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I made an app for a friend that completely failed. We worked on the project for a couple of months during which I built an MVP. But we never got any users. My f

I made an app for a friend that completely failed. We worked on the project for a couple of months during which I built an MVP. But we never got any users. My friend tried all kinds of things to advertise it (press releases, looking for distribution partners, etc) but nobody seemed to care. Early warning signs: Nobody was interested in it. If you can't get a single one of your friends to use it, that might be a sign you are doing it wrong. Edit: My friend is still working on this. He's invested a lot of time and money into the idea, and keeps finding things that will get him closer to success (if I just get this one strategic partner on board...). He's spent a lot of time on all the formalities of setting up a company and following all possibly relevant regulations, no matter how costly. I really like him, and I like the idea, but in the end there's no point in it when there are no users...

marktangotango 10y ago
Ouch. This one hits close to home, none of the friends I've shared my current project with have shown an interest in using it. Should I engage them and try to pivot? I've asked them to be brutally honest, I think they're still hesitant though.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Are your friends the target market? If it's a b2b app and none of your friends own a business who cares.
  - shoo 10y ago
    or, to turn this question around, it's arguably more fruitful to focus on finding an interesting target market and learning about what its needs are before thinking about a particular product/service they might find useful enough to pay for, let alone building anything.
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guessbest 10y ago
Out of curiosity what was the app? If you don't feel like sharing that much, can you be more specific? Webapp or native? Mobile or desktop?
- jakobegger 10y ago
  I initially made an iPhone app, and my friend later paid someone to make an Android version. (Tip: If you can't sell an app in one market, expanding to other markets doesn't help.)
  - guessbest 10y ago
    Is this a dollar per user or one dollar subscription or just free downloads? And what is the app, if you can say?
    - jakobegger 10y ago
      I don't want to disclose any details of the app since it isn't my own project. Concerning business model: It's freemium, and we experimented with different price points. But the lesson I learned was that nothing matters if you don't have any users.
akg_67 10y ago
> He's spent a lot of time on all the formalities of setting up a company and following all possibly relevant regulations, no matter how costly This is common mistake most first time entrepreneur do. I did the same in my first go around. Focusing on company formation and things that don't directly impact product or customer. But next time I wisened up and waited until a customer sent us a $2,000 check as advance payment. "Hey someone sent us a check to a company that doesn't exist. We need to deposit it in a bank account. I guess we need to setup a company for bank account." Keep in touch with your friend even if you don't want to get involved right now (though it is a learning opportunity). Dedicated people like your friend are hard to come by and typically figure out and succeed if not this time, maybe in next go around.
- jakobegger 10y ago
  > Dedicated people like your friend are hard to come by (...) Yes. That's why I liked working with him so much. But when your MVP doesn't gain any traction, you must pivot or accept that it doesn't work. Dedication and determination is a double edged sword when it leads you to double down on the wrong idea.
  - akg_67 10y ago
    While I don't know this specific situation, I have seen both situations where either people quit too soon or didn't quit soon enough. A lot of these things are much more clear in hindsight than when they are in progress.

marktangotango 10y ago

Ouch. This one hits close to home, none of the friends I've shared my current project with have shown an interest in using it. Should I engage them and try to pivot? I've asked them to be brutally honest, I think they're still hesitant though.

brianwawok 10y ago
Are your friends the target market? If it's a b2b app and none of your friends own a business who cares.
- shoo 10y ago
  or, to turn this question around, it's arguably more fruitful to focus on finding an interesting target market and learning about what its needs are before thinking about a particular product/service they might find useful enough to pay for, let alone building anything.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

guessbest 10y ago

Out of curiosity what was the app? If you don't feel like sharing that much, can you be more specific? Webapp or native? Mobile or desktop?

jakobegger 10y ago
I initially made an iPhone app, and my friend later paid someone to make an Android version. (Tip: If you can't sell an app in one market, expanding to other markets doesn't help.)
- guessbest 10y ago
  Is this a dollar per user or one dollar subscription or just free downloads? And what is the app, if you can say?
  - jakobegger 10y ago
    I don't want to disclose any details of the app since it isn't my own project. Concerning business model: It's freemium, and we experimented with different price points. But the lesson I learned was that nothing matters if you don't have any users.

akg_67 10y ago

> He's spent a lot of time on all the formalities of setting up a company and following all possibly relevant regulations, no matter how costly This is common mistake most first time entrepreneur do. I did the same in my first go around. Focusing on company formation and things that don't directly impact product or customer. But next time I wisened up and waited until a customer sent us a $2,000 check as advance payment. "Hey someone sent us a check to a company that doesn't exist. We need to deposit it in a bank account. I guess we need to setup a company for bank account." Keep in touch with your friend even if you don't want to get involved right now (though it is a learning opportunity). Dedicated people like your friend are hard to come by and typically figure out and succeed if not this time, maybe in next go around.

jakobegger 10y ago
> Dedicated people like your friend are hard to come by (...) Yes. That's why I liked working with him so much. But when your MVP doesn't gain any traction, you must pivot or accept that it doesn't work. Dedication and determination is a double edged sword when it leads you to double down on the wrong idea.
- akg_67 10y ago
  While I don't know this specific situation, I have seen both situations where either people quit too soon or didn't quit soon enough. A lot of these things are much more clear in hindsight than when they are in progress.