Got an App Idea? Get Started Here!

With years, reaches bring the a rapid growth of TempStars in recent it seems nearly every week someone out to me seeking advice about how to new app to market.

Maybe you woke up with a potentially billion-dollar idea, or maybe it was your friend, spouse, co-worker, cousin, neighbor, or someone else who has told you excitedly about theirs. And now you might be wondering about the best way to turn that glimmer of an idea into the kind of billions you read about!

The reality is that most dental professionals are not tech gurus or seasoned app developers - so it's definitely worth familiarizing yourself with the dos and Don'ts to hopefully get you started off in the right direction.

Here are some essential tips you should know before you get started:

I know what you might be thinking - your idea is so genius that you really don’t even want to tell anyone for fear of them stealing your idea. I’ve been there, I had the exact same paranoid thought myself. But without feedback, your idea is likely to stay just an idea.

The truth is that the idea is only 1% of the success formula. Feedback can help you identify the potential strengths and weaknesses of your new app idea and it can also help inspire you to develop it further. Asking for feedback will bring you valuable insights, criticism, opinions, and more on your app idea. The risk of somebody stealing the idea and transforming it into a successful business is too tiny to even worry about.

Of course, you don't have to reveal every aspect of your app idea to everyone or divulge any insights or research you've come up with, but talking about the “problem and solution” element of the app with others can be incredibly helpful during the early stages of development.

If someone can actually steal your idea and launch a successful business on the back of it, there’s a chance your idea or its execution is seriously flawed, to begin with. Let's face it, there are many copycat apps with a “fast-follower” strategy, cropping up soon after.

This is just how competition in business works - if you have a good idea, someone is going to copy it at some point. As well as the idea itself you will need to come up with something special about it which is going to keep your app head and shoulders above the competition.

So do talk about your idea with people you trust who are interested in helping you with it, even if you decide to withhold some of the important details. You will find that the insights gained from such conversations outweigh any risks of another person taking your idea and using it as their own.

It's tempting to go and find a developer, coder, or programmer right away but don’t do it! At the idea stage, it’s too early to be hiring a coder/developer. It’s a common mistake, and one I made myself.

Developers are expensive and there is a lot of work you can yourself do to optimize and refine your idea before you need to hire and pay someone anywhere between $50 and $250 per hour to build it. This brings me to my next point:

Build a Prototype

Figuring out and developing your idea by yourself is going to be much easier if you use software to build your own prototype. There are many great options you can choose from since so many people have ideas for apps.

You will be able to quickly build a clickable prototype to represent your idea closely and a lot of rapid-prototype software services don't cost a cent. Personally, I like to use “proto.io" but there are other options too including Figma, Invision, and Balsamiq, to name a few. Once you've spent a while getting used to how your chosen app works, you shouldn't find it difficult to use.

A prototype you build yourself can be tweaked in real-time, which is hugely important since you will be able to tweak things once potential future users of the app submit feedback. So watch a few YouTube videos, invest a couple of hours in learning how to build a prototype, and it will serve you well for the entire life of your idea.

Although a prototype is simply, well, a prototype, it will feel real to potential users who are trying it out. It also functions as a communication tool between your developer (when you do hire one) and yourself. By this time, you will have ironed out any issues and made improvements, so you can clearly show your developer what you're looking for. So figure out the screens, functions, and solutions yourself quickly and easily using prototyping before going to a developer - you’ll save yourself a world of headaches (and money).

It might sound daunting to bring an app to market but it's been done so many times. There are literally millions of apps available from the Apple App Store, meaning a lot of people have trodden the same ground as you, and all of these apps started as a simple idea in someone's mind.

In nearly every city, you will find start-up incubators and other resource centers, which are hubs you can use to find coaches, mentors, and other like-minded folks working on their own apps. The start-up community is thriving and full of energetic entrepreneurs

who love to discuss business and technology.

I had a great experience with Haltech, MaRS Innovation Center, and Oakville's RIC. Through my experience, I found the mentorship, coaching, seminars, and connections incredibly helpful on my entrepreneurial journey. Although you might have come up with your app idea by yourself, you don't need to go at it alone when there are so many like-minded people and resources available for you.

It is important to think of the development of an app and the business that supports it as an ever-evolving journey. Launching that first version is just the beginning. The app will never be “finished” because you are going to be making improvements to it based on feedback. And there is a possibility of making tweaks as the marketplace and/or competitor landscape changes.

So it’s critical to make sure your idea is a solution to a problem and you are passionate about it, otherwise, you’ll likely lose interest and give up at the first (or tenth!) sign of trouble.

Also, even if everything seems to be perfect and your app is running smoothly and becoming popular, this isn't necessarily going to last. Being passionate about your app and the solution it offers to users means you’ll have the energy and motivation to overcome all the hitches that will inevitably come up.

Wrapping Things Up

This is just a brief look at what steps to take if you have an exciting app idea in mind. It’s definitely not a comprehensive step-by-step guide to building a successful company around a mobile application. But I hope this gives you a few gems of advice and perspective - things I wish I had known at the beginning of my journey - and I’m happy to share them with my fellow dental professionals.

So if you're venturing down this path, know that you’re not alone. Best of luck!