There’s nothing quite as exciting as the charged atmosphere of a startup business. Innovation and creative energy everywhere, optimistic and excited employees working late hours, and the real possibility of success for all; it’s a risk, for sure, but you’ll never make it if you don’t try. You’ve got several pans on the fire here, so while you realize how important developing a mobile app is to your success, it might be overwhelming to take on yet another responsibility. Let’s go over a quick checklist about how to start the app development process for your startup business.
Find the Perfect App Development Partner
As noble as tackling all these obstacles alone may be, your best bet is to team up with the top talents in the business. Obviously, you’ve stocked your initial crew with the best and brightest around for the crucial tasks in your startup, but you need to look at your entire company with a critical eye. As per ideating and developing the mobile app that represents your brand, you likely need to research and select an app development partner. This is no small task; you’ll be working closely with these people. They’ll point out all the potential issues and you also will be trusting them to solve and help you build it all back up. This isn’t easy, but it’s completely necessary. All through this development process, you’ll have to have tough skin and an open mind about the direction your app takes, so finding an app development partner that you believe has all your best interests and ideas and mind. Conduct thorough research and comprehensive meetings, and you’ll be sure to find a partner to move forward with.
Embrace the Trends
By now, you’ve done plenty of research on the topic and design of your app. But, to go a bit further, you should also be paying close attention to the newest technology and trends that are emerging constantly, and that will influence and guide the future market for your app. Focusing on the past, or even the present, has the potential to leave you and your app behind as things change rapidly. Here are a few trends that are burning up app development today.
- 5G: This new lightning-fast network that is slowly but surely being installed around the globe is taking the digital world by storm. It is expected to bring increased connectivity, incredibly fast file sharing and processing, and even longer battery life for devices that presently have to churn through buffer and download time. So, if you’re concerned that certain slower tasks on your future app might discourage users from sticking with it, perhaps you should keep 5G in mind. It’s not without its current drawbacks, as its expected to be expensive to install with many delays. But, ignore its obvious potential at your own risk…once it’s everywhere, your app needs to be able to keep up.
- Blockchain: This emerging technology is just starting to realize its potential, and investors and big business are clamoring to get in on the ground floor. In case you haven’t read up on it (or just don’t understand why it’s such a big deal), blockchain was initially developed for the trade and regulation of cryptocurrency. Specifically, it uses a peer-to-peer network of individual users (also known as distributed ledger technology, or DLT) to store and transmit “blocks” of encrypted data, which is then connected in a “chain” to complete any given transaction. This greatly reduces the chance of hacking or fraud from the outside, and keeps these transactions transparent with no need for a third party to authenticate them. This will save big entities billions, and the possibilities of usage are huge, with most of it untapped. It’s currently most popular in the FinTech market, but has enormous potential in the manufacturing, Internet of Things (IoT) networks, transportation, and healthcare sectors. Integrating blockchain technology in your own app, or one you’re developing for another business, makes it more powerful, useful, and attractive to both users and investors, which is music to the ears of enterprise startups.
- IoT: The Internet of Things is another rapidly expanding sector whose market you should be watching carefully. It basically refers to the connectivity and utility of everyday objects, like security systems, household appliances, and machines used in manufacturing plants. The ability of these machines to communicate and work with you and each other holds countless possibilities, and most will need apps to control and regulate them. Keep a sharp eye on which apps are emerging and succeeding in the IoT realm (here’s a list of apps in IoT to look over), and imagine the possibilities.
The Iterative Cycle
Face it: you’re going to be experiencing lots of changes throughout the journey of developing your app. You’ll have breakthroughs and great new ideas, but you’ll also likely have rejections, glitches, and completely different directions from what you initially pictured. Meeting with a business analyst and DevOps team member from an experienced and savvy app development partner is always a good idea, as they will be the ones that will give you honest and prudent opinions about the viability of your app. You’ll also have to zero in on the manner and process with which you test your app through the development process. Consistent and constant testing may be the most important part of your mobile app development; however, just like any other stage in your startup’s initial phases, it has to be productive and progressive. The iterative process allows for careful and measured steps of testing, reworking and evaluation that involves multiple teams working together for a common goal. It looks something like this:
This process certainly deserves a lot of attention and thought, but you also have to make sure you are working on several minimal viable products (MVP) to be able to present to various beta testing groups. These simple app representations are meant to provide immediate and helpful feedback to be shuttled directly into this iterative process and keep the progress going. Testing of all sorts needs to be continued through development and launch, so it’s best to be clear about how you’ll handle it.
These are just a few things to consider, and you definitely have a lot on your plate as your startup enterprise gains momentum. You clearly have the talent and drive to make it a success, and the ability to evaluate and hire the best team possible to help you achieve your goals is also a smart quality to possess. This app will represent your brand just like any other client-facing asset you have, so make sure you give it all the attention and thought it needs to succeed.
Are you ready to talk about getting your app idea developed? Check out more information about our services and don’t hesitate to reach out if you think Koombea is the right app developer for you!
