Most of the articles on the topic of selling app ideas deal with situations where the developer has either an idea or minimal work to do. This is partly understandable: it is believed that if you have a minimum viable product, the MVP, you can handle the rest on your own. But what if you don’t? We tell you how to sell your app idea if you have only a little left.
You’ve done a great job and your product can be considered minimally viable. Congratulations, at this stage it is much easier to interest a potential investor. If the startup has something to offer, that’s great. What is required of you? The most important thing is utmost honesty and utmost clarity. Tell me at the presentation
What are you lacking? This may not only be financial: Maybe you would like to work with a team of successful marketers, but you do not have the connections. This can be presented correctly;
indicate what kind of financial investment you are expecting;
give a marketing plan: tell about possible promotion strategies, spelled out how much money will be spent and what for. This point can be adjusted, but the detailed development will help attract investors;
outline the possible ways to monetize the application. Are you planning on having in-game currency, paid features or are you counting on advertising from companies with related themes: show your expertise in this matter.
Be sure to state what percentage of profit you are claiming. Of course, the product has not been realized yet, but if you have studied the niche well and know how much similar products cost, you know the approximate amount. Sometimes you can just sell what you have by asking for a certain price, but this is not always relevant and will not work for all products/teams.
Why would investors want you?
Of course, an investor is primarily interested in the profit you can bring them. However, there are other motivations: business angels, for example, see it as their life goal to share their accumulated experience and act as a mentor for talented teams. In any case, in order to interest an investor, you will have to prepare a quality application, only the idea will be bought.
Look at your product through the eyes of investors: would you invest? If there are any doubts, think about what they are related to and go over the functionality, design, etc. again. Your product should already be flawless at the MVP stage, first of all for you.
If you doubt the success, you can check the statistics: it gives you faith in success.
Investors and where they live
In fact, getting an investor interested is harder than finding one. There are many platforms where a startup can find a buyer: there are crowdfunding, gas pedals, and startup platforms. There are differences between them, but for you as a developer, it’s not that important. Here are some useful platforms:
Crowdfunding: Kickstarter, Crowd Supply, Ourcrowd and others. Crowdfunding has a perk: you’re both building a loyal audience and seeking funds;
Startup platforms like Startups.com, Gust.com.
Gas pedals and business incubators: Ycombinator, 500Startups, DreamIt Ventures
Business angel and mentor networks: Angel Capital Association and Angel Investment Network.
Do not neglect the standard ways to find professional support: sometimes you can even find specialists and investors on LinkedIn. A similar network in the global community is Xing.
How to sell an Apple app idea
If you have not yet entered into a search engine request “How to sell an app idea to Google, Apple, or Facebook” and have not received your share of frustration about this, now we will tell you why you should not even try to sell your idea to the world’s major companies. The point is that if your request is found and they are interested in it, you will not be able to claim profit and fame: both Apple and Google reserve the right to fully appropriate your idea, because you sent it to them yourself without asking the company. Don’t give them your development: you will not be able to assert the authorship, nor will you be able to get royalties.
