Building a mobile app

Where else does one go when they don’t know where to start?? In my case, apparently where I loiter catching up on the latest ice fishing gossip.

Anyway, I have had an idea for a mobile app for a while now but I just don’t have the experience to build it myself or the time to teach myself to build it. I’m looking for input from anyone that has experience with or knows about hiring/contracting out the work (the building of ios/android app).

I’ve heard about the people in India willing to do it for pennies on the dollar, but I have major reservations going that route (similarly with Craigslist). On the other hand, I’m not at a point where I can pay some big name company $10k to build it for me.

At this point I have a concept and a pretty detailed outline of the features/services offered, how to potentially monetize it later, target markets, etc.

Anyone here ever tried something like this or looked into it before? I’m basically just trying to determine the best way to locate and hire a person/org to build me the app.

I appreciate any insight shared.

If you put in enough work yourself you may be able to build the app yourself within a year. The program/coding world is about as huge and helpful as one can imagine. After couple months I was building pretty simple programs myself, most of the things needed are already out there in a huge library that one just plug and plays into their own application essentially. Gonna need a few languages but once you learn one they all kinda reflect each other a bit.

Otherwise good luck. My BIL and his buds built and run the ice report app. Alot of hours after work for them, not much monetary gain if any for them.

Hope it works out for you. I also have my own idea for an app for year and half now, maybe I’ll get back into coding to get er done. Sitting in front of a screen all night just wasn’t my thing.

Jamin wrote:

At this point I have a concept and a pretty detailed outline of the features/services offered, how to potentially monetize it later, target markets, etc.

I’m going to make a lot of assumptions from your post but the first thing is that an “outline” is not sufficient. Contractors, especially Indian ones, have no investment into your idea and will do exactly what they are hired to do. This means your requirements have to be extremely detailed. Mockups of exactly what every page looks like, definitions of exactly what every possible action does, etc. Watch this video and think how much more complicated an app is: https://youtu.be/cDA3_5982h8

This may get you to the point of accurate quotes and you may find it’s too expensive for you. In that case like any business you would need investors or partners that buy into your business plan.

@jamin I’m starting a 6 month accelerated coding course at the UofM in December that finishes up in late May. Part of the course is developing applications to begin my professional portfolio. Not trying to steal any ideas here or claim ownership of the intellectual property, but if you’re interested in someone (admittedly just learning) with similar interests who’s willing to do the work for free PM me. Might be a win-win that could get you a half-ways decent product that you could pay a professional to “clean up”

Moustache you doing the bootcamp?

Deuces wrote:

Moustache you doing the bootcamp?

Yessir. My day-to-day is basically waiting for someone else to screw me over. Although I’m compensated well enough my (pipe)dream is to have more control over my own success instead of doing work other people are employed to do. Thinking that having some coding experience might allow more independent work, although I realize there’s some degree of teamwork required anywhere and the grass is always greener

Jamin, don’t let all the fancy terms and words intimidate ya, coming from a grunt construction guy my whole life it’s fairly easy to learn the stuff well enough to do what you need to do.

Remember all this tech eventually comes down to 0’s and 1’s

I work in marketing for a mobile app development company.

Developing a mobile app seems simple and that’s very deceptive. It’s every bit as difficult as developing software for the PC or desktop.

One thing that has not been mentioned is just developing the app is not the end of the process. If you want to sell it you have to get it out in the online app stores. This involves a complex process of creating an account and getting the app approved for both Android and Apple. This process is not easy and it sometimes involves software reworks demanded by the companies that control the online app stores.

I don’t want to discourage you but the way I would look at this is the same as any business investment. You’ve got an idea for a new business. What does the business plan look like for this app? What do estimate the revenue potential is?

There are a lot of great ideas for apps that never get built because the business plan just doesn’t make sense. A complex app has to have a way of paying for itself and making a profit just like a business. I’ve seen several very good ideas get thrown in the trash been simply because there is not a path toward profitable development of the idea.

Grouse

Grouse

Hi all-
Poor timing on my end when I posted this end of last week. Headed to the property for WI firearm deer opener and was offline. (no filled tags yet in case anyone wonders)

Lots of great advice on here, thank you. I’m going to take the next day to really dive into everyone’s input and really consider where I see this possibly going and what I’m willing to invest to make it happen.

I’m wrapping up the last 6mo of my MBA program right now. While I”m ready to be done with school again for a bit, maybe, just maybe, I’ll stay in the “school” mindset and take one of the many online coding app classes available. I enjoy learning new things, but, at the same time I’m tired of being at my computer every night after the kids are in bed.

Anyway, thanks again. I’ll post back here with any follow up questions.

Priority one, getting some venison in the freezer. Priority two, drill a hole and wet some lines.