App development - What would you do?
Discussion
So, a month or so ago I had an idea for an app. Nothing groundbreaking but I could see a niche and nothing existing to do this.
Since then I've been working on the idea - nothing heavy but sketching out use cases, wireframes, storyboard etc
I really fancied having a go at this (no background in apps but I don't mind having a go at things I've not tried before). Obviously, I thought my idea was genius
So, I've just discovered that someone has released their own version (literally a week or so ago) - it covers most of the ideas I've had. I don't think there is space for 2 players (for it to work well it needs a single app).
So - what do I do?
Crack on and try to displace the others? They are well ahead in development and will be in marketing.
Forget it and move on? I've nothing invested other than time and dreams.
I have a fairly constant stream of ideas and quite regularly move on from ones that don't stack up so I'm quite used to it, but this one felt really good!
I have some other ideas in the pipeline but none as interesting.
Since then I've been working on the idea - nothing heavy but sketching out use cases, wireframes, storyboard etc
I really fancied having a go at this (no background in apps but I don't mind having a go at things I've not tried before). Obviously, I thought my idea was genius
So, I've just discovered that someone has released their own version (literally a week or so ago) - it covers most of the ideas I've had. I don't think there is space for 2 players (for it to work well it needs a single app).
So - what do I do?
Crack on and try to displace the others? They are well ahead in development and will be in marketing.
Forget it and move on? I've nothing invested other than time and dreams.
I have a fairly constant stream of ideas and quite regularly move on from ones that don't stack up so I'm quite used to it, but this one felt really good!
I have some other ideas in the pipeline but none as interesting.
Talk to potential customers - did you have any lined up? What market research or customer development have you done?
Just because someone else is doing the same idea doesn't mean it's even viable. They might be spending thousands on the hope that the market is worth X, when it might only be worth A and they'll be bust within the year.
Just because someone else is doing the same idea doesn't mean it's even viable. They might be spending thousands on the hope that the market is worth X, when it might only be worth A and they'll be bust within the year.
Good points.
The idea is essentially connecting groups of people (in a niche area), I have spoken with a number of people in one of the groups and there is plenty of interest (it's low effort so easy for everyone to contribute). The other group would take marketing to gain users.
That's another point - none are really customers, just users. I wasn't really looking at it as a big business idea - more a sideline project for me to learn some stuff and hopefully build it up.
There are ways of monitising it but it's small fry until it's got plenty of users.
The idea is essentially connecting groups of people (in a niche area), I have spoken with a number of people in one of the groups and there is plenty of interest (it's low effort so easy for everyone to contribute). The other group would take marketing to gain users.
That's another point - none are really customers, just users. I wasn't really looking at it as a big business idea - more a sideline project for me to learn some stuff and hopefully build it up.
There are ways of monitising it but it's small fry until it's got plenty of users.
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