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Starting a Lean Mobile App BusinessEdward Tsang
Founder & CEOOnDemandWorld
15 January 2016 19:00 - 21:00 @TUSPARK_HK
About Me• Founded OnDemandWorld in 2008
• 20 years in the UK and 6 years in China
• MA in Computation from University of Oxford
• MBA from Tsinghua University
• Leading the Technology Group of Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China
2
About OnDemandWorld
• Started in 2008 straight after the first iOS SDK
• Focus on Web and Mobile Software
• 450 apps, mainly in geolocation, travel and online education
• Over 15 million users
• 20 people in Beijing and London
3
Agenda
• Setting the Scene: Why Mobile?
• Basics: Building Your First Mobile App
• Tips & Tricks: Lean Strategies
• What's next? How to grow it into something much bigger?
5
Setting the Scene: Why Mobile?
• We believe: mobile will be the primary technology platform for everyone.
• We want: to play a role in serving that audience with applications that are both elegant and useful.
ODW Mission Statement
Internet+ & Mobile+
• Traditional businesses are transforming• Making use of Smartphone’s geolocation function• Best examples: Uber, Airbnb, OpenRice
Time Spent on Mobile
• Everyone is competing for the users’ time• The best channel to reach your users is via mobile• No matter what business you do, important to have mobile strategy
Mobile is 20 Years Old
• Mobile started off as a basic communication tool and without internet• Smartphones = mini computer• 60% world population is still using Feature Phone
Mobile Advertising Growth
• Mobile advertising is more effective to get to your customers
SO-LO-MO
Mobile Payment Takes Off
• Enabling businesses to do more transaction seamlessly• Sales turnover from mobile will exceed website and offline
• 8 years of iPhones, 11 models, many colours.
• Just on iOS App Store, 1.5 million apps
More Competition
Basics:Building Your First Mobile App
App Development Process
1. Imagine your app
2. Plan it all out
3. Build it!
Imagine
Every app start off as just an idea.
Things to consider:• App Name, Icon, Description, Screenshots• Goal & Mission, Problem & Solution, Unique Selling Point• App Type, Luxury or Necessity• Market, Category & Subcategory, Size, Competition,
Location, Platform, Language• Compliance with App Store Rules• Usage, Frequency and Duration• Business Model, Value Creation & Profitability
Smartphone OS
Android vs iOS
Android iOS
Platform Monetization
Native App vs. HTML5Native Apps Web/ HTML5
Customer LoyaltyHigh
(repeat customers)Low
(provide information)
UI/ UX RequirementHigh
(give limited and important info) Low
InternetOnline & Offline
(can load instantly) Online
Development timeLonger Shorter
CostsHigher
(annual maintenance) Lower
Target Users
• Who are your target users?• Why not release your app globally?
App Store Revenue
Planning
A. Requirement Analysis
• Research Competitors Apps
• Features: Qualifier vs Winner
• Unique Selling Point(s)
• Cost-benefit Analysis (Estimate)
PlanningB. High Level Design
• General requirement
• Functional specs
• Database (User & Content)
• Server requirement
• Cost-benefit Analysis (Quote)
Planning
C. Detailed Design
• Use wireframe and flow diagram
• Specify everything in details
• Test the mock-up with your potential users
• Cost-benefit Analysis (Contract)
Wireframe Diagram
Principle 1: Useful• Who are the users?
• What do the users need & want?
• What does the App offer?
• Why do we provide the feature?
• How useful is the feature?
• Which are the top 3 features needed/ wanted by user?
• Which features need IAP? How much? Value to users?
Principle 2: Elegant• Simple to use?
• The less button the better
• The less clicks required from user the better
• The less login barrier the better
• Save users' time?
• Intuitive - user understand how to use instantly
• The options/buttons are grouped appropriately
• Better method than others to deliver the same function
Planning Tips1. Onboarding experience
• Impression matters. You only have one chance! 99% effort is no good.
2. Give people a reason to come back
• Favorites/ Provide useful info/ Special Offers/ Social networking/ Newsletter
3. Sharing from Mobile
• actions that can show users' pride, achievement and content
• integration with social media streams: Facebook/ WeChat/ WhatsApp/ Twitter
• add reviews and star rating function
4. Content Strategy
Building
• Repeat testing.
• Make your app as lean as possible
• Avoid changing scope unless necessary
• App Store Marketing (App Name, Description, Keywords)
• Testflight
Outsourcing (1)• Easily cost HK$300k and 4 months plus to build a complex top tier app.
• Spread your costs by doing the essential functions first
• Functionality that should be faster and cheaper:
• Same info for all users
• Content filtered by location
• Locally stored / hardcoded
• One way sync that needs a backend, like places /events
• External feeds
Outsourcing (2)
• Functionality that’s expensive
• 2 way interaction, like comments and user interactions.
• Integrations with your database
• User accounts, personalization,
• Augmented reality, games etc.
• Multiple languages done well
Outsourcing Pitfalls• Outsourcing to cheap countries
• Under quoting complex features
• Saving money on design
• Agencies & web people with limited mobile experience
• Changing your mind along the way
• Not budgeting for maintenance and upkeep
Common Metrics & Analytics
• Daily Active Users (DAU)
• Monthly Active Users (MAU)
• New Users
• Sticky Factor (DAU/MAU)
• Total Sessions
• Day 1 Retention
• Average Revenue Per DAU (ARPDAU)
• Paying Daily Active Users
• Average Revenue Per Paid DAU (ARPPDAU)
• Analytics: track what has been clicked. What users like to do etc.
Cost per Install
• A quick way to get users, but expensive.
Source: Fiksu
Tips and Tricks: Lean Mobile Strategies
What is Lean?
• Maximize customer value while minimizing waste.
• Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.
• Fewer doesn’t mean little or no resources!
Slowing-down of the mobile market?
Can it be avoided?
• Continuous maturity of the market is normal.
• “IT Doesn’t Matter” (Nicholas Carr - HBR 2003) on commoditisation of IT, started Cloud Computing.
• Just Crossing the Chasm is not enough.
• Keep Innovating and get on next big wave “early”. Wearable? VR/AR goggles? Robots? Automated Cars?
Which App market?
Wearable Strong Weak Weak
Mobile Phone Strong Strong Weak
Tablet Strong Average Average
Laptop Strong Weak Strong
Desktop Weak Weak Strong
Server/Enterprise Weak Weak Strong
?
• Many apps not fully localised. Missing revenue.
• Localisation is not just translation.
• Get native speakers to help.
• New languages are added to OS releases, follow them.
Strategy 1
• Don’t spam.
• Define your sector.
• Target right market segment with specific products.
• Microsoft and Google both have 50+ apps on Apple
App Store.
Strategy 2
• Apple Swift, Google Go, Facebook Hack and others.
• Designed for coding efficiency.
• Easy to learn.
• Active Open Source communities.
• Impressive adoption rate with Swift.
Strategy 3
• New market places to buy source code cheaply.
• Improving effectiveness of development teams.
• e.g. Chupamobile, Apptopia, Binpress, codecanyon…
• Github, Bitbucket, Stack Overflow - great sites for free
sample source code and Open Source projects.
Strategy 4
Beyond your own team
• Outsourcing
• Crowdsourcing
• In-sourcing
• Licensing Out & Partnerships
Strategy 5
Big, and Small, Data
• Make good use of Data Model and Decision
• Google's Big Data - Ad Mob, Trends, etc.
• A/B Testing
• Understanding Percentages
• Myths - Share percentages, 1-2 percent is tiny, etc.
• Using 80:20 Rule (Pareto Principle). Recursively.
Strategy 6
Be collaborative from Day 1
• Team Work
• Divide and Conquer, Reduce overlap
• Team Expansion
• 1-5, just a gang of people; you need many more to succeed.
Strategy 7
Replicate & Innovate
• Mix it well, replicate to save time, innovate on USPs.
• iOS First, then Android.
• Innovation is a repetitive process.
Strategy 8
Mind the Gap!
• SoLoMo, essence of mobile computing, but what’s the gap?
• Social is the only one left not well solved.
Strategy 9
Good Good Study
• Knowledge & Content Management
• Reading books
• 1000s of hours of hard work for a few dollars, and it takes hours to read
Strategy 10
Other Tips• Run a small experiment to test if people are
interested. Start with a basic app.
• Idea is just the beginning. Successful startup always lies in their execution.
• The only way to grow your business is to constantly be testing new ideas
• Lead with the problem, not your solution. Offer what is needed and wanted by the users.
What's next? How to grow it into something much bigger?
Software Incubation
Software Incubation• OnDemandWorld developed 450 apps with over 15
million users.
• Our source code and technology frameworks cover 85%+ of major features available on iOS. We can efficiently build any apps for ourselves and startups.
• Much more reliable than outsourcing
• Where suitable, we invest our services in exchange for equity in the startups
Technology FrameworksWe highlight some of the technology frameworks we developed and will be reusable in many situations:
• Usage Analytics
• Bug Tracking
• Social Marketing
• Notification
• Business Owner Modules
• Social Network Services
• Advertising
• In-App Purchase
• eCommerce (Apple Pay, PayPal, Credit Cards)
• iBeacon Hardware & Software
• Cloud Server
• QR Code
Thank you!
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