Newly Corporate

This is the second of a two part series (click here for part one) from a friend of the Newly Corporate bloggers, Eli Gratz.  iPhone Apps and Start Ups are two of the most fascinating things for young professionals today and Eli has done both during his spare time (see http://www.drinkspecialsapp.com)!  I asked him to share some of his experiences creating the Drink Specials App for the iPhone (available in the app store) and recieved 10 great lessons for young professionals looking to start their own businesses or develop mobile applications!

6. Be flexible on your vision, hold to your mission

Any project is a journey, and Drink Specials was no exception. I origninally pictured only a map-based navigation of a static list of bars and specials sent on iPhone. Not exciting, not novel, but certainly something. When I began development (before the iPhone 3.0 release) on the first project that eventually turned into the Drink Specials App, you couldn’t use maps the way you can today because the SDK wasn’t available for maps. So it was back to the drawing board, or in my case notebook and PowerPoint slides to try and think of new ways to present the information.

It was when I kept thinking through those problems of how I can get to that end state, that I got the idea for the “Verify” button, that let’s users let others know that a special is accurate. Same with the “Strike” concept, that if 3 users say a special is wrong, it can be removed. This changed the concept. This turned a static list into a platform. This made the specials live and change. This made the concept something to chase.

7. Input’s important, but it’s not gospel

Through the many, many revisions I have gone through of designs for the application, graphics, business models, and application features, I received tons of feedback from family, friends and vendors on how the app should work, look and feel. Many of those features ended up in v1.0 which is available now, and many more will be in new versions which are under development. But I was flush with ideas, and didn’t always have the time to deal with them.

I started a list. Anything people told me went on the list. Good, bad or ugly, it got put on the list. I kept a running note on my iPhone of anything that came to mind. It’s a long, long list with some immediate updates, and some longer term changes. The thing to remember is that it’s your concept, not a critic’s. Be respectful of others ideas, but stick to your guns. Test your ideas but be flexible. This process has gotten me to where I am today with Drink Specials, but still, there is a lot to improve, much of which has been brought to me through new sets of eyes on the same problems I see everyday.

8. Know your customer…and it’s not always the user

I always admired great apps that make their developer millions and let them quit their jobs and just think app all day. Yeah, that’s not most people. 75,000 apps in the App Store, and only a few examples of run away hits, many of whom began with the introduction of iPhone and the SDK when there were very fews apps out there at all. Cutting through the noise, and the speed of success change with competition.

In my case, I quickly realized my customers were the application user (the Drink Specials app is available worldwide, but is $1.99 in the US App Store) but also the bar owners. I think the application will save the users more than the price of the app, but many users just don’t buy many apps. But dedicated users, who are going to try and find bars to be customers at mean that bars and restaurants now become customers too.

We made offerings for bars that we felt were novel. Bars can lock their specials from editing by users, and ensure 100% accuracy through private updating (otherwise all specials can be update by users as they change). This adds value to the bars, the users and to Great Time Apps, which can manage and charge a subscription fee for this.

We also thought that Featuring, like a Google Ad placement, would be great for a bar to show up at the top of the list for a city (while most users sort bars by distance from current location) can draw attention to a bar and it’s specials without disrupting user experience like an ad.

The real gamechanger is our analytics offerings. We spent time, lots and lots of time, to build in reporting and analytics capabilities into our system so a bar can get details about how popular their bar is. Imagine that a bar can now see how it measures up to it’s competition for Tuesday Night beer specials within 3 miles by number of user views? Well now they can.

These synergies, where bars, users and Great Time Apps can all benefit from one another are what make killer products, and also what reinforces the fact that the user isn’t always the customer.

9. It’s a project, not your full-time job!

Anything you are passionate about can consume your time, money and life. Drink Specials certainly has for me, but it’s something I really enjoy. It’s something I make sure stays after 5 and doesn’t conflict with or impair my work, besides being a little sleepy sometimes after a long night up with India, but that’s nothing a little sugar free red bull can’t fix.

For a side project, remember the side part. Don’t use your full-time employers computers, printers, networks, e-mails etc…use your own. It’s easy to let your thoughts drift, but it’s important to let your hobby be a hobby.

10. You’re not Tim Ferris, don’t move to Rio on Launch Day

This leads me to my last point of the article. It’s a project (for now), don’t go crazy. You’re not Tim Ferris. Give it love and attention, and if it can make sense for your future work/life style jump in and commit to the project as your calling.

For me, the Drink Specials App is a hobby. I have most pieces managed independently of me and my time so they can grow and scale without me. Becoming an app millionaire isn’t likely, and is unlikely to last. This is important to keep in perspective. But don’t let that stifle you. There is a lot to learn through a large side project, lots of skills that make you a better person and even a better employee at a full-time job. And who knows, your concept might just be one of those lucky few that really takes off, and then you’re pet project becomes your pet full-time, rent dependent gig.

Best of luck, feel free to check out the App for iPhone or Drinkspecialsapp.com, and let me know if I can do anything to help with your side project: Eli@drinkspecialsapp.com

Eli also put together this video of the app, enjoy!

Come back to NewlyCorporate.com later in October for an update on the effect of the Drink Specials App Lite! And if you like content like this, don’t forget to subscribe!