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How to Make an App [in 2022] - read the full article about app development 2022, Mobile App Development and Native and cross-platform solutions from Raw Startup on Qualified.One
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- So you have an idea for an app.
Today Im gonna show you three steps to actually get started in building the app of your dreams.
- This is Raw Startup.
- Im the founder of Vivino the worlds largest wine app.
We have over 50 million users around the world.
Our users look up two to 3 million wines, every single day.
Now thats what I call a good idea for an app.
And the third and final section of this video well look into how you can start building an app even if youre not a tech person.
Things have changed quite a bit in the last few years, and it looks like you can actually build an app today without writing a single line of code.
These new tools are amazing so what can you actually build with them? - You can create anything from social networks, marketplaces, internal tools, which is by the way, massive segment.
- Well get back to Michael.
Hes the expert.
Hell tell us exactly how to get started.
You cant even imagine how often Ive heard this statement.
"I have an idea for an app." It sounds like everybody has an idea for an app, which is fine.
Sometimes I do wonder though, if I was building cars, would people come up to me and say, "Hey, I have an idea for car." Not so sure.
Anyway, lets stick with apps.
But I am getting messages every single day from people that have an idea of an app.
Some good ideas, some bad ideas, some truly horrible ones.
Today were gonna help people take that idea to the next level, turn it into something thats more than just an idea in your head.
Something you can show people.
Ideas really dont have that much value you have to build something.
Just be clear this video is not about programming.
Its about finding out what to build and finally build something without programming.
Some amazing tools are out there now to build apps without programming, and well bring an expert on in just a second.
With that, lets get started.
Step number one, do a sanity check.
Lets be honest.
A lot of the ideas I see have not been through this step.
The idea just wouldnt pass a sanity check.
Basically the sanity check is about finding out if this idea is worth pursuing.
Just a sanity check to make sure it makes basic sense.
You do not wanna start building something that nobody wants or needs.
Ask yourself the following three simple questions.
Is there a problem that needs to be solved? Is the problem frequent enough to enough people? Can the app that were building actually solve the problem? You need a pretty clear yes on all three of these, especially if youve never built a piece of software before.
Again, this is not a market analysis its just a basic sanity check.
Simple sanity check, but it doesnt mean your app will be the next Facebook or Vivino for that matter.
Rather sanity check will save you from immediate failure.
And please be brutally honest when you answer these questions.
You have to be super honest and super pessimistic when you answer these questions.
Otherwise you end up building something for nobody.
If you wanna dig a little bit deeper into this part, I have two videos that could be relevant.
How to evaluate startup ideas and finding product market fit.
Okay, lets take a look at Vivino for the sanity check.
Yes, it clearly solves a problem.
I dont know what wines are good and wines are not so good.
So Vivino can solve that problem.
Number two, yes, millions of people probably have this problem as millions of people buy wine on a weekly or daily basis.
Number three, thats actually a maybe, we were not sure that we could solve this problem as we didnt have the ratings and reviews on all the wines in the world.
We had to take a gamble and say, we can build this over time.
Now, many years later, it looks like we did succeed in that as we have over 200 million ratings in the app.
If you can say yes to those three questions, its at least less likely that your app will fail.
Step number two, do a mockup of the app.
This is not hard.
Anyone with basic computer skills can do this.
So do not worry.
So, time to build a mockup.
Its basically a drawing of what you wanna build.
Theres no design, no colors, just really simple black and white drawing of what you wanna build.
This is pretty straightforward.
You could even use a pen and paper for this.
A lot of people do that.
I prefer to use a tool for this.
There are many tools out there that can help you build a mockup.
Ive used Balsamiq for like 10, 15 years now.
Its simple, I like to use it.
These are actual Balsamiq backups made over 10 years ago when we tried to figure out what to build and how to build Vivino.
So try Balsamiq, its very, very easy to use, theres a free version out there, so you can just get started right away.
Recently, Ive also come across Whimsical.
Its a little bit more of a modern tool.
Looks really, really nice, but also very, very simple tool to use.
Both tools have a free version.
And theres a link in the description.
Start by building one screen.
The most important screen in the app.
Whatever is the most important part of the app.
It doesnt have to be the first screen, but the most important one.
If you see any of my other videos, you know, about minimum viable product.
I talk a lot about minimum viable product.
So, when you build a mockup, make sure or its minimum viable product.
This means that the first version you build should be the smallest possible thing, as few features as possible, minimum but still viable.
For any feature, any button you put in there, ask yourself, do I really need this? This should really be the philosophy when you do this.
Only need to have no nice to have.
This is not easy so be very discipline.
Now it depends on how far you wanna go there, but you can build multiple screens and even make them clickable, so you can click from one screen to the other.
So, go ahead and build that idea.
I cant tell you what to do.
Its your idea.
So go ahead and drag and drop that amazing app idea.
And always remember MVP.
Step number three, start building.
There are many ways you can go here, but Ive bonded down to three options.
Option three is exciting as its relatively new.
Well get back to that and even talk to an expert about it.
If youre not technical, the first option is to find a technical co-founder.
Find someone who can actually help you build this.
I also made a video about that so check that out later.
I guess there are a few relevant videos on this channel.
Make sure you subscribe.
The second option is to pay someone, to build it for you.
It could be someone locally or you go to a site like Upwork and find someone remote to build it for you.
This can work, but its not easy especially if you havent built a piece of software before.
It really is something that takes a lot of training and experience to do.
If you havent tried it before, Im not sure I would recommend it.
If you do go down that route, make sure you build an MVP.
A very, very small MVP.
The final option is to build it yourself with these new no-code tools.
These new tools are incredibly exciting.
I honestly think they can change the world.
They will bring software building to almost anyone.
Now lets dig into that with an expert.
First, lets talk about these tools and what has changed over the past years.
- Yeah, well, in the last years, what happened is that there are more tools and some existing tools got a bit better.
Especially when you create mobile applications for native mobile apps, they got much better, right? Are those tools actually changing the game on how to write mobile apps? Yeah, so in the past, and even today, for most companies, when they write software, well, they have to write a lot of code and hey have to explain to developers some very complex business case.
The other approach to better approach is to create visual tools, right? Where people can log in in the browser, they can drag and drop stuff.
And its easy enough, right? To use to create complex software that is either on the website or in the app store.
And this is whats happening in the last years where more and more and more software becomes more visually driven.
Its more user interface driven.
And the code is somewhere in the background hidden, and you dont have to deal with it too much.
- Incredible.
Now, what kind of apps can we actually build with these tools? - Yeah, I mean, with no-code tools, you can create almost anything.
Of course there are still some limitations, cause its still early in my opinion, right? But you can create anything from social networks, marketplaces, internal tools, which is by the way, massive segment.
Internal tools to make your employees more effective, but you can create a vast spectrum of things with no-code already.
Deploy them, make money with those apps actually validate that you have product market fit.
Even if your app is not, you know, the most, you know, animated or beautiful app in the world.
- So now the big question.
(drum rolling) - What tools should we use if we have a great idea for an app? - Yeah, so my favorite tool Adalo.com because its very nice to, very easy to use, to create mobile native applications that you can upload to IOS and Google play store.
And there are a couple other tools for mobile app creation, for example, FlutterFlow, which does require you to have at least one developer in the company, but still makes everything else much easier.
Super powerful built on top of flutter, which is already strong for mobile apps.
And actually is the number one for creating mobile apps when you develop.
And there is also Draftbit which is a competitor to Adalo, and Draftbit has more features, a bit more complex.
Its still no-code.
You can deploy the whole app with one click and thats very nice.
And theyre growing also very fast.
And they have a nice builder, visual builder in the browser.
And so yeah, those three tools, Adalo, Draftbit and Flutter, FlutterFlow.
Those three are super strong.
And I think the best tools right now to look at when it comes to native mobile apps.
- Next is to get started.
How do we actually get started? - Yeah, if you wanna get started.
I mean, there is a lot of content on YouTube also on my channel if you want to check it out, but of course you can also go to the websites that Ive just mentioned before, Adalo, Draftbit and FlutterFlow.
They have great tutorials.
They also have their own YouTube channels actually showing you stuff.
I want to urge you before you get started with any of those tools, you have to have a plan, right? You cannot just go there and click around.
If you dont have an idea of what you wanna create you will basically run around in all the directions and you dont really feel like, does the tool do what I need? Cause you dont know what you need, right? So make sure you have a plan.
You have some idea what you wanna build.
And other than that, watch a lot of YouTube honestly, because there are great tutorials out there on how to build things from the beginning, from zero.
How to build your database, how to build your user interface, how to deal with some issues, right? Every tool has something right? That you need to take care of.
So I think YouTube is the greatest resource for that right now.
There is one more resource you should know about, which is Makerpad.
And Makerpad is basically, the whole point of Makerpad is to teach no-code and also, well, to sell services if you need them.
But mainly they will sell you courses and training material and show you how to build things in Bubble, Adalo, whatever they have.
And thats actually a great resource.
If you do wanna spend a little bit of cash to learn this stuff, but then at least you get it step by step and you are not stuck in anything.
And there are also some other people offering this kind of stuff, but Makerpad really combines.
Is very easy for you to find the tutorial that you need.
- We have links to all these tools in the description.
Thats it.
Youre ready to move on with your fantastic app idea.
If you want more content, just like this, please consider pressing like and subscribe.
So you wont miss any future videos.
Thank you very much for watching Raw Startup.
Now stop watching and go build something.
(upbeat music)
Raw Startup: How to Make an App [in 2022] - Mobile App Development