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How do you write a post and make a statement like this without one single example? Seriously, give me a list of mobile app companies that failing in this manner and scale.
I could rattle off plenty of mobile startups that went the raise-money -> no-traction -> acquihire route. But I don't know what he's talking about here and he offered no data to back it up.
Two points
1. Yes, most startups failed in 1999 and most startups are failing now. This isn't unexpected. Anytime, there is a boom in startups, most of them are going to fail.
If the first 10 startups succeed there will be 100 more. If the first million startups succeed, there will be 10 million more. Ultimately, most of them will fail.
2. imo Andrew is mistaken in assuming that the failures are due to startups having a "super high bar for initial quality in their version 1".
If anything, I'd say that the quality of many apps is too low, Many of the big-name apps are often unstable and crash (not just in the V1 version, but in later versions as well)
Anyone who reads this and thinks this is what 1999 is like didn't live through it. In 1999 all these apps went IPO and the founders and VCs made a ton of money. Many wish it was like 1999. Edit (please read for amusement value): http://www.sandspring.com/charts/cdj0214ipet.html
When IPOs turn bad, lots of people notice. When a angel or VC firm loses a few million dollars, nobody except a handful of cognoscenti know or care.
- To understand what pain you are solving, and have a compelling reason to believe a mobile app is a suitable solution and not a solution in search of a problem.
- What competition there is, and how you will beat them or at least compete on level footing. If there is no competition there is probably no market.
- Understand who your audience is.
- Understand how to message your audience. And understand out to get that message out.
- Have a way to get feedback, and have a conversation with your audience.
- Have a way to leverage your early adopters to drive more usage.
- Have a way to put money and time in one end and get positive App Store reviews out the other. (Pre-requisites: a product people really like.)
- Understand your fixed and variable costs. Understand your margins.
- Have a way to measure success or failure. Have a way to A/B test and iterate. Be able to see what people are doing in your app and where they are falling off.
- Have an plan on how to do all this quickly and objectively.
- Be able to tell the difference between a doomed idea and an app that just needs product refinement.
- Make calculated risks that can be measured. Throwing a giant PR launch over the fence and saying a prayer is not a calculated, measurable risk.
One mistake I see a lot of companies making is treating mobile like a sandbox. And I say this having gone through a 3 month accelerator that was for companies doing mobile apps. The ones that succeed, or even have a chance of succeeding, build a platform, into which mobile is a conduit. Outside of games, there are very few mobile apps I can think of that wouldn't be better built in this way. Call it "the cloud", a platform, or whatever you like. The point is, mobile is hot right now, but a solid business is more than an interface, it's a service.
How on earth is this post getting voted so high right now? How do you write a post and make a statement like this without one single example ? Seriously, give me a list of mobile app companies that failing in this manner and scale. I could rattle off plenty of mobile startups that went the raise-money -> no-traction -> acquihire route. But I don't know what he's talking about here and he offered no data to back it up…