Yesterday I wrote about a case study in which a friend came to me to help him with an iPhone problem. I mentioned that today I would provide some key learnings that small/medium businesses can take away from that case study. And here they are . . .
1. Think before acting – In the case study, my friend had already made a decision, long ago actually, that having an app on the iPhone was the right place for his business. There’s so much talk about the iPhone these days but ultimately its still a “walled-in” platform where only a subset of users have access. There’s lots of data out there to suggest that other platforms or architectures should also be considered.
In general, thinking is a good practice but one that small businesses rarely give themselves the space to do. Startups give in to the pressure of acting quickly and decisively. The premise of “Ready, Fire, Aim” (Aim is the thinking part here) is to do something quickly but also inexpensively in order to get some necessary feedback about your application. This iPhone experience for my friend was EXTREMELY expensive. But it might have all been avoided if they looked at other less expensive mobile platforms than just the iPhone.
“Aiming” is actually the most important part of the equation and not the “Firing.” In that scenario, you’re only doing something so you can begin to think . . . powerfully. If that’s the case, “firing” had better be low cost.
2. Be alert for what you are paying for – In general, the least expensive way to transact for something is with money, but keep in mind what it is, exactly, that you are transacting for. When you pay someone to build an application for you, are you just paying for the application? Here’s what you should also pay for:
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a. Take care of your concerns – Your primary expertise is probably not Mobile application development or any type of development. These are rough and savage waters and you need someone to lead you and take care of you until the application is complete. You need someone competent and mature enough who knows how to move you and your business to a safe place.
b. Integrity – Dealing with people of Integrity is low cost in any of the ways we transact in business. As I mentioned earlier, this application has become extremely expensive for my friend. First, they still have no application that was contracted for months ago, all due to the cost of that developers integrity. What is the cost? Time? Money? Energy? Resources? All of the above. He spent his time worrying and waiting for the application to be finished. He paid the developer money that he’ll never get back. He spent energy trying to find someone else who will finish the application. And he’s trying to find resources to fund an activity (family, friends, business partners, etc.) that will help him achieve his business goals. Not to mention all the time he’s spent talking to his loved ones about how stressed he is that he can’t get his business to place he envisioned over a year ago.
c. A Partner – You may have contextual needs that you need to transact for as well. For instance, you may wish to project manage the activity yourself or you may not. You may need some help thinking and acting in other parts of your business. A partner is someone you can trust and can turn to when you face a breakdown. It’s better for your business to have really smart people around you no matter where you turn. Knowing those that help you think are powerful people to have around.
3. Understand the business opportunity – What is an average customer worth? How many more customers do you expect to have after your application is finished? How grounded are those expectations? Business owners who look only at what they can afford are typically only interested in earning what they need to make a living. If you have grounded an assessment that within a year you can expect to make 60,000 dollars and it will cost you 20,000 dollars to do it, 20,000 doesn’t seem like much of a cost at all. Many business owners, though, have no clear picture of the business opportunity before them and when they see a cost figure like 10k or 20k they might scoff and try to find anyone who will do it for a much lower price. See items #1 and #2 above.
What have I missed? What’s flawed? I’d love to read your thoughts.
First off – I agree with what you have written here and would offer up the following suggestion.
Whenever I work with a small/medium size business and they want to launch something to the public, I have to ask. Where are your customers? In this case that you have written about this might have been a good thing to know (maybe he/she does and I missed it). If their customers are pretty much on a non-iphone device using that platform for the product might not be the best answer. I don’t know that this isn’t the case I am just using that as an example. I would also try to find out from a group of my potential target market what are the features that they deem required, nice to have, would be great to have for my product. Having this information would help focus the product features and roadmap and maybe even a target device(s). Basic principle that the patient will tell you what is wrong and this also goes along with your business opportunity paragraph. Given the opportunities and requirements are understood cranking out the app would be much easier to manage and accomplish. Another area that I would personally be curious to know more about is; once you know who you are talking to (Customers) and what you want to tell them or do for them (pain point being addressed) what would you like them to do next? There might be a product that is being targeted for a specific pain point that they need help with to make their life better or put their business is a better position, what does that lead to next? Think of it in terms of Golf (Pool, Chess) – if I hit this ball there what shot does that line me up for next.
Just my two cents worth.
Keep up the posts interesting stuff.