What inspired you to start entrepreneurship?
Mike: I’ve always been into Entrepreneurship. I’m Nigerian and we are very Business oriented. My mother & father successfully own and ran one of the first African Food stores in Houston, Tx for 20 years. So watching them always be their own Boss was something that inspired me. I knew that I wanted to one day build my own Business.
What inspired me into Tech is the under representation of Black people. I’ve always loved everything there is to know about Tech, but it amazes me to see that under 5% in ownership is by blacks. This is what inspired me to really get involved and to figure out how I can go against the stereotypes and really open that door for other Innovators who look just like me.
What are 5 things you wish someone would’ve told you before building your own app?
Find a clear problem and make sure there is a need
Mike: The app market is extremely saturated with thousands of apps hitting the market store everyday. The problem a lot of people face is sometimes while their app is a good idea, there isn’t a demand for it. There are many things that appear good to us, and a lot of people never do market research to actually get feedback on the idea.
Monetizing your Idea
Mike: How to monetize your idea can be one of the hardest things for people to figure out. They get a great idea, but they don’t know how to actually make money out of it. There are many different options to consider here:
-Advertisements
-In-App Purchases
-Building a Ecommerce store within the app
-Subscrition bases
– Charging per download
-Commision based Structure
Creating a very detailed business plan
Mike: This part should be obvious but I’ve noticed There are alot of people that skip over it. Either they don’t have a Business plan at all or its too Basic of a plan. There should be a Complete Business plan Built of your Entire Company. You want to have a plan of why people will use your app, the importance, how it will make money, your marketing strategy, how it will be funded, company projections, and exit strategy. This should all be included in the Business plan.
Funding
Mike: The Second most common reason App Businesses fail is because they run out of funds that they need to improve on their app, market the app, or build out an actional team. Almost 50% of app companies run with a team of 5 or less. There is no way you will be able to build a highly profitable company with only you and one or two others. You need to have a clear process of how your Business will be funded.
Ways to help with this is knowing if you all will seek investors. Have a pitch deck created to give out to potential investors for funding. What a pitch deck is is an overview of your company outlining why your app is a great idea, how it will make investors money, and why they should invest in you and your company. Most big companies have secured Funding through investors, so you want to make sure on this particular pitch deck that it looks very professional, and it is showcasing an overview of why they should believe in you and your companies vision.
Other ways for Funding: Crowd Funding, Venture Capatalist and SBA Loans,
MARKETING
Mike: You can have the best app in the world, but if no one knows about it then it’s useless. Most apps fail because they don’t have a strategic marketing plan to acquire clients. There are so many Marketing ways that will be able to help you get downloads.
-Paid Marketing
-App Store Optimization
-Facebook/Social Media
-Social Influencers
-Brand Ambassadors
-Hosting Events