from an idea to an ios app
DESCRIPTION
The process from getting from an idea to an iOS App in 7 stepsTRANSCRIPT
From an Idea to an iOS AppAndrei Radulescu
Co-Founder & CTO
SayHappyBirthday
@andiradulescu
0744 264 358
Mobile Apps Meetup 16/05/2013
1. The Idea
What Is The Value Of An Idea?
The value of the idea alone is: nothing zero zip Nada
Don’t keep your idea secret
You should talk about it to almost anyone who will listen
Benefits of talking to people
You’ll get suggestions for improvements
You’ll discover flaws
You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry.
You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built
You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch
You might even discover your idea is a bad idea
2. Motivation
Build an app as a hobby
Build an app to make loads of money
Build an app because you have too much money and you want to spend it
Build an app to change the world - entrepreneur
3. People
An app is not a one man show.
Talk about your idea passionately! Others might like it and work with you as co-founders
Build a completely dedicated team: programmer, designer, business person
Make your app noticeable! From icon to UI/UX, your app should be scream Download me!
Some quotes from Quora
“Developers will only work for free if they have a strong connection or affection to the project or you as an initiator”
“Paying a programmer will get you more attention”
“Producing an app isn't hard – marketing is harder”
4. Tech
Native app vs HTML5 vs hybrid app
Why go native? A lot of frameworks/APIs/SDKs Faster than any web or hybrid app Most reliable and most responsive experience to users
5. Business Model
99 cents is the new free!
Free
Premium: buy once, use forever
Freemium: giving away service to users and making money when some opt to pay for additional features
Why Mobile iOS first?
Careful entering unknown markets
6. Prototyping
Use a prototyping tool (InVision, Fluid UI, Prototypr)
Make small increments
Use analytics (Heatma.ps, Google Analytics, Flurry)
Use tools that ease your life (TestFlight, NewRelic)
Iterate, iterate, iterate
Launch faster
7. Launch and Marketing
Airbnb had 3 launches until it hit success
Some tips: Have an awesome landing page and drive traffic to it Get “Featured” by Apple “Make an amazingly great product and charge money for
it” – Phil Libin https://www.udemy.com/startup-and-go/ - Founder
Institute - fi.co
Back to .. The value of an Idea
The value of the idea alone is nothing, zero, zip, nada
When you combine an idea with a great team and execution, it can start to have potential
But the real value remains zero, until it gets tested/evaluated by real customers
Last tips: Build for yourself Hire smarter people than you
8. Case study
BirthdayCards iOS App
Facebook SDK for login, friends and share
Backend done in Rails and hosted on Heroku
We are building a mobile first distribution platform for interactive birthday cards
Addressed to end users and brands
BirthdayCards iOS App
A new generation of cards, online & mobile cards that are interactive
Addressed to end users and brands
You can customize any element of the card and send it by facebook or e-mail
BirthdayCards iOS App
It’s interactive, not static – “it’s not the same gif” for everyone
Themes are very different, made by very talented illustrators, that we promote
Your app can be next!