Is how my conversation with an executive MBA student started during a break from a class. In my role as EIR at Duke University, I get the chance to engage in many conversations with students exploring entrepreneurship. This is definitely a top five (5) typical opening line I hear when I am approached with an idea. After hours, days or months of thinking about a potential business venture, the conclusion is, "I want to build a mobile app."
I built a mobile application (app). I sold an app. I love apps. I have zero issues with apps. Mobile apps made me money. The point of this discussion is not to stop you from making a mobile app. The point is to explore your solution thoroughly first and know "how" you can deliver this solution to your users. The easy (and most expensive) answer is a mobile app. Before you commit to this decision, exploring your solution in detail will be critical to your strategic plan.
The app is not the solution. Creating an app will not solve your customers challenges. It will not magically shift a challenge to an opportunity. The solution and how it solves your customers' challenge is key to creating a product that matters.
There are hundreds of questions to answer as you formulate your idea into a market needed solution. Before you decide to build a mobile app, please answer at least these questions in detail.
1) If mobile apps did not exist, how would you make your solution available to your users and customers?
2) Why has no one solved this problem via a mobile app yet (i.e. if the solution is needed, why is there not an app for it already)?
3) How many mobile apps currently exist that compete with your solution (i.e. is the market full of your app already)?
4) Who does your solution support (i.e. who is the specific user that would use the solution)?
5) Does your user need a mobile app (i.e. a platform) to be supported or is your solution a feature of an existing platform?
6) What is the average number of mobile apps your target user has on their phone (i.e. what is the persona for your user and are they mobile app savvy)?
7) Is the solution so compelling that someone would download your mobile app on their phone?
8) How frequently would your user need to engage with your solution (i.e. if infrequent, would your app just sit on their phone unused)?
9) Have any potential users you have spoken to date said, "would I have this solution on my phone as a mobile app?"
10) If you build a mobile app, will you need to distribute the solution via a provisioned device model (i.e. you send devices to people versus them putting your app on their own phone as BYOD)?
Exploring these initial answers will give you the inputs needed to determine if a mobile app is required to enable your solution or not. Again, I am not attempting to deter you from creating a mobile app. I simply want you to consider how your solution can be available first before concluding that the mobile app is the best way to surface for your solution.
After you answer these initial questions, take a minute to truly analyze the answers. If they all point to a mobile app as the absolute best way to enable your solution...keep exploring it with your business cases' next milestones. If you determine a mobile app may not be needed...write that down and keep moving to get your idea from slides to a prototype asap.
One of your responsibilities as a founder is to remove work and risk from your business. Determining if a mobile app is needed for your solution is a big decision. It is a direction you may want to avoid unless it provides the enablement your solution needs to be successful in the market.
