4 ms·

IMHO, the reasons mentioned are not very convincing. Your goal, when starting a product, is to find whether you serve a real user need or not. So, start with a

IMHO, the reasons mentioned are not very convincing. Your goal, when starting a product, is to find whether you serve a real user need or not. So, start with a website or a mobile app depending on what suits your users needs better. Where would a user naturally go (web or mobile) for that need? That's the platform you start with.

diminoten 8y ago
It takes longer to get to market with an app, especially if its your first. No contact with users == death.
- wvenable 8y ago
  But you also only get really once chance that with that user. Give them a crappy experience and they'll never come back. A web app is already starting at -100 points.
  - jMyles 8y ago
    > Give them a crappy experience and they'll never come back. Is that even true for a website though?
  - rpedela 8y ago
    In the early days, that is actually okay. Unless you did a large marketing campaign (you shouldn't), the number of people who never come back because of your crappy MVP will be small. And the group will likely be small enough where your product doesn't get a bad reputation either. But you absolutely need to get feedback from those users who never come back so that eventually the product gets better and gets traction. I think tools to collect that indirect feedback (e.g. click heatmaps) are more mature on web overall. Collecting direct feedback, talking to users, is equally hard regardless of web or mobile.
  - diminoten 8y ago
    ...in absolutely no way is this true. Where did you learn this? Who taught you that websites are 100 points worse (on whatever scale, you never say) than mobile apps?
nostrademons 8y ago
Very frequently, the right answer for an MVP is something like "an e-mail newsletter" or "a Salesforce extension" or "a CSV file" or "an IDE plug-in" or "throwing a pizza party for your target market and performing the service for them yourself". I've seen startups charge $3K+/month to dump a CSV file on a client's FTP server. Go where the user can most conveniently make use of your product; for a lot of businesses, that is neither app nor website.
- sinatra 8y ago
  I agree. In many cases, don't start with either (app or site). In other cases (or in cases where you've grown up to the point of needing an app or site), start with one that is right for your user.
eagsalazar2 8y ago
This is so right on. Yes there are pros/cons with PWAs vs native (and with the other simpler examples listed below. Put all those into the mix with questions about your riskiest product hypothesis, access to most representative users and pick the winner. Biasing always toward PWAs sounds more like a bias toward a particular solution yourself vs what makse sense for your business. Having said all that, I agree that for many simple apps the better user experience, in-app, isn't that much different except in one major way: discover and re-discovery later. When you install an app on your phone, there is a nice big button on your screen at all times so you can come back to it. Getting people to install is hard but once they have it is way way better discovery experience than a web app. Adding a link to your desktop still feels pretty janky (right or wrong) to most people and most people don't know how to do that.

diminoten 8y ago

It takes longer to get to market with an app, especially if its your first. No contact with users == death.

wvenable 8y ago
But you also only get really once chance that with that user. Give them a crappy experience and they'll never come back. A web app is already starting at -100 points.
- jMyles 8y ago
  > Give them a crappy experience and they'll never come back. Is that even true for a website though?
- rpedela 8y ago
  In the early days, that is actually okay. Unless you did a large marketing campaign (you shouldn't), the number of people who never come back because of your crappy MVP will be small. And the group will likely be small enough where your product doesn't get a bad reputation either. But you absolutely need to get feedback from those users who never come back so that eventually the product gets better and gets traction. I think tools to collect that indirect feedback (e.g. click heatmaps) are more mature on web overall. Collecting direct feedback, talking to users, is equally hard regardless of web or mobile.
- diminoten 8y ago
  ...in absolutely no way is this true. Where did you learn this? Who taught you that websites are 100 points worse (on whatever scale, you never say) than mobile apps?

nostrademons 8y ago

Very frequently, the right answer for an MVP is something like "an e-mail newsletter" or "a Salesforce extension" or "a CSV file" or "an IDE plug-in" or "throwing a pizza party for your target market and performing the service for them yourself". I've seen startups charge $3K+/month to dump a CSV file on a client's FTP server. Go where the user can most conveniently make use of your product; for a lot of businesses, that is neither app nor website.

sinatra 8y ago
I agree. In many cases, don't start with either (app or site). In other cases (or in cases where you've grown up to the point of needing an app or site), start with one that is right for your user.

eagsalazar2 8y ago

This is so right on. Yes there are pros/cons with PWAs vs native (and with the other simpler examples listed below. Put all those into the mix with questions about your riskiest product hypothesis, access to most representative users and pick the winner. Biasing always toward PWAs sounds more like a bias toward a particular solution yourself vs what makse sense for your business. Having said all that, I agree that for many simple apps the better user experience, in-app, isn't that much different except in one major way: discover and re-discovery later. When you install an app on your phone, there is a nice big button on your screen at all times so you can come back to it. Getting people to install is hard but once they have it is way way better discovery experience than a web app. Adding a link to your desktop still feels pretty janky (right or wrong) to most people and most people don't know how to do that.