Want to build a mobile app and turn it into a successful business? Solve a problem. There are a lot of general problems that need solving. There are now hundreds of thousands of apps on both the App Store and Google Play Store.
It takes something truly unique to make customers take notice. You can’t just build another app and expect immediate success. If you want to be become truly successful, companies need to find a major problem and solve it in a new way.
Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston once said:
“The happiest and most successful people I know don’t just love what they do, they’re obsessed with solving an important problem, something that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball: their eyes go a little crazy, the leash snaps and they go bounding off, plowing through whatever gets in the way.”
The importance of solving a real practical problem cannot be overemphasized if you intend build an app that can survive. One of the most important questions you should be asking yourself is whether you are providing a great and unique solution and what you need to do to keep that solution relevant as you grow.
“Most successful products are very efficient painkillers. Big customer pain is a big opportunity. No pain or problem equals no opportunity as nobody’s going to pay you to solve a non-problem. To have a great business idea, you first need to find a problem worth solving.” says Mark McDonald at Appster, one of the leading mobile app development companies in Dallas.
Are you solving a need or want?
Does your idea solves a need or want? Do people really need what you intend to provide or what you are currently offering. Validation is an important step you shouldn’t miss when you are ready to invest time and resources into an idea. You don’t have to do it alone, you can get help from app development companies that focus on working with people with incredible ideas to validate your idea.
Make sure you gather data that can prove that people are willing and ready to use your new product now and in the future. You can’t predict what users will like in the future, but if you focus on building an app that solves a big problem, chances are you will still be in business in the next five years if you do most things right. Don’t just build what somebody will want, satisfy a need. You can start with a big problem you have.
In the words of Paul Graham:
“Why is it so important to work on a problem you have? Among other things, it ensures the problem really exists. It sounds obvious to say you should only work on problems that exist. And yet by far the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.”
Another way to identify a big problem you can solve it to take a trip into the future and figure out what people will need when they get there. Create what will be missing in the future today and you will be guaranteed a growing market.
But how? Figure out what you can do now that can make the most difference in the future. What products are being used now that can be improved tomorrow.
You can also focus on people’s frustrations when they use current products to find a real problem you can solve. Or take an existing solution and apply it to your industry or a country. Talk to professionals in industries you want to serve, write down their answers and look for patterns.
Product review sites are great places to find people’s issues and problems. There are unique problems millions of people want solved. This is something you need to find out through research. Figure out the solution and build your mobile app to solve one of them.
