007's mapslap & pinpop apps...

smash

I know there's no chat in the show your app thread so I thought I'd start this after looking at your videos.

Are you creating the apps from templates/libraries or frameworks? They have a lot of the same styles/colours/features etc and they look well. Wouldn't mind more info on the creation of them.

oo7

Hi, no i am not using any frameworks as such.

I have developed my own stye which i tend to use for a lot of my startups, but not all of them.

I like to get my startups out to the market early as possible to generate feedback, so i have focused on pulling together my own style and personal framework as such (app prototype, website, fonts, colour palette, video style etc)

I idea for pinpop came to me one Friday night when i was out, so i built the app prototype, the promo video, and the website in under 3 hours the following day (hungover :-)

Here are some of my other startups:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MlZYyEgBF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdOfeFv4x-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCAZLbDNgk


Are you working on anything yourself?

Graham

Really liking the style of the Apps, very nice work.

What are you using for the backend of your apps oo7?

oo7

Hi Graham,

I've used a mixture of custom backends, but i've also being using Parse.com a lot recently... i just wish they had a tiered price plan so that you could avail of a faster connection.

smash

oo7 wrote: »

Are you working on anything yourself?

I want to but I have very little experience with apps. I have an app concepted and could develop it as a mobile site but that's not what I want.

oo7

smash wrote: »

I want to but I have very little experience with apps. I have an app concepted and could develop it as a mobile site but that's not what I want.

Ok cool. The best piece of advise i could give you, is get your prototype and idea out to potential users as quick as possible. It does not matter what platform it is (web or app) and it does not need to be finished or polished.

Getting early feedback should be your main priority. Make sure that your customers have the problem you are trying to solve... and then also validate that your solution is something they will use.

If you need any help, drop me a PM and i will see what i can do for you.

smash

oo7 wrote: »

Ok cool. The best piece of advise i could give you, is get your prototype and idea out to potential users as quick as possible. It does not matter what platform it is (web or app) and it does not need to be finished or polished.

Getting early feedback should be your main priority. Make sure that your customers have the problem you are trying to solve... and then also validate that your solution is something they will use.

If you need any help, drop me a PM and i will see what i can do for you.

The UI and branding are solid and it's an idea I've been working on for a good while now I don't want to shoot it out to market unfinished. Thanks for the tips though :cool:

oo7

smash wrote: »

I don't want to shoot it out to market unfinished. Thanks for the tips though :cool:

This is a MUST :-)

You could be spending all of your time and money building something that no one will use or want (i've learned the hard way).

The main objective and goal of a startup, is to figure out the right things to build... anything else is just waste, as your startup is little more than just an assumption.

You also can't rely on conversational feedback, and must use systematic feedback to validate your assumptions.

This book will save you a lot of wasted time and money - http://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous/dp/0307887898

smash

oo7 wrote: »

This is a MUST :-)

You could be spending all of your time and money building something that no one will use or want (i've learned the hard way).

The main objective and goal of a startup, is to figure out the right things to build... anything else is just waste, as your startup is little more than just an assumption.

You also can't rely on conversational feedback, and must use systematic feedback to validate your assumptions.

This book will save you a lot of wasted time and money - http://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous/dp/0307887898

I've been involved with a good few startups over the years and I think all software (web, desktop or app) should be staged and planned properly. It's nice to have an idea and if you can get it to market fast then that's great but I'd never push something to market with bugs or half arsed functionality in the hopes that people would deal with it until it's fixed.

The app I'm planning will be quite large and will have extensive functionality so I couldn't release just release it unless it all worked. That's why I've spent the time to create the UI based on what I want it to do and I've taken on board feedback and feature enhancements from people in the industry that it will target.

This isn't mine, but it's an example of a smaller version of what I've been working on https://dribbble.com/shots/1087622-Prototyping-PLANiT?list=searches&tag=app_wireframe&offset=20

oo7

Ok, i completely disagree with your approach :-)

I've spent a lot of my time studying the Lean approach and other various startup methods.

If you released your current version to 20 users, those 20 users will provide you with so much valuable feedback. You don't have to release it to 1000s of people with a fancy PR launch... but working on something in the hope that your potential customers will use it, is the wrong way to release a product. You need to get feedback (systematic, not conversational) as quickly as possible. 20 users telling you that they like feature A & C but would never have a need for feature B is something that could save you a lot of time... and something that doesn't need much development work.

You product development plan should compliment your customer development plan - 50% / 50%

98% of startups fail - purely because they build something that no one actually wants, the lean methodology provides you with an approach that greatly reduces your chances of failing. Many top entrepreneurs and investors in SF often recite - "we want to fail as early as possible" - therefore spending less time on the things that are not working and more time on those that are working.

I won't waste your time preaching about various approaches but i hate seeing someone spending time building something without testing the market systematically... as i've got caught doing this myself in the past, so i try to help others from making the same mistake :-)

Best of luck with your startup either way ;-)

The Corinthian

smash wrote: »

I have an app concepted and could develop it as a mobile site but that's not what I want.

No, but prototyping an app as even a static mobile site made to emulate a native interface can work very well - I raised a good bit of VC, for a client, based on one a few years back.

oo7 wrote: »

Many top entrepreneurs and investors in SF often recite - "we want to fail as early as possible" - therefore spending less time on the things that are not working and more time on those that are working.

I've long thought that the worst thing that can happen to an enterprise is not going bankrupt, but not going bankrupt.

Atomic Pineapple

I'm of the opinion that getting a minimum viable product together and out there is the best possible approach also but I don't think this means it has to be released unpolished and buggy. I would definitely take care of these things before releasing to the public. Otherwise I agree it's best to get out there as soon as possible and see if you even have a market.

oo7

Most people are afraid to release early (with bugs or not) because they are worried that they will damage their reputation or the product's reputation.

If this is the case, release it to a small closed group of people (excluding friends and family).

Spending even a week polishing a product could be a waste of a week. That week could spent building a feature that your customers actually want, which was validated through your previous 'buggy' version, however if you continued to spend a week polishing it, you could find yoursefl two weeks behind.

smash

oo7 wrote: »

....

I appreciate what you're saying but I have good reasons for the level of planning I'm going through as the project has evolved a lot since I first considered it. The planning so far has been shown to various people who would be using it once it hits the market and everyone has given great feedback. Next step is a static prototype but there'll be a hell of a lot more work to get it to market with the required minimum features.

I've been involved with but successful and unsuccessful start-ups So I know what I'm doing with this.

The Corinthian wrote: »

No, but prototyping an app as even a static mobile site made to emulate a native interface can work very well - I raised a good bit of VC, for a client, based on one a few years back.

That's the plan at the moment. I had clickable wireframes linked up and although I know exactly what's going on, wireframes will never be visually enticing for any users. So next step is to link up concept screens.

oo7 wrote: »

Most people are afraid to release early (with bugs or not) because they are worried that they will damage their reputation or the product's reputation.

Like I mentioned earlier, it's an extensive project which requires all features to be functional.

Graham

oo7, can I ask what your apps are written in? Are they native Objective C/Swift or something else?

Thx

oo7

Hi Graham, yes they are native apps, however some of the apps you see in my videos are prototypes.

Here is a new app i am working on and it will be out in the next week - www.mapslap.it (same name as a previous app i built but a much different business / app)

Graham

Thanks oo7, the screenshots look great. Objective C or Swift and any particular reason for whichever you use?

Atomic Pineapple

Was going to say they look far too polished to be hybrid apps, they look great.

oo7

Thanks guys. I code in both O C and Swift. Some developers that i work with don't like Swift (or are too lazy to learn it :-) so i tend to use both of them, depending on the project i am working on.

Atomico

oo7 wrote: »

Hi, no i am not using any frameworks as such.

I have developed my own stye which i tend to use for a lot of my startups, but not all of them.

I like to get my startups out to the market early as possible to generate feedback, so i have focused on pulling together my own style and personal framework as such (app prototype, website, fonts, colour palette, video style etc)

I idea for pinpop came to me one Friday night when i was out, so i built the app prototype, the promo video, and the website in under 3 hours the following day (hungover :-)

Here are some of my other startups:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MlZYyEgBF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdOfeFv4x-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCAZLbDNgk


Are you working on anything yourself?

Hey oo7,

Are you launching the pinpop app soon? I was checking a couple of them out last night (that one and mapslap.it) - they look pretty cool.

oo7

Hey, working on both pinpop and mapslap at the moment.

Both iOS versions are complete, and working on Android versions now.

Both apps should be out before Christmas.

I'll update this thread as soon as they are.

Atomico

oo7 wrote: »

Hey, working on both pinpop and mapslap at the moment.

Both iOS versions are complete, and working on Android versions now.

Both apps should be out before Christmas.

I'll update this thread as soon as they are.

Cool! What plans do you have for each, that you can share?

Re pinpop, have you ever heard of spotted.de and happn? Quite similar but yours has a different focus (venues vs crossed paths).

oo7

Yeah i've heard of both of them. I have a few people working on the marketing / launching side of it so just trying to get it ready for Christmas.

Atomico

oo7 wrote: »

Yeah i've heard of both of them. I have a few people working on the marketing / launching side of it so just trying to get it ready for Christmas.

One is French and the other is German - I spoke to a co-founder of Spotted at the Web Summit. It looks like one of them may have cloned the other!

oo7

Happn i think has been around longer (i could be wrong there)... both of them are similar to Tinder (as is pinpop in a way too).

Are you developing anything yourself?

Atomico

oo7 wrote: »

Happn i think has been around longer (i could be wrong there)... both of them are similar to Tinder (as is pinpop in a way too).

Are you developing anything yourself?

Yeah Happn sounds more established for sure, it also has much bigger numbers. Fairly similar to Tinder alright. There seem to be a tonne of these 'meet / date people around you' apps out there at the minute.

I'm not a developer myself, but I've started working with one on a 'digital business card' app idea. We are at the 'conceptual' stage, but we pretty much know what we are looking to build.

I do have a real interest in the type of apps you are working on though - more consumer facing social ones that bring people together. So I am always thinking of new ideas for those.

oo7

Ok cool, if i can help with anything please just let me know and i'll see what i can do.