The Purpose of Strategy
Let’s discuss business strategy and how it applies to a startup with very little capital.
I feel that defining a strategy for what I'm doing, and how, makes it easier to keep going in my new startup, because it gives me comfort and a set of boundaries to stay within. I am currently still working full time, so time is very precious, and eliminating unnecessary scope seems very beneficial, so that I am only focused on the core functionality.
There are so many unknowns when you’re starting something new. You will always have more questions than answers. You may want to do everything at once, and have huge plans, but you’re limited by time and manpower. This is especially true when you have a full time job. You really have to learn to be comfortable with uncertainty, and at the same time be ready to invest 2 years or more of hard work, before seeing any kind of traction.
Since I work a 40 hour work week, i have chosen a highly opinionated strategy where a lot of things are eliminated right off the bat, so they will not distract me from the core of what I want to create and achieve.
"Doing a startup is like building an airplane while attempting to take off, and at the same time decide where you want to fly to". - Unknown
"Running a business is like eating glass while standing at the edge of a cliff". - Elon Musk
My Specific Strategy
My chosen strategy partly involves the following 10 points:
1. Making very simple apps (one page only, or only one optimized, targeted task). This eliminates any critical mass-based social ideas that require a lot of users to be viable. So we are talking about simple tools (at least on the surface), or apps that provide simple entertainment or utility.
2. A strict time limit of a maximum of 80 hours per project, with a preferred of 40 hours. If the project is exceeding this time frame, that means, we need to cut some features. The rationale for this is, in completing the project sooner and releasing it, we will gain insights about the market, and prevent unnecessary effort, focusing our ongoing effort in the correct direction.
3. The Agile manifesto is something I want to strongly abide by. As many changes as needed to get results, as late in the process as needed. Collaboration over process. Working, production quality software at all times.
4. Continuously building on top of previous code, coming up with a Library of code that can be used for the future.
5. Single purpose apps that must do 1 thing extremely well. Any additional features, would take second priority to getting the key feature right.
6. Focusing on all my strengths. I wanted to do something that puts me in the strongest position possible, where I can utilize all of my previous experience and skills for the most part, only gradually learning new things. I want to be utilizing my strengths 80% of the time, and learning new tech the remaining 20%. Ask yourself: "Does Michael Jordan mow his own lawn?" - he's probably highly capable of doing so, but it's not the best use of his time. I will also only get involved in areas where I have interest in. Otherwise i wouldn’t enjoy it.
7. Have at-least one differentiator. Although i like Long-tail ideas as well, I prefer that every idea has at-least a single differentiating factor that makes it special and unique, even if that differentiator is a limitation. (Example: Twitter and the 140 character limit. Snapchat, and the inability to view previous snaps. These are not the only limitations that define these products, but they're part of it. ).
8. Periodic zoom-out to re-assess your direction, with at least one other person. Sometimes I need to pause what I'm doing and reflect on all the things that I have. I would rank these things, and put together a list of the strongest five. Then I'd figure out how to use them together. For me these were (from stronger to weaker): 1. A well versed technology background as well as prior experience implementing new ideas from scratch. 2. Music knowledge and experience (theory and performance). 3. Strong desire to succeed in the tech field in order to have multiple streams of revenue from the global market. 4. Appreciation for great software design, quality, efficiency and code re-use. 5. Numerous hobbies and interests, which can be used as a springboard for many different apps.
9. A heavy focus on marketing, benchmarking against the top names in the competition. Seeking out cheap forms of marketing which are not mainstream yet, and thus undervalued and cheap to buy.
10. The MVP-first approach (Minimal Viable Product). The first version is always considered a proof of concept, and not a final production grade system. Which corners to cut is determined on a case by case basis. I can not, for example, just make a blanket statement that "None of my apps would have a server side component, and be completely only Client Side". That would be too restrictive. Most likely, the deadline for each project would dictate the corners which would be cut, combined with the pragmatic assessment of the remaining product's benefits with those corners having been cut.
What I learned from some of my previous part time projects
- JamCat: Lack of focus on the key feature can result in your app not being adopted, and having poor retention rates. Adding too many features which are not thought through properly results in users never coming back, because they are not getting the benefit out of your tool.
- Transpose: Even a simple text only app can be useful to people, as long as it solves a real problem. I myself had a problem that I needed solved when I played in a band. That was: to be able to move entire chord progressions with notes in them, with only 1 press. So definitely other people had this problem too. This project was a good validation for my line of reasoning at the time. That is: You don’t need award winning UI to create real value for people.
- Meow Pix: Relaxing Cat Slideshow with Music. The "Relaxation App" is an extremely saturated market. So far, after 1 week after go-live, the organic traffic from the App store has been non-existant. People are simply not finding the app by it's name and keywords. I consider the marketing material in the app store to be strong enough, and now focus needs to be put on promotions and creative advertising approaches (preferably free).
All 3 projects require significantly more marketing effort and further in-depth analysis to fully understand, and I'm definitely not there yet on all of them.
Next products on the roadmap
- Nature Landscapes. (Another relaxation app focused on nature and sound effects. A seamless, lush experience where the user just dozes off, and nothing is needed on their part. This can also be used as an animated picture frame)
- Guitar Chord method. (I am not impressed with all the Guitar Chord resoures on the app store. I can make something much cheaper, and much more useful in an 80 hour iteration. This is next on the list, and it will be exciting).
- Toddler interactive "Flash Cards". (Since I have a 2.5 year old who I can use to test my app on, I want to apply any existing tech I have to the Toddler learning use case, after having watched my son play many games, I can see what it is that kids of his age are looking for).
- Scientific calculators, formulas for various use cases.
- Product Information in multiple business areas. This is a long-tail business model.
These are only some of the areas I'll be getting into. I hope to have released a total of 10 apps by the end of this year.
Stay tuned for the next episode where we will get into the more technical details of building an app from scratch, and my general approaches to software development.
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