Day 7 - App building and the Business Formula for Success

I have made it through several hurdles. I did finally up-grade my OS, download SDK, and begin the "Hello World" tutorial with some success. I am still watching iPhone App Development tutorials on Lynda.com. Although the information does seem overwhelming on the tutorials, it also appears manageable.

I completed researching the iTunes app store and I found that my idea for an app is NOT represented, even once, within the genre I'm interested in. That's excellent news; no competition. And this segues nicely into my topic for today on the formula for success.

As I pursue my app building journey, I do so working full time and going to school, where I am concurrently obtaining two master degrees; MBA in Marketing and MFA in creative writing. I seek these degrees as a means of formalizing my 17 years of work in marketing and writing.

Presently, I'm studying entrepreneurship. It has brought to the forefront some significant aspects of creating a business that are important to consider.

Often businesses are assessed based upon their management teams, the product, the opportunity, the risks and the start-up position of the proposed business. As the area of management team goes, I am a seasoned professional with entrepreneurship experience. I started two companies and working on my third. I've learned some excellent lessons along the way. However, to my disadvantage, I do lack experience in app building and software programming, so I need to seek out partnerships or hire people with those strengths. That's a topic for another day.

My interest today concerns the area of opportunity in relation to risk. This is where I believe there is real potential for my business model. The market is growing and the niche I plan to fill is unsaturated. That's a good thing. Critical to my success is the rate to which I can build and release my app. It's just a matter of time before someone else does release a similar app that I am working on, so time is of the essence. Strike while it’s hot and empty.

Furthermore, my start-up costs have been relatively low, thanks to the open-source SDK and the plethora of free information or inexpensively priced tutorials that are readily available. My primary cost is sweat equity; learning the programming side and developing my app’s hook and interface. I justify the learning curve as one of on-going education and skill development. It's a win-win situation for me.

In fact, I have found that my new hobby has impacted the way I think about my job at work. As I embrace the concept of user interface applications and their impact on organization and presentation of information, I realize that there are many areas of the University where I work that could benefit from applications that integrate users and information in a specialized and engaging way.

Entrepreneurship is never without risk, but the degree of risk varies. Knowledge is power and it is extremely advisable to research the industry you plan to enter. With iTunes App Store, it’s relatively simple to comb through the competition all centralized in one place. It is also prudent to read the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines provided by Apple and other materials. Currently, I have been working with such books as, “iPhone Application Development for Dummies”, “Objective-C for Dummies”, “Cocoa Programming for Dummies”, “Sams Teach Yourself iPhone Application Development”, and “Game Design Workshop” (Fullerton). All of these materials have proven effective.

So, I go about my project with a lighter heart knowing that the area I'm interested in isn't crowded and there is plenty of room for one more player.

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