Path to creating a digital product

[• nikita •]

Work has been incredibly stressful. Recently they've started piling projects on me and demanding more and more as if I'm some genius robot that can churn out results without a break. I'm exhausted and have missed my deadline for finishing the app. So I just said F*ck it and took a week off in the middle of their demands.

I'm going to finish the last feature today, and then the main functionality is done. If there was no membership involved, it would be complete. My fulltime job has just reminded me how I need to get out.

The only thing that worries me is how bad my code is. I think it's very brittle and I'm not advanced enough to optimize it.

 

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[GoGetter24]

So I just said f*ck it and took a week off in the middle of their demands.

Good

 

[• nikita •]

It's done!

Well, nearly. First draft is done. Now I need to integrate membership and lock down any non-member content, fix the UI, and test it.

 

[HelpAndProsper]

Congrats, I'm also working a small JavaScript App on my website and it takes me hours sometimes to get through bugs and figure out things. It's a slow learning process sometimes, but I think Dev skills pay off in the end.

 

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[• nikita •]

Congrats, I'm also working a small JavaScript App on my website and it takes me hours sometimes to get through bugs and figure out things. It's a slow learning process sometimes, but I think Dev skills pay off in the end.

Definitely, especially when you've got a working product in front of you and you know you did all of it

 

[• nikita •]

UI overhaul complete, integrated notifications. Just the membership now, found a nice set of videos and should be done with that in a week. Then what's left is:

• make fonts, colors, etc consistent
• remove bugs
• add in crash reports and analytics
• send to beta testers!

This weekend I improved the app's website! I'm gonna look into submitting it to sites like ProductHunt, though I want to stay anonymous and that's difficult.

Also, how to change thread title? Want to change it to "Path to building an app"

 

[• nikita •]

Hah, also forgot to mention. Just told my dad I finished an app and he told me I need many many years of education and extreme genius ("which you're not") and maybe then I can think about starting some business in the future. So I've finished something and he's saying I can't build the very thing I've built until a decade has passed and I've got a pile of debt and worthless higher education (because it is worthless for my goals)? Where in the future?

In other news I've been watching this cherry red Audi R8 go past me this week and I thinks it's my lambo moment. Holy shit it's beautiful.

 

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[Hai]

Hah, also forgot to mention. Just told my dad I finished an app and he told me I need many many years of education and extreme genius ("which you're not") and maybe then I can think about starting some business in the future. So I've finished something and he's saying I can't build the very thing I've built until a decade has passed and I've got a pile of debt and worthless higher education (because it is worthless for my goals)? Where in the future?

In other news I've been watching this cherry red Audi R8 go past me this week and I thinks it's my lambo moment. Holy sh*t it's beautiful.

This is the slowlaner´s fallacy(to be perfect before starting). Almost everyone falls for it.
All that matters is that you can fill a need/solve a problem incrementally.

The skills can be obtained on the go, but if you constantly work on the solving the need step by step, you will be gold.

Focus on solving the need(but make sure the need is real), don´t focus on raising intrinsic value/skills(action fake) solely because it "might become handy" later.

Beeing an expert in something doesn´t mean you are solving a need.

But I´m sure you know this. Keep going!

 

[• nikita •]

This is the slowlaner´s fallacy(to be perfect before starting). Almost everyone falls for it.
All that matters is that you can fill a need/solve a problem incrementally.

The skills can be obtained on the go, but if you constantly work on the solving the need step by step, you will be gold.

Focus on solving the need(but make sure the need is real), don´t focus on raising intrinsic value/skills(action fake) solely because it "might become handy" later.

Beeing an expert in something doesn´t mean you are solving a need.

But I´m sure you know this. Keep going!

100%. I used to be obsessed with starting courses and learning things just because "they might make me money some day". I like the rush of doing something new with the excuse that it will pay out some day.

I'm so happy I didn't just continue trudging through courses waiting to feel ready.

 

[• nikita •]

Done this week

• Basic membership implementation (sandbox testing is a nightmare and not representative of how it'll look in production)
• Bugs
• Moved from pen and paper to-do list to Trello as tasks became too much to keep track of

To do next week

• Allow multiple memberships on one device (iTunes only allows one subscription per iTunes account)
• Change UI to match member or non-member account
• Bugs, so many bugs

I created a Trello board of my tasks this week and feel like an idiot for using pen and paper for months, this is much more streamlined. Gotta say though, pen and paper feels much more "hustley".

The amount of bugs I have left to fix is depressing.

 

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[• nikita •]

Done this week

• Delete account functionality
• UI changes
• Bugs
• Locking down non-member content

To do next week

• Finish memberships (figured out how to do it best, finally)
• Changes to how I load info from DB to make everything quicker

 

[• nikita •]

Done last week

• Locked down all member content
• Made DB changes so less calls are made and I can edit my server-side code without needing to open the app
• Ticking off more of the membership task.

To do this week

• Finish memberships (please let it be this week). I'm continuing to make progress, but iTunes is making it difficult to integrate my own user system. From their eyes, one iTunes account = one user, always, everywhere

 

[• nikita •]

Done last week

• Bugs with the website (I'm viewing the whole thing as the product, including the marketing, not just the app)
• Rewrote a feature to take less space, less DB calls, make the user's account more customizable and better for privacy
• Looked up studies on products like mine, seems like I'm heading in the right direction based on findings

To do this week

• More bugs
• Rewrite more features (fixing spaghetti code)
• Work on the website and get more serious with marketing
• Will give finishing memberships another try but it probably won't happen this week...again

 

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[• nikita •]

Wow! Almost finished! I had a day off work last week and blazed through a ton of bugs. I'd get so far if I did this every day all day. I can feel my skills levelling up, I'm looking at old code and grimacing at it, fixing like it's no problem and my UI design is 100x better. No longer terrified of the app crashing & burning from spaghetti code.

Been reading a lot on launching and pretty sure I can do it successfully; I'm excited!

Done this week

• Crashes and bugs
• Small things like fixing overflowing text and shortening numbers (10,000 -> 10k etc)
• Making stuff async so everything loads smoothly and quickly
• Big bug where items were given out incorrectly
• Huge UI overhall on a feature
• Stop app from being useless if no internet

To do next week

• Small UI tweaks
• Continue code refactoring
• Change database structure to be flatter
• Begin prelaunch

 

[DrunkFish]

Awesome progress! Great to see that you really feel like you've been improving great feeling.

 

[• nikita •]

Done last week

• Continued with UI updates
• Fixed instances of "oo I need this information from the database, let me just fetch the WHOLE DATABASE for one line of info"
• Bugs

To do this week

• Mostly UI bugs left
• Smoothing out membership flow

 

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[• nikita •]

Done last week

• FINISHED MEMBERSHIPS. It's not perfect, but the way I want it is impossible on iOS. Made compromises but it works!
• Database restructuring
• More UI

To do this week

• Fix final UI bugs
• More code restructure

 

[• nikita •]

Done last week

• All UI issues finished

To do this week

• Final database improvements

 

[LeoistheSun]

Do you still have an opt-in page running that you can share? I'd like to see one so that I can make my own, but funny as it is, I dont know what to say on it.

 

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[• nikita •]

Do you still have an opt-in page running that you can share? I'd like to see one so that I can make my own, but funny as it is, I dont know what to say on it.

Yep, I made it a while ago and I’m updating it now to match the app changes. I’ll send it to you once it’s done.

It can be difficult to think of what to say... do you have a finished product or and you somewhere in between? You can always refine it as you build your product. I looked at some studies on what people wanted in such a product and worded it that way. I also have experience with bad mental health so I can put myself in my users’ shoes.

The way I structured it was:
1. Header with “get early access”, when clicked takes you to newsletter signup.
2. “The problem”
3. How my product solves that problem and how it specifically is the best of all solutions
4. Email opt in
5. Contact form

You might like to look at similar pages and take sections from their code, and modify it to your own page. It would save you a lot of time and give you more room to customize the page (rather than paying a lot for landing page services). If you have your own site you can transition the page from opt-in to actual website as you release your product, and add to it over time.

Oh and keep GDPR in mind when creating the opt-in form.

Good luck! Send the page over if you’d like some more tips.

 

[LeoistheSun]

IDC about GDPR since I am going to target USA peeps.

My product isn't developed as I am looking for people to test the idea and refine before creation.

Thanks for replying!

 

[• nikita •]

Done this week

• Final database & performance fixes
• Created promo video
• FINISHED IT

To do next week

• Marketing!!
• Legal stuff like terms & conditions

Wow, it's done! I'll be submitting it for review this week or the next.

The one problem I have is all the legal stuff. I want to release my app under a company name, not my own name. So, I'll have to register an ltd from some company formation service. Then I have to write the terms & privacy policy for my app using that company name. I know the tip here is not to start registering company names and rushing ahead, but it's necessary if I want to submit the app.

I'm terrible at taxes, don't really know whether I'll end up finding an accountant (again, seems like rushing ahead). Any tips from anyone who's been through this?

 

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[Kid]

Are you incorporating in UK? I found this good read Incorporating my Company in the UK; no lawyer; no accountant.

 

[• nikita •]

Are you incorporating in UK? I found this good read Incorporating my Company in the UK; no lawyer; no accountant.

Yes, I am. Thanks for the article, some good tips in there that eased my mind!

 

[• nikita •]

Done this week

• Incorporated my company!
• Other small legal stuff
• Wrote T&C & Privacy Policy

To do next week

• Annoying GDPR stuff
• Convert Apple dev account to organization (apparently this can take weeks...)
• Marketing

The marketing is what I'm scared of. I'm good at developing, but marketing is new to me. Still, even a bit of marketing is better than just shooting it off into the App Store like that.

 

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[• nikita •]

Done this week

• GDPR'd everything. Annoying task because without it I couldn't properly market and get people to sign up to newsletters.
• Started converting dev account to organization
• Reading Cashvertising and applying it to my landing page. Looking at how it was before... I can see why my copy never worked.

To do next week

• Research best time to launch, send for review
• Marketing

I need to blow this launch out of the water. Marketing was always my weak point. Hold me I'm scared

 

[Andy Black]

Done this week

• GDPR'd everything. Annoying task because without it I couldn't properly market and get people to sign up to newsletters.
• Started converting dev account to organization
• Reading Cashvertising and applying it to my landing page. Looking at how it was before... I can see why my copy never worked.

To do next week

• Research best time to launch, send for review
• Marketing

I need to blow this launch out of the water. Marketing was always my weak point. Hold me I'm scared

Do you really “NEED to blow this launch out of the water”?

It might be helpful to think of marketing as lots of little tests.

Maybe just “release” it?

Also... think of who you’re trying to help. Put them foremost in your mind. Picture them.

Does that make it seem less scary?

 

[• nikita •]

Do you really “NEED to blow this launch out of the water”?

It might be helpful to think of marketing as lots of little tests.

Maybe just “release” it?

Also... think of who you’re trying to help. Put them foremost in your mind. Picture them.

Does that make it seem less scary?

From what I've been reading on launching an app, you have a much higher chance of being featured and being a success if you get a lot of downloads at launch. You'd need a good plan for that... And I'm terrified of my app just failing before it's even started due to not being visible.

Though I definitely would prefer to launch and then begin submitting to sites like Product Hunt, searching for PR etc. It's stressing me out thinking about coordinating the launch with the marketing and the submitting...

 

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[• nikita •]

Done this week

• Website is all done
• A few bugs
• iTunes dev account converted to organization
• ASO research

To do next week

• Fill in all information in iTunes (screenshots, keywords, etc)
• Submit app to try get featured

Also realized this week I've been worrying about the wrong marketing channels. Product Hunt + press was at the top for me, but I realized that they might cause a surge in downloads but it'll die off. And something like 70% of apps are discovered by searching the app store, not reading blogs. So I've put ASO in the forefront, AND trying to get featured by Apple. I think I can do it.

Will launch in ~2 weeks.

 

[• nikita •]

Done last week

• Mostly keyword research & localization
• Applied app to app store promote

To do this week

• Finally submit app!

Launch will probably be early to mid August. I'm excited to finally get this thing out!