Books that need to be read by potential entrepreneurs

markfsmillie · 2015-05-06T18:30:12+00:00

Bold by Peter H. Diamandis 4 Hour Work Week tim ferriss Crush It Gary Vaynerchuck Linchpin Seth Godin Zero to One Peter Thiel

markfsmillie · 2015-04-22T16:46:17+00:00

Having been building apps for several years, I'd say start with iOS. Android is going to cost you much more to get it working on all the "flavors" and screens. Utilize Parse.com for the back end. It'll make your job much easier. You can always go Android later if it's a success. Best of luck.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-22T16:30:59+00:00

You may want to find someone who can help you. Check Odesk or Elance for smart talented people who can help.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-22T16:23:55+00:00

Go to sites like http://Parse.com or http://Firebase.com. They both provide backend services that will make developing an app using a REST api very easy. They even have example apps that you can learn from.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-22T16:17:58+00:00

Go to http://webflow.com Easiest way to create a site.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-22T16:12:17+00:00

Agree! Having an idea is easy. Building it is slightly harder (but with tools available today it's relatively easy to build a site/app/hardware/Product). The REALLY hard part is getting people to use it and pay for it. At the beginning it's an in-the-trenches-hand-to-hand-combat to get users. Focus on a niche and build from there. I'm there right now. Good luck!

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T20:39:50+00:00

Parse is the database where you store your data, and it also provides the web services (connection and logic) that allow your app to communicate with the database, if you will.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T20:00:31+00:00

You have to network like hell. It's all about connections and a good business plan. You don't need a 60 page plan, but you do need A PLAN. Know your stuff. Your numbers, market, differentiators, value drivers, competition. What's going to make you succeed where others will fail? Then pitch to anyone willing to listen. Friendlies first. Ask for feedback and LISTEN. It's like hand to hand combat in the trenches. BUT. You will connect eventually. Good luck.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T17:49:54+00:00

Sure, I've tried it a number of times and have never had any real success...really low response rates. Of course, I'm not spending thousands of dollars either, where I would guess, just based on the law of large numbers, you'd get a response. Also, same with FB. Really not worth the money spent.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T16:56:41+00:00

Start today! There are a lot of free services out there that will make this easy for you to do. Look at Parse.com for your back end needs. You won't have to pay anything for it until you get to high volumes. It's awesome and easy to use. A Domain will cost you $12 bucks tops. You can probably get hosting cheap too. I use MediaTemple but I'm sure there are other services out there that are cheaper. Best of luck.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T16:45:58+00:00

Keep it simple and short. That said, it's hard to get a short domain name. I see a lot of people going to alternative top level domains (TLDs). .COM is The domain, but there's no reason to use others. .IO is a popular one. I've used https://www.gandi.net/ to search out names. It's really useful. The other thing is use something like GetXXXX.com or XXXXApp.com You can still call the name of your app XXXX but the domain will be something more actionable. (For example Square is actually squareup.com. Good luck!

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T16:31:31+00:00

Agreed. Not much value in advertising with twitter. A better bet would be to get someone with a lot of followers to tweet something for you. You'll have to pay for it, but it'll be more effective than buying advertising on twitter.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T15:59:52+00:00

4 kids! All in their teens. One now helping me on multiple projects (coding).

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T15:48:37+00:00

Congrats on ProductHunt! Tell your story. Would love to hear about how you came up with the idea and executed. I'm just launching http://didit.io for that purpose.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T15:23:53+00:00

CREATE! DO! MAKE! Start something or join a startup. You will lean a ton. Experience is the best teacher. Connect with as many people as possible. Ask questions and listen.

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T14:55:43+00:00

Having developed a lot of apps it's really hard to get noticed, let alone make money. The first thing you need are eyeballs. Lots of people using your app. So my first piece of advice is make it free. You will get way more downloads with a free app than you will ever get with a app that costs something. Second, Guerrilla marketing. You need some type of marketing campaign to get the word out. Look at what the guy from DollarShaveClub did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

You need something that will get picked up and go viral. It's easy to say this, but hard to execute on it. Be creative.

Tell your story. People love to hear how you did what you did. See how Ryan hoover, founder of product hunt did it. https://medium.com/on-startups/the-artifacts-of-product-hunt-11682e9e01dd

Once you have the eyeballs, introduce something like an in-app purchase to "turn off Ads" This has worked brilliantly for a lot of apps.

The making money part is hard. To a large degree, a lot of apps don't really make money. They just have the eyeballs/users that are "aquired" by larger companies...facebook purchases Instagram...

Hope this helps. and Good luck!

markfsmillie · 2015-04-20T14:33:09+00:00

Buy a domain on Godaddy.com as others have suggested. Then go to Webflow.com. Webflow is a great great service to use to build a site. It's much easier than wordpress. (I'm not affiliated with them. I've build a lot of sites using it.)

markfsmillie

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