How lean startup formula can be applied to mobile app development

In the rapidly changing business world, you can never be sure how tomorrow is going to change. Especially, this is the case with new ventures that are into mobile app development. You might already know that many startups are using lean startup formula which comprises of a validated learning along with short development cycle.

The startups get oriented in the simplest possible product to release into the market and see if it has demand or not. If the product has great demand, the product is released into the market with new features. If it doesn’t get enough support, it is redesigned as per the feedback and released into the market.

As one of India’s top mobile app development company, Promatics Technologies creates mobile apps for startups taking maximum advantage from lean startup formula. It is not only a great opportunity for startups to achieve success, but is great for us developers to optimize the app development process. Let’s see in detail how it looks like and how it can be applied into mobile application development.

What is lean development methodology?

If we talk about lean development methodology, there are some principles of developing mobile apps. The lean startup method for mobile app development is used for building and launching new applications quickly at the lowest possible cost. Lowest cost doesn’t mean that we develop cheap apps, but develop mobile apps in a cost-effective way.

This methodology is built around a strong emphasis on risk mitigation and performance optimization. The main objective of this methodology is to market the app quickly. Test the app and find what’s wrong with it. Most mobile app development companies launch large convoluted systems into the market with a little guarantee of success. They throw the best concept on the table. Later, they strip the border lining of the irrelevant features and keep the rest.

The requirement is then sent to mobile app development companies. When the mobile app development process is completed and the app hits the app stores, huge marketing budget is deployed and downloading starts flowing in.

When the downloading figures start to drop, everyone is confused about what went wrong. The reason is that even though people liked the app, it was hard to use. As the concept was never validated and no thought was put into risk management, the odds were not in your favor.

How to apply lean startup formula?

The lean startup formula has been into light in the recent years. The main objective of this methodology is to incorporate customer validation as soon as possible. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is used to describe the first product that is released to test the market.

This methodology was originally developed by Eric Ries while working on the web products. The websites can easily be shielded from unauthorized users. One can instantly deploy new versions and there are plenty of testing tools available. The same is applicable to mobile app development. However, there are a few characteristics of mobile apps that make it difficult to apply lean startup methodology.

It is hard to distribute Beta versions in iOS. However, it is easier to create a special version and distribute it for Android. Lean startup methodology makes it difficult to do secret publication and the app developers are not allowed to incorporate a separate login for limited number of users. In this methodology, quick iterations are hard as it takes 1-2 weeks to review iOS apps. Fortunately, it takes only 30 minutes to review Android apps.

So, if you want to bring the best out of lean startup methodology, you should follow a few guidelines:

• First, develop the mockup and test them by giving it to users. Get feedback from the users and work accordingly.
• Create non-native prototypes, as they are easier to build than native ones. The product might work in a reasonable way and will be better at getting feedback from the users.
• Focus more on the new features of the app and work on them to add some initial value. This will be good to engage users and keep them using the app.
• Initially, it is advised to develop only on one platform. Build it on other platforms, once it is good enough to build for other platforms.
• Use appropriate tools for A/B testing, as it will reduce the time and effort. You can enable faster experimenting with A/B testing. You can get answers to many questions by data driven testing of strings and colors.

With a few guidelines to follow, lean startup methodology can be applied easily to mobile app development. Using lean startup is important if you want to build a product that offers lot of value to the customers.

Wrap it!

The bottom line is that lean startup methodology is an ideal method for startups to maximize customer value. This methodology takes the idea of developing an MVP and going through the process of validated learning. The main idea is to figure out what customers want and how to build a product they actually want. This methodology has grown in popularity due to its principles that help in boosting the efficiency of the end product.

The key benefits of lean startup formula are: faster time to market, build better products based on customer expectations, less wastage of time, less financial risk and lower cost. It’s like developing a product with the purpose of releasing it for testing. MVP is deployed for testing among early adopters whose feedback will be collected for improving the product. The challenges of developing an MVP are a bit difficult for mobile as there is a higher bar for mobile apps. They have to be more refined with fewer or no bugs. The early adopters and beta testers are the key for customer discovery.