Evaluating Your App Idea
From a Technical Perspective
Vance Lucas
http://vancelucas.com
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Target Audience
• Limited technical knowledge/
experience
• Anyone interested in everything that
goes into making apps
• People who have app ideas, but don’t
know who to talk to or where to start
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Who are You?
• Vance Lucas
• http://vancelucas.com
• Twitter: @vlucas
• Brightbit (local dev. shop) until 2014
• Consulting/Freelance afterwards
• Now full-time at NetSuite
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Soundingboard.tv
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This IS
• Pre-market validation of idea itself
• Technical feasibility determination
• “Is this idea even possible?”
• “Is this idea worth pursuing?”
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This is NOT
• Good / Bad idea judgement
• “Your idea is [awesome|terrible]”
• Determination of success
• Market validation
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Topics
• Idea
• Information
• Integrations
• Service
• Competition
• Money
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Idea
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• What is the idea?
• What problem does it solve?
• How do users solve this problem
currently?
• How will your app solve this problem
better?
Story: App Idea for Take-Out Menus
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Information
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• Does my idea require data or
information that I don’t have?
• How can I get this data?
• What will it cost (time + money)?
• How hard is this data to get?
• Will I own or control this data?
Story: App Idea for Road Trip Guide
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Integrations
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• Does this require integration with a
3rd party (Twitter, Facebook, data
source, etc.)? How deep?
• Does it cost money?
• What are the risks in integrating?
Story: App Idea to Cancel Credit Cards
• Is a central database or web service
required for your app to function?
• Are you going to have a user login?
• Will any data sync across devices?
• Is any content “shared” with, or
“discovered” by other users?
• Is there any content not stored only
on a single user’s phone or device
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You Need an API!
• Whole separate (large) project with
tight integration into your app
• Recurring costs? (domain, hosting, etc.)
• Risks? (security, availability, etc.)
if you answered “yes” to any of those…
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Your API
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Competition
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• Are there any competitors?
• If so, how many? How big are they?
• Good ratings? Any complaints?
• How is your idea different?
• What is your unique value
proposition
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Market Analysis
• How big is the market?
• # of apps in this category?
• # of searches for app keywords?
• # of downloads of competition?
• How will this make money (ROI)?
• One-time purchases or subscription?
• Free with ads or in-app purchases?
• How does this align with costs?
• Remember 30% cut for app stores
• Does it even need to make money?
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Game Time!
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Notes App
• Integration with iCloud to
sync notes across devices
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Camera+ App
• Simple integration for
sharing photos on Twitter,
Facebook, Flickr
• Integration with iCloud to
sync photos to all devices
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Angry Birds
• Integration with Game
Center (iOS)
• Integration with Google
Play (Android)
• Push Notifications / GCM
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• Web Service
• API for app + 3rd party developers
• Integration with MLS + others
• Integrations
• Google Maps
• Push Notifications
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• Web Services Galore…
• Integrations
• Crawls every website in existence
• Way too much to list…
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Need Inspiration?
https://twitter.com/search?q=#appidea
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Questions?
@vlucas | [email protected]
I’m writing a book!
http://soundingboard.tv/book