Here at Appy, we believe in helping people create their passion: making their ideas happen.
That is why we decided to create a quiz to understand where aspiring entrepreneurs are at, our focus being the businesses where technology is a key enabler to the business. The results we received were surprising and intriguing, so we have decided to share them with you here as lessons from aspiring app entrepreneurs that will help you in your journey as an app entrepreneur.
Firstly some other stats about the quiz:
- 88% of the entrepreneurs took the quiz on a smartphone;
- The average time needed to complete the quiz was 2 mins and 20 seconds;
- The quiz had a 35% completion rate.
Lessons from aspiring app entrepreneurs… and what that means:
- 43% of app entrepreneurs believe their idea is unique – is it unique, or have they not researched the market fully? Can technology be made to fulfil that need? Is there a market for this idea??
- 27% believe they have a unique angle on an existing problem – with mobile innovation moving fast, this makes sense and enables disruptors to innovate on existing models by transferring across learning from other areas.
- 43% had been thinking about their idea for over a month… which is good as they at least were researching if their app could be successful when they took our quiz. The next step is to take action at a low cost to prove that the concept can work.
- Amazingly 61% had never shared their idea!!? We live in a world where people are scared that their ideas can be stolen, but the truth is it takes a lot of effort and a great team to make an idea succeed. Do you think that if you sent an email to the CEO of your biggest competitor, laying out your idea, they would copy it??!The truth is, speaking to people will help you move forward with your idea. Don’t use the “I can’t tell anyone ever about my billion-dollar idea” excuse to never do anything about it.
- 8.26/ 10 was the average score received by people who told their ideas to others. Potentially some generous friends or some great ideas in hiding! Conveying the brilliance of your concept with words is difficult hence why we always start with wireframes and graphic design than an interactive prototype. Spending the less possible to get the maximum result.
- 26% think that they have no USP, but their app will be better than others. Now that’s possible but will require us to have amazing branding, marketing and launch strategies to execute…
- 64% of app entrepreneurs have little to no social media presence. In today’s society, having an influence on social channels is a differentiator and helps you market your app. If you do not have some yourself – what influencers or partners do you know that could help you?
- 84% are not experts in their sector of choice… the easiest place to innovate successfully is where you know and understand the market and can find ways to optimise things.
- 89% do not have strong links to people who have a strong network in their sector… having routes to market is critical to succeeding in the proof of concept stage at a low cost. If you don’t have links/ routes to market – can you partner with someone who does?
- 58% of app entrepreneurs have no money to take their idea forward. You need to take a financial risk to get your idea moving forward. We support entrepreneurs to go from ideas to interactive prototypes via lots of consultancy for only c. £3k-4k – this means you’re ready to get investment.If you cannot invest to that level, you will need to do that work yourself if you want to make it move forward – don’t just give up on your idea!
The last few years have seen a lot of relatively easy investment into ideas, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no doubt investment is more difficult now.
Taking the step of creating a prototype gives entrepreneurs the best chance to launch a successful app business.
With the advent of No Code to create MVPs for c. $10k, there’s increasing choice to move forward with business ideas.
