Organizing a pop concert is just like creating an app

Have you ever been to a concert, especially in a large venue, such as a stadium? The brightest stars, such as Drake, Beyoncé, or Billie Eilish, perform for myriads of people. Yet those household names’ best performances would not be remembered without the work of many other people, supporting them both in their creative endeavors and the technical aspect of each carefully tailored show.

Being simultaneously a musician and an IT professional myself, I often find some unexpected parallels between these two worlds. It happened again while I was wondering how various mobile apps struck gold. What makes one app a success, whereas the other is forgotten, lost deep within the void of App Store and Google Play?

As you might suspect (spoiler alert!), in my opinion, the process of developing an app is similar to organizing a successful concert for a pop star. Let’s delve into this, analyzing each ingredient of a successful large-scale event and how we can relate them to the process of developing an app.

The artist – the founder

The artist, the singer, the star – it’s their name that beacons you from the merch and event posters. Wanting to see their face, everybody comes and drives from all around for many hours. In the world of apps and startups, that role certainly belongs to the founder. The founder is a person who is the very reason why the app (or the event, in my parallel) even happens. They bring the ideas (write the songs), sometimes even participate in the early development phase (play the guitar besides doing the vocals). But if the founder is alone, their chances of success are rather slim. Many one-man bands end up on the curb, singing songs for passersby’s spare change.

What a great performer needs are simply other individuals – band members, backing vocals, dancers, and more. That translates to…

The crew – the development team

Could you imagine a great pop star singing all alone on the stage, without the whole razzle-dazzle? Even the strongest and most beautiful voice would not have the same impact without all the music and the rest of the shtick. It is why the crucial aspect of executing a great idea is to have supporters – who not only have the skills required to get things done but understand you and share your drive. They couldn’t care less for the paycheck and they are not afraid to look you in the eye to tell you when your concept for a new feature seems like a bad idea. 

The real question here though is whether to build a team yourself or hire one externally. And yes, it might be reasonable here to give you a bunch of different reasons to always choose external, outsourced teams – I won’t do that, because it is simply not true.When is it reasonable to build a team yourself?

• You are building the very first version of your app
• The scope of the MVP is very small
• You have a few trusted souls with experience in software development who can participate in the project for small remuneration or the promise of future profits

When you start your career, you often depend on your friends and there is nothing wrong with that. After all, many bands started as small side gigs, made by a group of buddies. But as the band starts its climb to the top, the help of professionals – even if they are not so close to you personally – might be a smart choice:

• A team you get is usually comprised of people who have worked together before
• You needn’t take care of hiring the right people and policing how they work – it is simply not your problem
• Even though a team that works for your company will have a similar headcount to an internal one, it is backed by the knowledge and experience of another specialized business. This is particularly critical if troubles arise – knowing how to handle a problem with App Store, a weird issue with Bluetooth in a particular type of iPhone, or how to efficiently integrate Google Maps with your app is not a matter of talent or engagement in the project, but above all – the experience.

No matter what approach you will take, there is one more thing. You have a great set of songs (check!), a carefully chosen band (check!), you go on the stage and… almost nobody can hear you! First rows, maybe a few hundred people, can catch some faint verses but what about tens of thousands who were not as quick as to grab front seats from the first pool of tickets?

The sound system – the marketing 

The last part of this metaphor is not immediately obvious to everyone. I met quite a lot of founders – especially those that have just started their startup adventures – who are carefully planning the development of the app, but completely overlook the issue of popularizing it among their target groups! Just like you won’t be heard in a concert if you don’t shell out for a proper sound system – even the best app might have a real problem getting noticed if you don’t have a marketing plan.

Once asked about marketing plans, founders usually reply that their idea is so innovative that the app will spread like wildfire thanks to word of mouth or it will “go viral”. Some of them intend to include marketing activities at later stages, once the app is built; although a slightly better approach than the first one, it’s still rather unwise. 

When we estimate projects for startups, we often discuss not only the budget for development – obviously quite an important matter for us – but also the other aspects of the startup itself. It is actually a simple test – if founders care about marketing the app from the very beginning, it is certainly a sign of having a great business approach.

It is difficult to state how much of your total budget you should spend on marketing, especially when contrasted with development. We can thankfully establish some basic guidelines:

• The bigger the cost of developing your idea is, the more customers you will need to break even. Therefore, you will need to attract more (paying) customers and thus the marketing budget will need to grow.
• An important factor for the total cost of marketing is the type of advertising medium you pick. If your target group is small and gathered around a particular subject, it is beneficial to focus on niche media (such as specialized websites, events, conventions, etc.). Of course, besides choosing the appropriate ad medium, it’s also a matter of the proper configuration of the ad settings – otherwise, you’ll waste supplies on trying to get to somebody who will never be interested in your app.

Summary

All this analysis has reminded me of one of the first projects I was a part of. Almost 20 years ago, back in 2002, I was a member of a high-school students organization – Academy of Young Creators, affiliated to Łódź Center of Teacher Training and Vocational Education. We decided to create a portal called eTopia that would be a place for various communities where people could share their knowledge and experience. Sounds familiar? We even had an internal IM system (it was just a Windows desktop software piece, as nobody back then dreamed of an instant messaging tool working directly in a browser!). We had a grand idea that could dominate the charts, just like the pop stars do! Unfortunately, it was simply not enough. Let my bad experience be a warning to all of you. And good luck!

If you wish to share any follow-up comments, don’t hesitate to drop me a line at krzysztof@makimo.com – or via Messenger (just look for my name).