Want to succeed in making apps? Answer these 5 questions from Google's former marketing chief
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The author of this article, Sanjeev Agrawal, graduated from MIT and was the first head of product marketing at Google . He then held important positions in startup companies three times, making him a typical representative of serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs can silently go through the 5 small tests proposed in this article in their minds. In fact, what made me think more was the point of view mentioned at the end of the article: "Don't look for financing ." As long as you do things well enough, money and people will come to you? It seems to make sense logically, but perhaps "finding money for work or looking for money to do things" will always be an unsolvable problem like "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Every app entrepreneur thinks his idea is amazing. Many entrepreneurs come to me with their own "cool" apps, covering everything from sharing cooking videos to self-diagnosis of broken bones. I have also made several apps myself, with some successes and some failures. It's safe to say that being "cool" or "awesome" doesn't always mean success. But I want to share some lessons I’ve learned along the way—no rocket science, just some basic principles. First of all, 2C ideas are always the easiest to think of. Look around you, there are so many things that can be improved. It's easy to come up with a few ideas for better ways to do something. Moreover, it is not very expensive to make an app for testing now. You can make a prototype in a few days, and then (in theory) you can get millions of users without spending a penny on promotion. In many ways, these are unprecedented times. Second, the idea of “making an app” is particularly attractive because of its low threshold and ease of implementation. In the past, the most important things in starting a business were who you knew and what you knew. But what matters most now is how quickly you can iterate and how much traffic you can direct. The traditional barriers have disappeared. Third, no matter how well you iterate and direct traffic, there is no guarantee that your app will be successful. There is too much external noise and it is difficult to get the user's attention. To be precise, it is very, very difficult. There is no magic bullet that can completely solve this problem. No one can predict whether an app will be successful or not - everyone on earth knows that you will never know the result if you don’t try. For B2B projects, you can (and should) identify a number of seed users in advance, but for 2C apps, you can only test them after they are completed and show them to others. Really, asking your friends or conducting a survey of a thousand people online is of no use. But if you make an app and show it to everyone you can, you might get a clearer idea. I summarized my experience in entrepreneurship over the past few years and developed a process to sort out ideas for making apps - it can be said to be a small filter to help you filter out unreliable ideas before actual implementation. If your app is stuck at a certain level, then you may want to rethink it. Level 1: It is people-oriented It has to be a problem or pain point of your own. My last business venture was inspired by a pain point I encountered in the process of finding a job and recruiting people. The project before that was to solve the problem of text and voice search on mobile platforms by pushing content in context. Unless you are a core user yourself, you cannot deny that you are trying your best to guess the user's preferences, pain points, and possible solutions. These pain points must be painful enough, otherwise you are likely to be the only user of your app. Customs test: Is there any other way to achieve the goal that people can achieve through your app? Think through all the options and then ask yourself honestly, “Does the world really need this app?” Level 2: It has an audience Don’t think about millions of users yet - first find a hundred people who are willing to be your beta test guinea pigs. They are your precious seed users. They will help you refine your core idea, improve the user experience, and help you correct any mistakes before you officially launch. Without this group of seed users who like your app, you are just building a car behind closed doors or driving with your eyes closed. Customs test: Make a simple website and an app prototype (it doesn’t have to be usable, just clickable) and direct traffic to them. Get some people to sign up and experience the user experience, and ask them what they like about the app and how they think it solves real-world problems. Level 3: It is concise and complete If someone comes to me and takes more than 30 seconds to explain his or her idea, I usually won't listen. Users are the most impatient, so your ideas must be concise enough for anyone to understand them immediately. Not only must your messaging be concise, but your core product and user experience must be concise as well. At the same time, your app also needs to provide certain "complete" services - such as being able to hail a taxi and pay for it smoothly with one click, or taking a photo and sharing it online with one click. An app is worth using only if it makes something easier, cheaper, or more fun (ideally all three). Customs test: Run to a coffee shop and show your project to anyone, but don't explain too much. If they don't quite understand, it means the revolution has not yet succeeded and you still need to work harder. Level 4: It’s unique Nowadays, people are increasingly looking down on the act of copying something. Unless the knockoff does something that's ten times better than the original, nobody's going to pay much attention to it. Beautiful user interface design is not a panacea, but think carefully about how your app can solve real problems by improving the experience. Look at apps like yours and ask yourself the age-old question: “Does the world really need my app?” Customs test: If people see your app and are amazed at the previous level, then it should be unique enough. Level 5: It’s Small This may sound counter-intuitive at first, but it is not. If a market has long attracted attention or a behavior has become popular, it probably means that the relevant field is already crowded. Uber ’s success doesn’t mean every “Uber of something” will be successful. The best ideas often seem small and unattractive today, but will become very big in the future - this is often called the "shadow market." Most people would not like such a "small" idea. Although not many people can understand it, there are still many people who are willing to give it a try. You can start from the similarities between the app and traditional behavioral habits and guide them step by step. Customs test: Make a business plan and show it to friends in the venture capital circle. If everyone thinks this idea is a little "small", then it might actually be a good idea. Finally, although many people have said this, I still want to repeat it: don’t waste time actively looking for financing. Although there is a myth that "you can use 20,000 US dollars to make an app and use it to raise 500,000 US dollars", this approach does not work. Even if it works, it's not the right way. Keeping thinking about financing will make you "derail" - you can't focus on the product. If you make an engaging app, you will get a lot of help very quickly. So don’t rush into it, first thoroughly check your idea, and if it passes all the tests, then focus on the product and work hard to attract users. Attraction trumps all. With it, everything will be fine. Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising The author of this article @LeanTaaS compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! |
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