: App Idea to Cancel Credit Cards
Integration Risks• Twitter: http://ryanmarkel.com/6446/
twitters-api-and-user-hostility/
• Netflix: http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/13/netflix-api-shutdown/
• Snapchat: https://medium.com/backchannel/snapchat-s-non-vanishing-message-you-can-trust-us-6606e6774b8b
Web Service
• Is a central database or web service required for your app to function?
• Are you going to have a user login?
• Will any data sync across devices?
• Is any content “shared” with, or “discovered” by other users?
• Is there any content not stored only on a single user’s phone or device
You Need an API!
• Whole separate (large) project with tight integration into your app
• Recurring costs? (domain, hosting, etc.)
• Risks? (security, availability, etc.)
if you answered “yes” to any of those…
Your API
Competition
• Are there any competitors?
• If so, how many? How big are they?
• Good ratings? Any complaints?
• How is your idea different?
• What is your unique value proposition
Market Analysis
• How big is the market?
• # of apps in this category?
• # of searches for app keywords?
• # of downloads of competition?
Awesome Tools
• AppAnnie.com
• AppTrace.com
• XYO.net
Money
• How will this make money (ROI)?
• One-time purchases or subscription?
• Free with ads or in-app purchases?
• How does this align with costs?
• Remember 30% cut for app stores
• Does it even need to make money?
Game Time!
Notes App• Integration with iCloud to
sync notes across devices
Camera+ App• Simple integration for
sharing photos on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr
• Integration with iCloud to sync photos to all devices
Angry Birds• Integration with Game
Center (iOS)
• Integration with Google Play (Android)
• Push Notifications / GCM
• Web Service
• API for app + 3rd party developers
• Integration with MLS + others
• Integrations
• Google Maps
• Push Notifications
• Web Services Galore…
• Integrations
• Crawls every website in existence
• Way too much to list…
Need Inspiration?https://twitter.com/search?q=#appidea
Questions?@vlucas | [email protected]
I’m writing a book! http://soundingboard.tv/book