Our Successful App Checklist

• Do you truly understand the customer's needs? What is the problem you're trying to solve? How will you get the first 100 users to like, if not love, your app?
• What are the essential features needed to properly test the idea? This is called the Minimum Viable Proposition (MVP) and you need to make sure you also know the success criteria metrics to test/ learn/ pivot.
• Who are your competitors and what makes you better? (We find a SCAMPER exercise is interesting to answer this).
• Do you or your team have the capacity to launch and manage it? You will need to contribute, make decisions, do sales, servicing and marketing.
• How will you make money? (What is the monetisation model and business plan?)
• Do you have enough money to give the idea a fair chance to succeed, a so-called runway? Not just to build it, but to market, maintain and improve it.
• Does your app have a great design? Does the landing screen showcase the app's main purpose without the need for an explanation? This is called the User Interface/ Experience ("UI/ UX") and is probably the single most important success factor.
• What language/s or platform/s code will your app and backend systems be built in or on? Native, hybrid, PWA, a responsive website or bot? There are pros and cons of each. 
• Do you (need to) own all the code and intellectual property required to stop competitors from copying you easily?
• Who is responsible for testing and quality assurance? 
• What security and data protection practices are in place to comply with POPI, GDPR etc?
• Will you, as the business owner, get the reporting and admin functions you need to manage and grow the business?
• How will your app get published in the app stores? How will you receive payments?
• Do you understand the app approval, signing and publication process and requirements? (If an app isn't compliant it can delay projects by months).
• How will you make sure your app appears prominently on the app stores to maximize downloads (screenshots, descriptions, keywords etc.)? (This is called App Store Optimisation or ASO)
• Who is going to provide support, maintenance and hosting? What is the approach to implementing enhancements?
• Who is going to do marketing and advertising, including a website, social media integration, award nomination and publicity?