Nassib Haddad. CloudAppers.
Digital startups are a dime a dozen these days. Who can blame them? It’s a good train to be on in the world of uberized-this, or tindered-that striving to be the next unicorn.
In my job, I get to shake the hands of these young, motivated, and eager entrepreneurs on a daily. Each trying to disrupt the market with a new spin on an existing innovation, or if the bold dare, venture off on a tangent in hopes of filling a void that the market didn’t even know it needed. Whatever the motive is, the newcomers to this scene will almost surely underestimate the commitment needed to having a product see the light.
As an app design and development agency, we’re always keen on jumping on these fun opportunities we’re approached with. Yet, our constant battle is to identify, as early as possible, the truly determined from just the curious.
Creating a cool functional product is just the start of the ongoing hurdles that digital entrepreneurs will need to overcome. What happens after that is what separates the two personas mentioned earlier. The archives at our company are stacked with near-complete products that are days away from being market-worthy, yet lack the leadership needed to spearhead a successful product in the market. It’s truly sad to see all this potential locked away on digital archives simply because the entrepreneur behind it no longer believes in his own product, doesn’t have time to dedicate to it anymore, or simply, just doesn’t want to after realizing what is required of him/her.
So what could they have done differentlyone may ask? I’d say that it’s not really a question of what could have been done differently as opposed to what could have been done moresmartly.
Building a product in phases (or“sprints” as it’s also known) is the most recommended way we can suggest to approach a build.We strongly suggest keeping things simple, light, beautiful, clean, and most importantly, intuitive! With the human attention span diminishing by the day, one only has such a short and precious window of opportunity to engage a new user before they move right past the product and never look back. Not only is implementing aphased approach smarter, but it’s also more cost-effective. It allows entrepreneurs to validate their idea in the market early before more time and money is invested to create a richer product that might prove not to be feasible afterall.
As a cliché example, let’s look at Facebook’s growth since its launch back in 2004. Can you imagine Zuckerbergintroducing Facebook back then with all the power features it offered users in the following years after? Users would have been so overwhelmed with features that they would have stuck to whatever they were using before Facebook ever came along.I can’t stress enough on the importance of a lean MVP for the first phase of the build.
Which leads me to my next point. User Experience (UX) Design. Oh how crucial and how underrated its importance is!There is absolutely no point in summoning up all that determination, funding, marketing, etc if the product itself is going to require a heavy learning curve to catch on. If the product doesn’t feel natural, intuitive, or fun to use, one would only be amplifying the friction to gaining any traction at all.
Forgive me for going a bit off topic though. My intention of this write up isn’t to talk about the specifics of a successful product build. It is to address the general mindset of the upcoming digital entrepreneur, and to bring their attention to the bigger picture to make sure their commitment is in check.
My question to the digital entrepreneur of tomorrowis: Are you willing to invest everything that you have and everything that you are needed for this new venture to come to life? Long sleepless nights? Selling an asset or taking a loan to afford the marketing needed to make some noise? Escaping your safe zone and relocating to a different corner of the globe if such is required (as is the case with many startups who secure their first series of funding)?
If you answered yes to the above, then perhaps you’re not so “overenthusiastic” afterall. Perhaps you have just the right minerals that make up a true digital entrepreneur.Perhaps you will be the next role model for digital entrepreneurs to follow. Perhaps I’ll have the personal pleasure of working with you on bringing your idea to life. I truly hope to have such a privilege.
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