Most people who learn how to code, usually launch their own apps in a COMPLETELY WRONG WAY.

They come up with an idea that excites them, build it and then launch it.

It usually takes months and results in a complete failure.

But throughout the last 5 years of working with startups, and building my own apps, I figured out the strategy, that I personally use for ALL MY MINI STARTUPS.

Reader, this email is the exact strategy that I'll use myself to launch my next startup, and today I'll share it with you FOR FREE!

Why build apps?

The main reason why I and a lot of other developers are building apps is DIVERSIFICATION.

If the only source of your income is your job and you don't have a lot of savings, if you'll be fired you are COOKED!

But if you have a side startup that generates a few $, at least you'll have some money to pay the bills.

Another reason to build an app is to become AI-resistant.

I don't think AI will replace developers, but the responsibilities will definitely change.

And if you have the skill of building, marketing and selling an online business, you'll be definitely in demand, even 10 years from now.

So by mastering extra skills around CODING, you are simply making yourself a more valuable specialist.

And nowadays launching a startup with AI is super cheap and fast, so it's just stupid not to give it a try 😉.

Step 0 - AI

Now let me walk you through the exact process, I'll follow to launch my next startup.

And if in the future based on my learnings this process will change, I'll let you know, so make sure not to miss my next emails :)

Step #0 is to USE AI across all of the steps.

If you are not using AI for research, coding, marketing, analysis and brainstorming you are LITERALLY wasting your time.

Because there is a 17 y.o. kid who has less knowledge and experience than you, but uses AI and outperforms you by 10x thanks to AI.

It takes time to introduce AI into all processes of your work, so the sooner you start, the better.

So please, use AI as much as you can, and you'll be able to work WAY FASTER.

Step 1 - Idea

Every app/website should solve a problem.

It should either solve your own problem, or someone's else problem.

So think of all the problems and difficulties that you are facing in your work or daily life, and if they can be solved with an app.

If you can't identify a problem, use Perplexity AI to research niches you have expertise in.

But the best ideas are usually those that solve your own problems, so spend some time observing, before trying to brainstorm the idea.

I already have one problem that I personally have in my daily work, so I'll use it!

Step 2 - Structured Idea

Ideally, as the 2nd step, you should do deep research and competitor analysis. But nowadays anyone can sell anything (ex. @levelsio selling ads in a 3d web game that looks like a game from the 90s and makes $70k in 2 weeks).

So it's all about DISTRIBUTION (a.k.a. how you can sell it).

And to determine if I can sell this idea to someone else, I need to create a concept and visualise it.

First, I'll use the following ChatGPT prompt to think of all the functionalities that my app should have:

After that you'll have a huge list of features, select the main ones that SOLVE THE CORE PROBLEM.

Now you know what exactly your app should do, it's time to visualise it.

Step 3 - Designs

Not it's time to visualise your app.

You'll need designs to show it to your potential customers and later to build it.

The best and most popular tool for creating designs is Figma.

At this point, you can either find a professional designer, free Figma template, learn Figma yourself, collaborate with someone or even generate some designs with AI.

It all depends on your budget and time.

The easiest option is to hire a designer, but it can cost from $300 to $2000 depending on the designer and your app's complexity.

So if you have some time, you can watch basic Figma tutorials + find a nice Figma template of a similar app and it'll be more than enough for the start.

Step 4 - Sell

The last step for today is to SELL your idea.

Yes, SELL, not BUILD.

Most devs at this point would craft an architecture, and choose the perfect tech stack and their favourite programming language.

And if you are buying a portfolio project, that's fine!

But if you want to build an APP that GENERATES cash, you need to check if you'll be able to sell it.

And if not, it's better to get back to Step 1.

So, how do you sell something that doesn't exist?

1. Build a landing page (Use website builders like Webflow + Templates and add nice screenshots from your app's designs)
2. Make a website look as if your app is about to launch, and add a form to collect emails.
3. Post Content / Run ads / Be active on related forums / etc. to attract some traffic to your website.
4. Send emails to your waitlist to see if you can convert someone and to check if people are actually interested. Don't be scared to jump into a call with your potential customers.

If you can make a few sales, the idea might be worth building. If not, let's get back to Step 1 as if you can't sell it now, you won't be able to sell it later.

So it's not worth building something that people won't buy for 2 months.

Conclusion

To summarise, if you don't want to waste your time and you want to actually make money, make sure that your idea solves a real problem and that you can sell it.

Next week I'll share how you can build your app in weeks, instead of months, so don't miss it!

Personal Updates

Working full-time, travelling and building a side project is a hell of a challenge 😅.

Yes, from the side, writing this newsletter from the beach cafe on Bali looks sexy:

But at the same time, I'm constantly overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to do and stressed because I don't have enough time to do them all.

So for the next weeks, I'll think about how to find a balance between everything. And if I find it, I'll share it with you :)

See you next weeek 👋!

Always yours,

Andrew "Building Stuff" Zacker