User Power
Value/Post Ratio
605%
- Oct 16, 2014
- 801
- 4,843
You will get many many opinions on how to build an app, everything from learn to code all the way to learn nothing except how to manage other people. Many ways can get you where you want to go. I won't elaborate on the benefits of any of these.
I will however, describe to you the process that I have used to go from idea to final app. I have been involved in the creation of dozens of apps, from both the amateur (code it all yourself) to the professional (I own a software dev shop in Vietnam with about 25 employees), we do both in house apps for our own company and outsource contract work for others. See my thread in my signature about starting that up.
Here is the blueprint of how I take an idea all the way through to an actual application. Although I know how to code, my time has become far too valuable to do anything but manage a project from a high level. What I am describing is the process to manage the creation of a project, not how to be involved in the nuts and bolts of creating it yourself.
Revenue Model
This is something I stress to everyone I work with on projects. You must have at least an initial plan on how your product will generate money. This is the very first thing I do and needs to be top of mind because you want to optimize your project around whatever model you choose.
Do not skip this step, I would argue the most important thing that must be sorted out first before anything else. If you cannot figure out a way to bring in money from your app from the get go, I would not start on it until you have figured it out. No money equals no long term viability. Of course your revenue model may change over time as you figure out how people use your product and what they are willing to pay for it, but you must have an initial plan.
Common options are:
Also you can always combine different revenue options above, it does not have to be a one method solution.
Also remember the Freemium model where you offer some very basic version and then charge users to gain full functionality. Just make sure if you do choose freemium to design it in such a way that the user will get some use out of the product but there will be a strong incentive to want to upgrade. It costs money to maintain infrastructure and if too many people stay on freemium forever you won’t be able to stay profitable.
How do you figure out what people are willing to pay? The easiest way is to look in the market what people are already paying for similar apps/services. Or if there are no other players in your market try and find apps that are similar in scope and targeting a financially similar market (for instance if you are making something for dentists see if there is anything similar for doctors and what they are paying.
One of the big drivers for what you can charge is based on the amount of money available in the industry or user group. You can charge much much much higher fees for products aimed at doctors/lawyers/engineers/dentists/etc than you can charge teenagers/small restaurants/small salons/etc…One group may not blink at dropping 200K on a product while another will be stressed by $2,000 or even $200. Be aware that the bigger the organization you are dealing with usually the longer the sales cycle can be, something taking years.
Market Evaluation
The second thing that may be important to know, is if the market is large enough using the revenue model you are selecting to warrant creation of this product. The smaller the market size, the more you must be able to charge for the product to make it worth selling. Some products the market size is essentially infinite, such as a game on the App Store, in theory anyone could be interested in buying it.
Many products, especially niche industry specific products, will have a finite market. You can usually pretty easily find out an estimate of your market size. Usually I have done this by finding some registers of members of that industry. For instance years ago I was developing software for use in medical education during residency. I found an organization the ACGME that does accrediting for all residency programs. They had complete data on the total number of residents accepted into each residency program. From this I knew the maximum possible size of my target model and from my revenue model I could calculate the upper limit of potential revenue possible. Of course there is no such thing as 100% capture of any market so this is just a very rough gauge.
Gauging general interest can also be valuable tool in figuring out if this product is worth developing. One of my favorite ways to do this is to use google AdWords Keyword Planner tool. (Find Your Campaign Keywords with Keyword Planner - Google Ads). You have to create a free account, but using this tool you can do a deep dive into what people are searching for. The more people searching for a solution to a problem your product will solve, the bigger the market for this product. I use this tool all the time to figure out different phases of the product from conception to marketing.
Validate your idea somehow
I will use a recent project I have been developing to illustrate this step.
Project: A private label rental app for high end properties to give owners strict control of their properties while also getting the tax and revenue benefits of renting their property out. Goal is to get the upside without the typical downsides of P2P rentals.
There are many ways to get initial validation. One of my favorites is to just talk to anyone and everyone that will listen about it. People that would (in my case) both use it to offer their own properties for use as well as people that would be using those properties. Gauge interest from this feedback. If no one can see the vision of what you are doing, that raises some serious questions about the value of it.
This is free feedback and always very enlightening. I have zero fear of someone stealing my idea, it is a big job that requires tons of execution and in general people are too lazy to take it on. It's a bigger risk to me to keep my mouth shut
As an example: I was at an business conference (some people from this forum were in attendance), and I pitched my idea for this rental app to dozens of people. Many of the people there were very interested and gave me ideas of what they would want and how to make it valuable to them. Many of them had used other apps like AirBnB and VRBO and told me the pain points they had experience, which helped me to refine my idea further.
There are other forms of validation that you can do too. For instance, some people will try to pre-sell. They will setup a dummy page online, then create some ads on google or facebook. You can either try to get actual pre-sales, or get fake pre-sells. To get a fake presell you take the person all the way to the credit card form and when they hit complete order just don't save their data and generate an error...this proves they would have bought it. And don't worry about losing a bunch of customers, there are tons more and your purpose at this phase is just validation. And if losing a handful of customers would be impactful then the idea has no legs in the first place.
You can also try to presell in person too where you approach a business, etc..., and have them invest some amount of money upfront to help you develop it for some big perk down the line. You would be amazed the number of businesses that will do this if you can get them to see the true value of your product. I have done this with a "partner" business to help build an app, the upfront cost was $200K. But I have a long proven track record of delivering and the product was solving a huge pain point of this company.
Another way you can do soft validation is through Google Keyword Planner mentioned above. If you did not already do this when researching the products market, do it now by plugging in different keyword search phrases related to your intended product. See if people are searching for it. The more traffic of people looking for something the more need and larger the relevant audience.
Create Outline of Your product.
There are several ways to do this, but in this stage I create a text sketch of my product. Now days I actually use ChatGPT to help me do these. To do this I write as complete of a description as possible, using normal English, then ask ChatGPT to create me user stories and acceptance criteria.
Here is a fictitious example (made up on the fly right now for say a dog walking app) of what I would feed into ChatGPT.
"Imagine you are designing software, you need to take the following information and generate user stories and acceptance criteria that a software designer and software programmer will use to create the application. Please include a background statement summarizing the application.
The app will be created for smartphones such as an iPhone. The purpose of the application will be to enable dog owners to find people that can walk their dog for an agreed upon price.
New users will create an account by entering their phone number into the app. The app will then send the new user a text message with a code. The new user can then enter the code into the app which will validate that their phone number is valid, and then the user will be prompted for a password and will designate whether they are a dog owner user or dog walker user.
Dog owner users can view a list of dog walker users, that are ordered by distance from them. The list will show a picture of the dog walker user, show their rating from other dog owner users, a description of their services, and a price for their services. Dog owner users can select a dog walker user and send a job offer to walk their dog.
Dog walker users will see a list of their scheduled dog walking appointments. Dog walker users will be notified when a dog owner user sends a job offer, and they will be able to accept or decline the offer."
I feed this into chatGPT, and the following is the output I get.
Background Statement: Our application aims to connect dog owners with dog walkers in their vicinity. This mobile app, designed for smartphones like iPhone, will facilitate the process of finding and booking dog walking services. Users will be able to create accounts, search for nearby dog walkers, and arrange dog walking appointments. Below are user stories and acceptance criteria to guide the software designer and programmer in building this application.
User Stories:
User Registration:
Finding Talent
Chances are that along the path you will need to hire someone for design, coding, copywriting, marketing, etc.
One method some people use is to find a technical cofounder. Someone that knows how to code and is willing to do the sweat equity needed to code out the app. I can’t tell you how to find this person, because I have never done it, but if you have access to someone with the right skills or can find them, this is one pathway you can take. Of course you will be giving them equity, which is a marriage of sorts, so you must consider the benefits vs risk of this. Ask many people who have done a partnership in the past and you will find many horror stories of entering into this type of arrangement. Of course just like marriage, you may find the perfect partner and together can do far more than you could have alone.
Another method I have used in the past is finding talent through sites such as Upwork. If you are not familiar, Upwork is basically a site to find and hire people as contractors to the work you need. The process is very straight forward.
Here is my software development company (https://www.upwork.com/agencies/~0156ccc02c6b3a9f76/). Use it for reference for the discussion below, you can easily find each element I’m describing.
Here is my general process:
Do a search for the skills that you need. It is best if you have researched and have specific knowledge about what you want. For instance if I was building a mobile app I may be looking for programmers skilled in javascript and react native.
Next you need to vet the particular contractor you find. Be aware that there are both agencies representing a group of contractors as well as individuals on Upwork. If it is not clear to you what you are dealing with ask them.
Look at their job success, it should be 100% or at least in the mid to high 90’s. Also look at the total # of jobs they have completed and total hours worked. Between the job success and the number of jobs you can gauge how likely they will successfully complete your job. Our company does a small portion of our work on Upwork now days, the vast majority is direct referrals from prior clients, so I would view this work history a the minimum they have done, they may have much much more experience.
How long they have been a member on upward? The longer they have been a member the more legit and less likely they are to just disappear on your.
Look at their portfolio of work online to get an idea of what they have done and visually how it looks. Most contractors do not have a complete portfolio online, you can always contact them and ask them to view their portfolio.
Now look at their work history. You can get a rough idea of the size of jobs they have done, make sure to select the option for both “Completed Jobs” and “Jobs in Progress”. Look at both the hours and the money earned. In particular if you have a really big job, make sure they have taken on some sizable work, some developers can handle a small app but will struggle with a complex app.
Also using work history look at the descriptions of the work they have done. If they have done jobs that are related in some way to what you are doing, they will have more experience for your specific job.
Also using work history, look at the range of rates they have charged. You have to pay attention to the dates, because over time most places will increase their rates as they get more experience and credibility on upward. You might be able to ask for a lower rate, but if they are well established they may not be willing to negotiate.
Make a job posting, and invite them to the job. Once you are in contact with them, ask them about their time availability, when they could start, and negotiate the rate. You may also ask them for references and if they have an available portfolio to look at.
I would recommend (required: for any non-native speaking contractor) that you ask for a video or voice call to discuss your project. You want to see how well they communicate and understand what you are looking for. Communication is a key element to success so make sure the person can communicate effectively. During this interview explain to them your work requirements and ask specifically if they have had any experience with similar projects and ask if they have the skills to complete what you are needing - if they tell you they do not have skills in that area that is a hard pass.
If they accept your job and you accept them, then you can formalize it through UpWork.
Designs and Mockups
At this stage, I hand over the user stories to our software designer. They take these stories and create a visually exact mockup of the app. We use a product called Figma. Each and every screen of the app can be created and you can interact with the app as if it was real. You can click on things moving between different views and test the flow and functionality of the app.
As tempting as it is to give the user stories to the coders straight away. Do NOT skip this step. It will cost you time and money down the line. I usually plan for between 5-15% of the total project costs to be used for design. It is the best money spent because you can find problems before a line of code is laid down and sort them out at this relatively cheap phase. Changing code is expensive.
Also it give you the ability to create a unified easy to understand vision of what the product is, how it will work, and what it does. Between the user stories and the mockups, you can easily get everyone on the same page from the get go.
Validation Part 2
After getting your mockups back, you now have the opportunity to revalidate your concept, having spent a relatively small amount. Depending on the complexity of your app the initial mockups probably were in the range of $500-4000 at current rates.
Sort out what works and what doesn’t, then go back to the drawing board and come up with better solutions for things that don’t work well. Remember it’s important to think in terms of both adding and removing features where appropriate. Simplicity is always always always the best solution, so look for ways to combine, reduce, or remove things.
You can also go and show the mockups to potential customers and get their feedback. What they like, what they don’t like, and most importantly would they buy it. If possible try to presell and actually get some sort of payment from people, this is real commitment.
The other useful thing you can do with mockups is to incorporate them into your validation test funnel. This is basically an extension of the first validation step. Build your mockup screenshots into your test funnel and see what type of interest you can generate. One potential way to do this is through crowdfunding sites like kick starter, create a campaign and then use some digital marketing to push people to your campaign. Many people think of kickstarter as a way to fund a project, which it can be. But kickstarter is equally as valuable (if not more so) as a way to validate that people will actually buy what you are building.
Also, you can use the mockup screenshots to build a pitch deck if you are looking for investors or people to help fund your project. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and this is very true with mockups. You can show someone your app idea much easier than you can explain it with words. Also it makes it feel real in the eyes/hands of the people seeing/using the mockup.
Something else I have used mockups for is to find a launch/test partner if you do not have one already. For instance, say you were making a SaaS to manage gyms. You really really need to find some gym that is willing to use your product in the beta phase and help you iron out some of the UI/UX (user interface/user experience) and other bugs before you bring it to the broader market. The way I have pitched this to them (the value they will get out of this partnership) - I tell them that their input is helping to guide the development and features of the product and so this solution will be more optimized to them and there needs than any other product on the market. I emphasize to them the rare opportunity that it is for them to have real input into something that will make their business run smoother and more profitably. You might be surprised how many people would find value in this and be willing to help you out for this reason alone. I also have often offered some financial incentive, like you can use it for free or 50% off when it is launched.
Continued on Post #12
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I will however, describe to you the process that I have used to go from idea to final app. I have been involved in the creation of dozens of apps, from both the amateur (code it all yourself) to the professional (I own a software dev shop in Vietnam with about 25 employees), we do both in house apps for our own company and outsource contract work for others. See my thread in my signature about starting that up.
Here is the blueprint of how I take an idea all the way through to an actual application. Although I know how to code, my time has become far too valuable to do anything but manage a project from a high level. What I am describing is the process to manage the creation of a project, not how to be involved in the nuts and bolts of creating it yourself.
Revenue Model
This is something I stress to everyone I work with on projects. You must have at least an initial plan on how your product will generate money. This is the very first thing I do and needs to be top of mind because you want to optimize your project around whatever model you choose.
Do not skip this step, I would argue the most important thing that must be sorted out first before anything else. If you cannot figure out a way to bring in money from your app from the get go, I would not start on it until you have figured it out. No money equals no long term viability. Of course your revenue model may change over time as you figure out how people use your product and what they are willing to pay for it, but you must have an initial plan.
Common options are:
- One Time Sale - You charge a fee to buy the software and may charge again later down the road for upgrades. Many mobile apps chose this option.
- Subscription - where you charge a recurring fee (typically monthly or annually). You can setup the subscription as a global cost to use the software - one set cost give you everything. Another option is based on some parameter such as number of users (e.g. you charge $10/mo/user), this is often how business SaaS products are priced. Another option for the subscription model is tier based, the tiers can be linked to features available (where each higher tier offers additional functionality from the lower tier) or based on some volume parameters with higher tiers offering greater volume of something (e.g. a cloud storage company having tiers based on amount of storage you can use)
- Fee based - There is some charge based on usage. There are tons of examples of this from AirBnB to Uber. Basically these are typically transactional based systems where something is offered and a fee is charged for each transaction on the platform.
- Advertising - This is pretty self explanatory. You can either plan to generate the advertising yourself or outsource to someone else like apple or google to get the ads. This is an eyeball play, and is best used on apps where people will spend a ton of time. Examples of this are games with ads displayed while playing or things like TikTok where the ads are build into the feed directly.
Also you can always combine different revenue options above, it does not have to be a one method solution.
Also remember the Freemium model where you offer some very basic version and then charge users to gain full functionality. Just make sure if you do choose freemium to design it in such a way that the user will get some use out of the product but there will be a strong incentive to want to upgrade. It costs money to maintain infrastructure and if too many people stay on freemium forever you won’t be able to stay profitable.
How do you figure out what people are willing to pay? The easiest way is to look in the market what people are already paying for similar apps/services. Or if there are no other players in your market try and find apps that are similar in scope and targeting a financially similar market (for instance if you are making something for dentists see if there is anything similar for doctors and what they are paying.
One of the big drivers for what you can charge is based on the amount of money available in the industry or user group. You can charge much much much higher fees for products aimed at doctors/lawyers/engineers/dentists/etc than you can charge teenagers/small restaurants/small salons/etc…One group may not blink at dropping 200K on a product while another will be stressed by $2,000 or even $200. Be aware that the bigger the organization you are dealing with usually the longer the sales cycle can be, something taking years.
Market Evaluation
The second thing that may be important to know, is if the market is large enough using the revenue model you are selecting to warrant creation of this product. The smaller the market size, the more you must be able to charge for the product to make it worth selling. Some products the market size is essentially infinite, such as a game on the App Store, in theory anyone could be interested in buying it.
Many products, especially niche industry specific products, will have a finite market. You can usually pretty easily find out an estimate of your market size. Usually I have done this by finding some registers of members of that industry. For instance years ago I was developing software for use in medical education during residency. I found an organization the ACGME that does accrediting for all residency programs. They had complete data on the total number of residents accepted into each residency program. From this I knew the maximum possible size of my target model and from my revenue model I could calculate the upper limit of potential revenue possible. Of course there is no such thing as 100% capture of any market so this is just a very rough gauge.
Gauging general interest can also be valuable tool in figuring out if this product is worth developing. One of my favorite ways to do this is to use google AdWords Keyword Planner tool. (Find Your Campaign Keywords with Keyword Planner - Google Ads). You have to create a free account, but using this tool you can do a deep dive into what people are searching for. The more people searching for a solution to a problem your product will solve, the bigger the market for this product. I use this tool all the time to figure out different phases of the product from conception to marketing.
Validate your idea somehow
I will use a recent project I have been developing to illustrate this step.
Project: A private label rental app for high end properties to give owners strict control of their properties while also getting the tax and revenue benefits of renting their property out. Goal is to get the upside without the typical downsides of P2P rentals.
There are many ways to get initial validation. One of my favorites is to just talk to anyone and everyone that will listen about it. People that would (in my case) both use it to offer their own properties for use as well as people that would be using those properties. Gauge interest from this feedback. If no one can see the vision of what you are doing, that raises some serious questions about the value of it.
This is free feedback and always very enlightening. I have zero fear of someone stealing my idea, it is a big job that requires tons of execution and in general people are too lazy to take it on. It's a bigger risk to me to keep my mouth shut
As an example: I was at an business conference (some people from this forum were in attendance), and I pitched my idea for this rental app to dozens of people. Many of the people there were very interested and gave me ideas of what they would want and how to make it valuable to them. Many of them had used other apps like AirBnB and VRBO and told me the pain points they had experience, which helped me to refine my idea further.
There are other forms of validation that you can do too. For instance, some people will try to pre-sell. They will setup a dummy page online, then create some ads on google or facebook. You can either try to get actual pre-sales, or get fake pre-sells. To get a fake presell you take the person all the way to the credit card form and when they hit complete order just don't save their data and generate an error...this proves they would have bought it. And don't worry about losing a bunch of customers, there are tons more and your purpose at this phase is just validation. And if losing a handful of customers would be impactful then the idea has no legs in the first place.
You can also try to presell in person too where you approach a business, etc..., and have them invest some amount of money upfront to help you develop it for some big perk down the line. You would be amazed the number of businesses that will do this if you can get them to see the true value of your product. I have done this with a "partner" business to help build an app, the upfront cost was $200K. But I have a long proven track record of delivering and the product was solving a huge pain point of this company.
Another way you can do soft validation is through Google Keyword Planner mentioned above. If you did not already do this when researching the products market, do it now by plugging in different keyword search phrases related to your intended product. See if people are searching for it. The more traffic of people looking for something the more need and larger the relevant audience.
Create Outline of Your product.
There are several ways to do this, but in this stage I create a text sketch of my product. Now days I actually use ChatGPT to help me do these. To do this I write as complete of a description as possible, using normal English, then ask ChatGPT to create me user stories and acceptance criteria.
Here is a fictitious example (made up on the fly right now for say a dog walking app) of what I would feed into ChatGPT.
"Imagine you are designing software, you need to take the following information and generate user stories and acceptance criteria that a software designer and software programmer will use to create the application. Please include a background statement summarizing the application.
The app will be created for smartphones such as an iPhone. The purpose of the application will be to enable dog owners to find people that can walk their dog for an agreed upon price.
New users will create an account by entering their phone number into the app. The app will then send the new user a text message with a code. The new user can then enter the code into the app which will validate that their phone number is valid, and then the user will be prompted for a password and will designate whether they are a dog owner user or dog walker user.
Dog owner users can view a list of dog walker users, that are ordered by distance from them. The list will show a picture of the dog walker user, show their rating from other dog owner users, a description of their services, and a price for their services. Dog owner users can select a dog walker user and send a job offer to walk their dog.
Dog walker users will see a list of their scheduled dog walking appointments. Dog walker users will be notified when a dog owner user sends a job offer, and they will be able to accept or decline the offer."
I feed this into chatGPT, and the following is the output I get.
Background Statement: Our application aims to connect dog owners with dog walkers in their vicinity. This mobile app, designed for smartphones like iPhone, will facilitate the process of finding and booking dog walking services. Users will be able to create accounts, search for nearby dog walkers, and arrange dog walking appointments. Below are user stories and acceptance criteria to guide the software designer and programmer in building this application.
User Stories:
User Registration:
- As a new user, I want to create an account with my phone number so I can access the app's features.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The app should provide a registration screen with a phone number input field.
- After entering the phone number, the app should send a verification code via SMS.
- The user should be able to enter the received code to verify their phone number.
- Once the phone number is validated, the user should be prompted to create a password.
- The user should be asked to specify whether they are a dog owner or a dog walker.
- As a dog owner user, I want to view a list of nearby dog walkers so I can choose one to walk my dog.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The app should display a list of dog walker users ordered by distance from the dog owner's location.
- Each list item should include a profile picture, rating, service description, and price for each dog walker.
- Users should be able to select a dog walker from the list.
- As a dog owner user, I want to send a job offer to a selected dog walker.
Acceptance Criteria:
- After selecting a dog walker, the app should provide an option to send a job offer.
- The user should be able to specify the date and time for the dog walking appointment.
- The app should notify the selected dog walker of the job offer.
- As a dog walker user, I want to see a list of my scheduled dog walking appointments.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The app should display a list of upcoming dog walking appointments for the dog walker.
- Each appointment should include details such as the dog owner's name, dog's name, date, and time.
- As a dog walker user, I want to receive notifications when a dog owner user sends a job offer.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The app should send a push notification to the dog walker user when a job offer is received.
- The notification should include details about the job offer, such as the dog owner's name and the appointment details.
- As a dog walker user, I want to be able to accept or decline job offers.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The app should provide options to accept or decline a job offer when a notification is received.
- If the dog walker accepts, the appointment should be added to their schedule.
Finding Talent
Chances are that along the path you will need to hire someone for design, coding, copywriting, marketing, etc.
One method some people use is to find a technical cofounder. Someone that knows how to code and is willing to do the sweat equity needed to code out the app. I can’t tell you how to find this person, because I have never done it, but if you have access to someone with the right skills or can find them, this is one pathway you can take. Of course you will be giving them equity, which is a marriage of sorts, so you must consider the benefits vs risk of this. Ask many people who have done a partnership in the past and you will find many horror stories of entering into this type of arrangement. Of course just like marriage, you may find the perfect partner and together can do far more than you could have alone.
Another method I have used in the past is finding talent through sites such as Upwork. If you are not familiar, Upwork is basically a site to find and hire people as contractors to the work you need. The process is very straight forward.
Here is my software development company (https://www.upwork.com/agencies/~0156ccc02c6b3a9f76/). Use it for reference for the discussion below, you can easily find each element I’m describing.
Here is my general process:
Do a search for the skills that you need. It is best if you have researched and have specific knowledge about what you want. For instance if I was building a mobile app I may be looking for programmers skilled in javascript and react native.
Next you need to vet the particular contractor you find. Be aware that there are both agencies representing a group of contractors as well as individuals on Upwork. If it is not clear to you what you are dealing with ask them.
Look at their job success, it should be 100% or at least in the mid to high 90’s. Also look at the total # of jobs they have completed and total hours worked. Between the job success and the number of jobs you can gauge how likely they will successfully complete your job. Our company does a small portion of our work on Upwork now days, the vast majority is direct referrals from prior clients, so I would view this work history a the minimum they have done, they may have much much more experience.
How long they have been a member on upward? The longer they have been a member the more legit and less likely they are to just disappear on your.
Look at their portfolio of work online to get an idea of what they have done and visually how it looks. Most contractors do not have a complete portfolio online, you can always contact them and ask them to view their portfolio.
Now look at their work history. You can get a rough idea of the size of jobs they have done, make sure to select the option for both “Completed Jobs” and “Jobs in Progress”. Look at both the hours and the money earned. In particular if you have a really big job, make sure they have taken on some sizable work, some developers can handle a small app but will struggle with a complex app.
Also using work history look at the descriptions of the work they have done. If they have done jobs that are related in some way to what you are doing, they will have more experience for your specific job.
Also using work history, look at the range of rates they have charged. You have to pay attention to the dates, because over time most places will increase their rates as they get more experience and credibility on upward. You might be able to ask for a lower rate, but if they are well established they may not be willing to negotiate.
Make a job posting, and invite them to the job. Once you are in contact with them, ask them about their time availability, when they could start, and negotiate the rate. You may also ask them for references and if they have an available portfolio to look at.
I would recommend (required: for any non-native speaking contractor) that you ask for a video or voice call to discuss your project. You want to see how well they communicate and understand what you are looking for. Communication is a key element to success so make sure the person can communicate effectively. During this interview explain to them your work requirements and ask specifically if they have had any experience with similar projects and ask if they have the skills to complete what you are needing - if they tell you they do not have skills in that area that is a hard pass.
If they accept your job and you accept them, then you can formalize it through UpWork.
Designs and Mockups
At this stage, I hand over the user stories to our software designer. They take these stories and create a visually exact mockup of the app. We use a product called Figma. Each and every screen of the app can be created and you can interact with the app as if it was real. You can click on things moving between different views and test the flow and functionality of the app.
As tempting as it is to give the user stories to the coders straight away. Do NOT skip this step. It will cost you time and money down the line. I usually plan for between 5-15% of the total project costs to be used for design. It is the best money spent because you can find problems before a line of code is laid down and sort them out at this relatively cheap phase. Changing code is expensive.
Also it give you the ability to create a unified easy to understand vision of what the product is, how it will work, and what it does. Between the user stories and the mockups, you can easily get everyone on the same page from the get go.
Validation Part 2
After getting your mockups back, you now have the opportunity to revalidate your concept, having spent a relatively small amount. Depending on the complexity of your app the initial mockups probably were in the range of $500-4000 at current rates.
Sort out what works and what doesn’t, then go back to the drawing board and come up with better solutions for things that don’t work well. Remember it’s important to think in terms of both adding and removing features where appropriate. Simplicity is always always always the best solution, so look for ways to combine, reduce, or remove things.
You can also go and show the mockups to potential customers and get their feedback. What they like, what they don’t like, and most importantly would they buy it. If possible try to presell and actually get some sort of payment from people, this is real commitment.
The other useful thing you can do with mockups is to incorporate them into your validation test funnel. This is basically an extension of the first validation step. Build your mockup screenshots into your test funnel and see what type of interest you can generate. One potential way to do this is through crowdfunding sites like kick starter, create a campaign and then use some digital marketing to push people to your campaign. Many people think of kickstarter as a way to fund a project, which it can be. But kickstarter is equally as valuable (if not more so) as a way to validate that people will actually buy what you are building.
Also, you can use the mockup screenshots to build a pitch deck if you are looking for investors or people to help fund your project. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and this is very true with mockups. You can show someone your app idea much easier than you can explain it with words. Also it makes it feel real in the eyes/hands of the people seeing/using the mockup.
Something else I have used mockups for is to find a launch/test partner if you do not have one already. For instance, say you were making a SaaS to manage gyms. You really really need to find some gym that is willing to use your product in the beta phase and help you iron out some of the UI/UX (user interface/user experience) and other bugs before you bring it to the broader market. The way I have pitched this to them (the value they will get out of this partnership) - I tell them that their input is helping to guide the development and features of the product and so this solution will be more optimized to them and there needs than any other product on the market. I emphasize to them the rare opportunity that it is for them to have real input into something that will make their business run smoother and more profitably. You might be surprised how many people would find value in this and be willing to help you out for this reason alone. I also have often offered some financial incentive, like you can use it for free or 50% off when it is launched.
Continued on Post #12
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