If you’re a startup enthusiast who yearns to explore the highly lucrative mobile app market, you’ve probably been wondering about the ins and outs of this exciting industry. After all, the mobile app industry managed to generate a whopping US$533 during 2023, a figure expected to grow in 2024. With such great results and so much potential, you’ve likely been asking yourself how to start an app business — right?
But that’s not a question you should ponder on alone. Instead, it would help if you asked experts and those experienced in the mobile app development field. And that’s because starting an app startup is highly complex and tricky. It may seem simple and low-risk, especially if you don’t have an insider’s view of running an app business. The hard truth is that it’s a business fraught with risk and many challenges you’ll probably never hear about.
Therefore, the first thing you should do is seek the services of a mobile app startup consultant. The consultant will advise you on all the steps you must take and what pitfalls to avoid. On a long-term basis, the consultant will mentor you and help you scale your app business. Even this growth pass carries significant risk, so consider building a long-lasting relationship with a trustworthy consultant.
Now, if there aren’t any consultants in your area, you should seek a technology business incubator near you. Cities worldwide are building technology hubs and are willing to assist forward-looking entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life. A good startup incubator will lease office space, offer mentorship, have training courses, and allow you to network with leaders in your field. Also, it’s possible to access funding for your app business via government grants or angel investment networks.
What Actions Must I Take To Establish My App Business?
You should register your app business as a limited liability company (LLC) or a proprietary limited (Pty Ltd) early on. If required by your investors, you may need to register it as a publicly traded company. Consider doing this before or soon after you ideate your idea and do market research.
Don’t forget to hire an accountant to keep track of all your expenses and file your taxes. Many owners of small startups prefer to do their taxes themselves to save on costs, but it’s a bad idea. A minor discrepancy in your tax returns could land your business in hot water. Furthermore, tax regulations change constantly, so a professional tax practitioner should stay on top of these instead.
Once you ideate your app idea, you’ll want to build a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP) to test the validity of your idea. An MVP will have only the basic features of what your full-scale app would’ve had. It’s faster and less costly to build an MVP than a full-scale app, which also helps alleviate the risk of releasing an app.
Ensure you integrate analytics into your MVP and partner with an app store optimization (ASO) expert. You’ll monitor and collect app and user data from your integrated analytics framework. This data is crucial since it will tell you if your app is succeeding or failing in the app stores. On the other hand, the ASO expert will optimize your app store pages to maximize the organic searches your app will receive.
If your MVP gains traction, then congratulations! You’ve learned how to start an app business successfully in a hands-on way. Now, what is left to do is to scale your app, monetize, and maintain it.
What Should I Do If My MVP Fails?
An MVP that fails is never truly a failure, as it confirms that there isn’t a reasonably sized market for your app idea. Building an MVP and testing the market instead of moving forward with a full-fledged app has saved you hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the data you’ve collected could also present you with fresh opportunities you previously never considered.
In Conclusion
When you need to know how to start an app business and alleviate all the associated risks, it’s best to partner with an expert. The expert will give you the advice and mentorship you need to build a startup and nurture it until it becomes an established player in the mobile app space.
Image: Pexels
