Many founders fret over whether their application development idea will take off and fill a gap in the market. Having a clear goal to reach and a clickable prototype to build before you dive in is essential to product success. Ideas often fail to gain traction because what the final product will add exactly is unclear.
Convincing yourself and your buddies with back-of-the-beermat ideas is one thing. Convincing investors and end-users, though is vital to a profitable product. The greatest pitches, of course, don’t tell. They show. Confidence and clarity are some of the most valuable commodities in an ever more crowded field. Having a strong clickable prototype and detailed development plan is often what makes or breaks an investor pitch.
You may have the greatest idea in the world, but if the app is even mildly irritating to use, end users will abandon it for a competitor. Failure to validate an app idea or the lack of a plan before you start full development is a costly mistake you’ll likely regret.
Many development teams will happily take your money and deliver a functional app without raising their concerns about its viability or ever thinking critically about who it serves. The last thing you want in a development team are yes men. App development, after all, is an iterative process where you want a variety of expert opinions to weigh in before you deliver the app to the market.
Digging into a business application development idea and deciding on the best way to tackle it is where we excel. The product design workshops that we lead cut through the fog of app development and deliver substantive design goals, clear milestones, and a clickable prototype to show to investors. You’ll come away with a much better idea of what your original idea will look like and how it will function in the real world. It also cuts down on wasteful spending once you decide to develop the full application.
Product design workshops
In a recent product design workshop with Finnish battery diagnostics company, Akkurate Oy, we offered new insight into how end-users will use the native application, in addition to supporting the technical business idea. As lead designer Mateusz Małys explained in the video above, the workshops are a way to polish a product before you go live.
CEO and co-founder Mika Kanninen said, “the main benefits were that we got a different angle on the UI design which was very helpful. And in terms of the architecture, Espeo Software confirmed what we had in mind as well and that was making us more confident that we are doing the right thing.”
In another recent workshop, this time for US-based ticket layaway service Tixpire, we helped bring an idea into real results. “I knew what I wanted coming into the workshop,” said Tixpire owner Devin Lofland, “but I am not a designer and so I was able to define my requirements and get a result better than expected.”
Application development conclusion
Confidence is half the battle for new products and for an increasingly competitive landscape, finding that coveted product-market fit is an essential part of app development. It’s also the hardest to articulate well. Why do you think so many projects fail? People want to see it, not listen to a description. It’s far easier to see the benefits when the clickable app is on a device in front of you. For founders launching a product, getting an outside opinion is a valuable thing.
If you’ve got an idea floating in your head for the next great app, consider a product design workshop before you sink time and resources in development. You’ll get clear milestones, a clickable prototype, and the confidence to keep building.
Drop us a line in the contact form to get started with your product design workshop.
