The mind is a place ripe with great, world-changing ideas. In the development world, how do you turn a bright software idea into reality?
In this article, we’ll talk about the key steps you’ll have to take so your ideas don’t remain ideas — but a tangible reality.
Let’s dive right in.
1. Know What You Want to Create
You need to be 200% sure of what you want to create in your custom software design. Think about brand and identity.
More importantly, you have to answer this key question: what does your software accomplish?
Your answer should be something that directly or indirectly addresses a pain point of your potential users. If not, your software will have an extra-challenging time succeeding.
2. Know Your Audience and the Market
Research your audience. Know the answers to the following questions if you want to accomplish this step well:
- Who are your intended users?
- In what age group do they belong?
- Where do they live?
- In which income bracket do they belong?
- How will they use your product?
- If they’re businesses, what size?
And many other questions that need specific answers — you can’t just say the software is for “everyone.”
As for the market, expect competition. You have to prepare for it.
- Are you the “first-of-your-kind” software in this market?
- Who are the dominant names in the market?
- Are others also developing similar software?
You want to distinguish yourself from these competitors. Know what will make your software stand out.
3. Set a Timeline
Your roadmap should be centered on goals, where you focus on a timeline that keeps the project aligned.
Even if you segment the whole development process, the segments must be interconnected. If you have a team working on the project, communicate the timeline, the soft or hard deadlines, and checkpoints.
Anticipate setbacks and speed bumps along the way. Though you can try to avoid them, they usually come no matter how planned out your timeline is.
4. Secure Funding
You can either be your own investor or find investors who’ll back your project up.
Determine which is more ideal for you.
- You’ll spend around $250,000 for most basic apps
- Prepare around $2 million for more complex apps
- Basic apps usually take six months or longer, while more expensive and complex apps take years.
Also, don’t pour everything on development. You will also need money for marketing, testing, legal fees, and other expenses. It’s a business, after all.
5. Choose a Platform
Ask yourself: on which platform are you going to develop the software?
Different platforms offer different benefits and challenges. For instance, if you’re developing an app, your choices often are Android and iOS, and both are beneficial and problematic in many ways.
Android is set to reach 87% market share in 2022. But the median income of iOS users exceeds that of Android users.
There are fewer restrictions and barriers to entry if you launch your app on the Play Store. But it’s faster and cheaper to launch on the App Store.
6. Build a Team
You will need a team behind you, so you should prepare to assemble a team that will focus on the project.
Search for people who can help you manage the development process, actually build the software, market your ideas, and sell it to the customers.
Find people with the right skills and the right motivation for building the software and making it succeed.
7. Market your Idea
You don’t have to wait until the development process is complete before you market your software or, at least, your ideas.
And marketing your idea means finding the right platforms to let people know about it. Are you going to use social media? Email campaigns? Do you have a landing page for this software?
If you already have a company in place, the software development project can boost your marketing.
Collect feedback from potential users and even the testers. Then, integrate these comments and feedback into the software.
8. Release Your Software
This step is where you see whether your idea has truly become reality: you’ll get the software out in the world.
Update, adjust and upgrade your software (LITSLINK) according to your vision and the customer’s feedback.
You will either see positive or challenging results. Remember that your idea, no matter how grand it seemed in your head, will perform differently in the real world.
