
Build a Business, not an App - mobitar
https://listed.standardnotes.org/@mo/259/build-a-business-not-app
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launchtomorrow
This is a well put way to encourage engineers to think in terms of the
business or social context of their inventions. I usually find that trying to
work through a business model canvas or lean canvas helps point out which
parts of the founder's thought process are missing or buggy. Takes 15 minutes
to do it. Usually it's the customer or value proposition at the earliest
stage, channel or pricing once the product is tech I ally validated.

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pcmaffey
Actually, I'd say: Build an audience, not a business.

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nine_k
It worked for Twitter.

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AznHisoka
Playing devil's advocate, my advice would be: build an app first, then a
business. It's already hard enough to build an app that gets traction. Do the
small stuff first, then worry about the bigger challenge later. You don't have
a business without a good product (even a "minor" one that does 1 only single
thing well)

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mromanuk
I think the OP is talking about focusing in the big picture and not just
throwing your app into the app store, without caring for marketing, nurturing
an community, etc. At least, that is my impression.

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briandoll
Related introspection: Engineers, built businesses, not apps:
[http://emphaticsolutions.com/2010/12/10/build-businesses-
not...](http://emphaticsolutions.com/2010/12/10/build-businesses-not-
apps.html)

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afinlayson
Also correlated, don't build an app/business that is really just is just a
feature of something else.

I've got many LinkedIn job requests that are trying to build a company around
a feature of a different company. Instagram + ???.

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riantogo
The example is ironic because for the most part Instagram itself was a
feature.

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melling
A video version: [https://vimeo.com/137539070](https://vimeo.com/137539070)

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tn_
I have no idea how half my apps in 2010 got approved. it was really nice to
see an app that i built in 1 week, bring in $1-3~ a day for a solid year. Then
I spammed the crap out of that formula.

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10dpd
My very HN username is based around this idea of building a simple app and
throwing it on the App Store and making 10 dollars per day, rinse and repeat..

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sutble
Can you provide a link to the apps in question? Most of my free apps don't get
past 7 downloads total...

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skate22
I disliked the part where the author plugged their own app lol. Eveything
these days is an ad.

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alexasmyths
Easier said than done, but a rather valid trope that needs to be repeated
every once and a while.

