Great Idea, I wish I could Help You.

In the middle of the night, while sleeping, you got a great idea for a new app. You are excited and cannot wait to share it with your friend, the Amazing Developer. In the morning, you call your pal and arrange to meet for lunch. You met and shared your vision with great expectation that your companion becomes your partner; however, you find yourself being turned down. You should not be surprised. It was meant to happen. While your idea was great, you were not prepared to present it.

Developing an app is not just sitting down and coding until it happens. Many other aspects must be taken into account such as:

• The user interface: how does the application look?
• The user experience: how does the application behave when interacting with the user?
• The application flow: How does it flow from the main page where the user can go inside the application?
• The name: Does the name already exist?
• The market research: Are there other applications like it already existing? What differentiates your application from them? What it is unique or enhanced?
• The website: No application will be taken seriously if there is not a website for it.
• Publishing your application: Is your application a website? Then, what hosting do you need? Is your application a mobile app? Then, what are the requirements to publish such an application? Is your application for a desktop? Which OS will it support? How are you going to sell it?
• Social Network: Do you need a presence on social networks to promote your app?
• The maintenance: Who is going to take care of it? How will customers reach you when trouble shows up?
• Do I need to add an End User License Agreement? How about a Disclosure Agreement?

The list goes on, but do not despair. There is a way that you can increase your chances of success and it is by doing your homework prior to presenting your idea.

So… You got your idea. You have it in your mind. You know how it should work and why it is so great. However, let’s face it, you do not know how to do programming nor you have the intention to learn about it, then what can you do? Well, let us tackle down the things that you can do that do not require any programming skills to accomplish it.

Draw a storyboard. You only need a pencil, a ruler, an eraser, and paper. Lots of paper. The idea is to draw how the program would look and how the program should behave when interacting with the user. What will happen when the user presses the arrow button? What text will show up in the text area? Check out how other applications do it and pick what you like about them. No technical skill required for that!
Draw the website. You should use four colors. Black and white, plus two colors of your choice. Keep it simple. Browse through the internet and use other websites as inspiration to build yours. What sections will the website have? What text and pictures will those sections hold? What can the users do on your website?

Do some market research. Are there already applications out there that do the same? What will your application provide that they do not have? Does the name you wish to use already exist?

Do you require funds? Can you obtain them if you have to? How much funds do you think you will need?

Do you need to create a corporation? What kind of corporation it is?

What else can you do that does not require programming?

In short, you need to do more than just present your inspiration. Before you present your idea to your Friendly Neighborhood Developer, you should already have a lot of work done. Then, your friend can worry about making time to do the coding because you are already on top of things. Your associate does not have to spend time designing, researching and doing extra work. He or she will be more than willing to join you on your enterprise.

© 2018, Alejandro G. Carlstein Ramos Mejia. All rights reserved.