Hey everyone, I'm a software developer and have been leading the development of an application which revolves around child behavioral tracking and pattern detection. Aside from picking a name for our new application and securing the domain we've been focused solely on prototyping the first version of the application. It involves quite a bit of data visualization challenges so we were eager to roll our sleeves up and start coding. The initial progress has been great, our technology stack is defined and our initial prototype is extremely elegant under the hood but we are currently at somewhat of a standstill. Having worked at agencies for the majority of my career I've been somewhat spoiled in that by the time I'm writing code everything from the branding to the personas, use cases, and wire-framing has been completed. We skipped all of that due to sheer idiocy on my part or extreme excitement for what we want to achieve, not sure which, probably both :o) My question is having jumped way ahead into the software development lifecycle, should we continue to sprint along until we get a MVP that we know we wont be happy with fairly soon or reign it in and enlist the help of both a UX and UI design resource and not worry so much about when the app can launch? Thanks in advance for any advice! -Mike Ellan
Mike,
I am assuming you'd have gained significant insights on the probable demand for your application. If I build, they will come could be a fatal proposition to presume. I am telling this, both, after having worked with numerous entrepreneurs as an independent consultant to working with startups as an agency.
Secondly, as a yet-to-be-launched-startup your concern should be "How to monetize the App?" than thinking about something as big as branding. Branding is much more than mere having a logo.
Continuing with sprint up to MVP could be a good idea as long as you are clear with "Objective" and "Goal" that you wish to achieve post reaching MVP stage. If not, then you should simultaneously start establishing a business model around your idea. And, don't confuse business model to means to just earn revenue. It's much more than that, and in it's absence the road ahead may be ridden with more potholes.
If investment/funding is at the top of your mind, post MVP, then you should consider putting together a document highlighting following:
1. Problem your application will address
2. Value associated with your product
3. That there's a demand for such application (I have mentioned demand and not need)
4. Your strategic planning for future on utilization of fund
There could be various such critical business parameters to consider.
I hope above could be of some help to you. Please feel free to reach out to me for any specific input that you may be looking at. Receiving more Clarity from you will help me to provide more Clarity on way forward. We call it "Hand-Holding". Thank You!!
Answered 10 years ago
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