During my undergraduate degree and through internships I have had to pitch my ideas many times and have practiced the technique behind my delivery and ability to answer questions. Nevertheless, pithing and presenting ideas and concepts is something that I would like to improve through further practice. I have also had limited experience in trying to fund product development and during this weeks journal post I will explore what it takes to build a business plan and pitch my ideas for funding.
Product is key
At the start of the project it is important to understand that the user experience is key to a products success. If the concept is groundbreaking but it is unusable and difficult to understand for the user then it will not bring users back to it and will not be successful. In order to do this, from a business perspective, you need to understand that every audience is different and this should be reflected in the business canvas template (or similar). These templates can be good starting points but can be changed in order to suit the target audience or type of app you are creating.
Types of funding
As important as understanding your audience is understanding how you will fund your app. Grants; either governmental, charitable, from angel or venture investors are a great way of gaining funding for your project. These types of funding can be philanthropic, research based or in return for a step in your project. Another type of funding that is more risky are through loans but can be necessary in certain circumstances.
Pitching your product
In order to achieve many of these types of funding or pitch the concept within a team it is important to be confident presenting your idea, concept or product. Having the ability to outline your product within 3 sentences is key to being concise and holding their attention. Below are types of pitches necessary to practice and know the difference between.
Elevator pitch – A short 2 minute pitch where it is key to get them interested quickly. It is also important to talk about the monetary potential and finances as these pitches are generally towards investors. These pitches are also usually without slides so building a picture of your concept, the user and how it will make money linguistically is key.
Timed/ competition pitch – These pitches are usually around 3 minutes in length and are limited with minimal slides. Similar to the elevator pitch in that building interest and a picture of the app has to be done concisely and without many slides.
Creative pitch – These pitches are usually within teams or companies where the ideas are judged not the monetary value. These may show a demo, concept images or research for the project. See tough questions will be asked but unlike the other are based around making progress not analysing the product worth.
Business pitch – This pitch is focussed on the business viability, monetary value and finances. Similar to the elevator pitch but generally will be longer, more intense and detailed analysis of the product or idea.
Conclusion
Having an understanding of business plans, pithing and funding projects is a truly important skill for app developers. In the past two projects I haven’t put too much thought into this and have focussed on the creative side of the project. Whilst this has worked for these two short projects in the future I will have to explore business plans in order to validate my concept in a real world context. The business plan also helps you think about ways of funding the project and how it will make money once released. If the app will have adverts how will users see these and how intrusive will they be. This is important for personal development as many creatives lack the business attributes and knowledge needed.
Whilst I have limited experience creating business plans and pitching for funding I feel that through the course I will explore these further and build skills that will give me confidence to do this when needed.
Nathaniel's Creative App Journal 