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things i learned building my first app
haris mahmood@harismahmood89
shopify
hackeryou
freelancermeetharis.com
ladies learning code
emma watson
• IBM
• OMERS
• The Working Group
• The Globe And Mail
• Rogers
• TSN
• Organics Live
• Shopify
• And more…
html + css + js
design + ux
php + ruby
never built an app entirely on my own
an idea
multi-page html/css site workshop
contact us page
forms
“but my form doesn’t work”
php scripts, wufoo forms, other paid/expensive alternatives
emma would be disappointed
hmm… interesting
I
market research
i’ll build it, and people will come
poo poo
they won’t
#sadPanda
don’t just ask your friends
lies
ALL LIES
kidding. sort of.
are you solving a problem?
are you providing a service that people need?
what do good products have in common?
what pain points exist?
how have others tried to solve this issue?
what pain points will your product address?
some is better than none
the concept
the tech stack
simple implementation?
highly performant?
optimized for scale?
jQuery?
react + redux + etc?
angular + etc?
ruby on rails?
laravel? cakephp?
firebase? myql? postgresql?
II
your stack does not matter
you aren’t selling scale or performance
so why focus at such an early stage?
far more important things to work on
shopify
be aware of limitations
payola gem
what should you build first?
III
the MVP
minimum viable product
the product with the highest return on investment versus risk
how do you determine MVP?
20 / 80
only 20% of the features are used by 80% of the users
V1 october 2010
V2 september 2011
android april 2012
V3.4 december 2012
tagging may 2013
videos june 2013
focus on the 20%
this is your MVP
IV
never leave your product in a non-functioning state
roadblocks
life “happens”
project begins to slow down
“i’ll work on it tomorrow”
a couple of days
a week
a month
many months…
V
it is extremely difficult to find the momentum to start again
personal projects don’t have timelines
you are the client
block out time in your calendar
set deadlines
build a roadmap
juun.io
nine months later
focuspocus.io
conversion + retention
VI
there are two key milestones for most businesses
The moment they sign up for your product
The moment they achieve their first success with your product
define the “success”
launch thoughts
VII
launched too early
do things, tell people
email collection
4x more effective than twitter
alternate channels
VIII
launched too late
if you’re proud of the whole product, you launched too late
IX
determine your goals
fame?
the cheddar? the cheese? the mooola? the dolla dolla bills?
help
prove to myself
self promotion
$
- $14
set expectations
unicorns
part-time start ups
stallion?
noble steed?
pony?
stable of ponies?
pokemon
IX
what are your users doing? thinking?
analytics
user testing + feedback
so.
its possible to do it yourself
the online dev community is fantastic
keep. going.
more comfortable
more confident
new ideas
devtoast.io
repitsupply.com
more excited
make emma proud
go make a pony@harismahmood89
