The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Launched my first web app but...

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Yachef

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
160%
Feb 11, 2019
5
8
Paris, France
Hi everyone!

First of all, i wanted to thank all of you for your help, and the value you give daily on this forum !

Let's start...

Two months ago I was looking for a business idea. So i tried to find needs for 1/2 weeks, but i was not really convinced by my researchs...
And as I really wanted to start something (I was faking action for a year...), I started a project knowing that there was a need behind, but had no idea how i will be able to make a revenue from it...

This project is a web application that would simulate a real estate investment by calculating taxes, yields, ... There was already some apps available on the web, but were not accurate at all...

To confirm the need, i asked if some people were interested on some FB groups, and received lots of answers (50+ likes/comments) in a few hours.

So i started to code....
Two days ago, i finished the very first stable version of the web app. I asked a few people to test the app, before i launch it publicly.

But I made a mistake... I was so impatient that I decided to launch the app yesterday (with 2/3 testers only, and 0 fixes made).

I was not expecting the reaction from the users... Long story short : they want a web app they can use without giving any information about them.

The problem is that i need those information for the business model i finally imagined : sell leads to real estate agency.

I can still sell advertising spaces, but I don't think that it is really profitable as it would need a lot of users (what do you think about it???).

Another idea i came with was to make the simulator 100% free to use (no information taken at all, as users want it), to attract people in the web app, and then create more features that would need an authentification...

Right now I am lost... Is there a business model to make this idea scalable ? Should I keep working on this project ?

What I am sure about, is that I can make this simulator really accurate and complete (i just need time), but is it worth it ???

I think that one of my biggest mistake was to go into this project having no idea of the business model... But at least I learned a lot from this project !

Thank you in advance for your help!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
You might still be able to monetize via lead capture and/or ads, depending on how much traffic you can generate. For example, if only 1% of visitors convert to a lead, or if ads will generate $X per 1,000 pageviews, etc.

Another idea: you could license the tool to local realtors, RE investors, etc. In other words, make it a subscription-based SAAS tool, or create a suite of tools that they could use.
 

Yachef

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
160%
Feb 11, 2019
5
8
Paris, France
You might still be able to monetize via lead capture and/or ads, depending on how much traffic you can generate. For example, if only 1% of visitors convert to a lead, or if ads will generate $X per 1,000 pageviews, etc.

Another idea: you could license the tool to local realtors, RE investors, etc. In other words, make it a subscription-based SAAS tool, or create a suite of tools that they could use.

Hi NMdad!

Thank you for your help!

I will think about those two options... But I have to admit that this business does not motivate me at all after what happened !
 

astr0

Grinding
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
140%
Dec 3, 2017
356
500
36
Lviv, Ukraine
Just an idea: Add a list of properties for sale in the App so that the user could calculate everything for the property with one click. Sell listing "Ad space" to local real estate sellers and/or add some affiliate links.
Adding more features that require authentication/paid subscription is an option too. Like full profitability estimate taking into account renting prices in the region and some "luxury" multiplier of the apartment (hard to make it accurate though).

I will think about those two options... But I have to admit that this business does not motivate me at all after what happened !
What happened!? It's really rare to hit the bullseye with the original plan, pivoting and adapting to the market is fine!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Yachef

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
160%
Feb 11, 2019
5
8
Paris, France
Just an idea: Add a list of properties for sale in the App so that the user could calculate everything for the property with one click. Sell listing "Ad space" to local real estate sellers and/or add some affiliate links.
Adding more features that require authentication/paid subscription is an option too. Like full profitability estimate taking into account renting prices in the region and some "luxury" multiplier of the apartment (hard to make it accurate though).


What happened!? It's really rare to hit the bullseye with the original plan, pivoting and adapting to the market is fine!

Thank you very much for your help !

Yes, you are totally right, I was quite demotivated by the fact that my first business model could not work...
But as you said this is totally normal, the original plan is rarely good...

What I decided to do :
- 1st : Make the simulator accurate, and free to use (with no registering)
- 2nd : Increase as much as possible the traffic
- 3rd : Create new features according to the feedback I receive from users (and add a list of properties for sale) / Sell Ad space

Or maybe I should create new features before promoting the app ?

In any case, thank you for all these ideas!
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top