Need advice for an educational app (SaaS)

[Sokka]

Dear fastlane fellas and fellettes!

I am excited to share with you a business idea that I believe the market truly needs and will find valuable. I am developing an educational app that teaches and quizzes users on various skills.

As I have limited experience in app development, I have found a no-code platform to be the most suitable for me. It allows me to save time and money on development. However, I am now facing a dilemma. The web application of Flutterflow uses a significant amount of RAM, causing my MacBook 2017 8GB to become extremely slow and laggy as it sounds like a Boeing 747 that is about to take off. Unfortunately, I am unable to increase my MacBook's RAM (Thanks Apple!), so I am considering purchasing a new notebook with at least 16GB (or possibly 32GB) of RAM, which would cost me around $1400. I have also tried deploying a VM in the cloud with 16GB of RAM, but it was still running slow. I have the option to improve the performance of the cloud, but it would require me to spend hundreds of dollars monthly. Instead, I believe it would be a better investment to put that money towards one of the other options I am considering.

Another option is to outsource the entire design and features to someone on Fiverr for $500-$600. However, this is just a rough start for the app, but it is a good foundation to move forward with development.


I have listed the pros and downsides of both options below:

** Pros of purchasing a new notebook:

• The ability to learn valuable skills such as UX/UI design, critical thinking, and other related application development skills
• The ability to deploy more SaaS products in the future since I will have learned the skills to do so
• I can offer my skills as a freelancer to earn additional income.

* Cons of purchasing a new notebook:

• Requires a significant investment for a notebook, and I still have no product and will have to invest more time to design and develop
• I am not completely sure that the app will function properly on the new notebook, so I may encounter a similar issue.

** Pros of outsourcing the app development:

• Outsourcing to someone with at least 1 year of experience will save me a significant amount of time and allow me to act faster
• The freelancer's experience may also provide valuable recommendations for the development process

* Downsides of outsourcing the app development:

• I will not learn valuable skills
• It requires an investment
• Outsourcing to some countries may result in a different design taste and could be a hurdle

I am also considering a third option, which is to combine both options. First, getting the design and app, and then modifying it and adding new features. This has several benefits: I learn new skills, it requires less risk since I already have an app (worst case is "losing" $500), and I found myself better in modifying than building things.

TL;DR: I am trying to decide whether to outsource app development for $500, buy a new notebook for $1400, or combine both options to already have a "physical" product so I can start modifying later on. I would greatly appreciate any tips and advice you may have.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my post. I am confident that this app will be successful, it's just a matter of when.

I am looking forward to your valuable input!

Your fastlane entrepreneur-to-be

 

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[srodrigo]

I doubt you'll get anywhere outsourcing 500 bucks to someone with 1 year of experience. That's barely 20h of work for someone charging $25/h, which is very low. Also, what's after that? If you are planning to do any development on that (or a new) app yourself, you'll need a suitable machine sooner than later.

Btw, have you validated the idea at all?

 

[Hai]

Agree with srodrigo. You achieve nothing outsourcing for $500. Get a good notebook, learn some nice skills you can use to get work and develop a product.

 

[Sokka]

I doubt you'll get anywhere outsourcing 500 bucks to someone with 1 year of experience. That's barely 20h of work for someone charging $25/h, which is very low. Also, what's after that? If you are planning to do any development on that (or a new) app yourself, you'll need a suitable machine sooner than later.

Btw, have you validated the idea at all?

A guy from Pakistan offered to build an app through Flutterflow for approximately $500. Since FF does not require any code, it saves a bunch of time. Do you still think $500 is unreasonable in this case?

What do you mean by validation? Posting my idea on the forum?

 

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[srodrigo]

A guy from Pakistan offered to build an app through Flutterflow for approximately $500. Since FF does not require any code, it saves a bunch of time. Do you still think $500 is unreasonable in this case?

What do you mean by validation? Posting my idea on the forum?

I can't advice on the guy from Pakistan, as I don't know him. But here in Europe you'll have a hard time getting more than 1 day of work from a competent developer for $500. Also, careful with "it saves a bunch of time", as you might run into issues when the generic no-code solution doesn't fit (I haven't used Flutterflow though, so you'll probably know better). Does your app need a backend? Because that adds up even more development.

By validation I mean having spoken to potential users and having at least a few really wanting to use your app. From your description, looks more like you believe there's a market fit rather than having checked. But I might be wrong.

 

[Sokka]

I can't advice on the guy from Pakistan, as I don't know him. But here in Europe you'll have a hard time getting more than 1 day of work from a competent developer for $500. Also, careful with "it saves a bunch of time", as you might run into issues when the generic no-code solution doesn't fit (I haven't used Flutterflow though, so you'll probably know better). Does your app need a backend? Because that adds up even more development.

By validation I mean having spoken to potential users and having at least a few really wanting to use your app. From your description, looks more like you believe there's a market fit rather than having checked. But I might be wrong.

I will likely choose to develop the app myself as I believe the skills I will gain are the most valuable.

As for validating the app, you are not wrong. I have not yet spoken to potential users to gauge their interest. I was considering creating a website and email address to reach out to potential users for seeking interest. Is that what you had in mind?

 

[AppMan]

Dear fastlane fellas and fellettes!

I am excited to share with you a business idea that I believe the market truly needs and will find valuable. I am developing an educational app that teaches and quizzes users on various skills.

As I have limited experience in app development, I have found a no-code platform to be the most suitable for me. It allows me to save time and money on development. However, I am now facing a dilemma. The web application of Flutterflow uses a significant amount of RAM, causing my MacBook 2017 8GB to become extremely slow and laggy as it sounds like a Boeing 747 that is about to take off. Unfortunately, I am unable to increase my MacBook's RAM (Thanks Apple!), so I am considering purchasing a new notebook with at least 16GB (or possibly 32GB) of RAM, which would cost me around $1400. I have also tried deploying a VM in the cloud with 16GB of RAM, but it was still running slow. I have the option to improve the performance of the cloud, but it would require me to spend hundreds of dollars monthly. Instead, I believe it would be a better investment to put that money towards one of the other options I am considering.

Another option is to outsource the entire design and features to someone on Fiverr for $500-$600. However, this is just a rough start for the app, but it is a good foundation to move forward with development.


I have listed the pros and downsides of both options below:

** Pros of purchasing a new notebook:

• The ability to learn valuable skills such as UX/UI design, critical thinking, and other related application development skills
• The ability to deploy more SaaS products in the future since I will have learned the skills to do so
• I can offer my skills as a freelancer to earn additional income.

* Cons of purchasing a new notebook:

• Requires a significant investment for a notebook, and I still have no product and will have to invest more time to design and develop
• I am not completely sure that the app will function properly on the new notebook, so I may encounter a similar issue.

** Pros of outsourcing the app development:

• Outsourcing to someone with at least 1 year of experience will save me a significant amount of time and allow me to act faster
• The freelancer's experience may also provide valuable recommendations for the development process

* Downsides of outsourcing the app development:

• I will not learn valuable skills
• It requires an investment
• Outsourcing to some countries may result in a different design taste and could be a hurdle

I am also considering a third option, which is to combine both options. First, getting the design and app, and then modifying it and adding new features. This has several benefits: I learn new skills, it requires less risk since I already have an app (worst case is "losing" $500), and I found myself better in modifying than building things.

TL;DR: I am trying to decide whether to outsource app development for $500, buy a new notebook for $1400, or combine both options to already have a "physical" product so I can start modifying later on. I would greatly appreciate any tips and advice you may have.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my post. I am confident that this app will be successful, it's just a matter of when.

I am looking forward to your valuable input!

Your fastlane entrepreneur-to-be

A developer with 1 year of experience cannot produce production-ready software, you need at least one developer in the team to have 5 (or even more if the app is more complex ) or more years.
Now if you are talking about a very simple app that doesn't require database or API then it might be possible.

 

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