Not everyone will get the chance to (or want to!) appear on Dragons’ Denbut, if you’ve decided you’ll need external funds to pay for any additional resources as you build and market your app, there are several avenues open to you.

If you do find that you are going to need outside funding to do justice to your app, be realistic in your expectations. You may believe 100% in your idea, but you’ll need to persuade any potential investors that they will see a decent payback.

Your ability to really sell your idea will be important, then, as will your choice of backer.

Approaching someone who understands what you’re doing and buys into the whole concept may be a safer bet than going to a more risk-averse bank. Then again, banks are now being offered new incentives to invest in entrepreneurs and small businesses, which could change things.

Remember to do your research before approaching potential backers, and to draw up a formal business plan if you’re targeting more formal sources of investment – so you don’t fall victim to the sort of humiliation seen in Dragons’ Den.

The Angel Investor Network has some good advice on how to produce a suitably impressive business plan. And for help in approaching VCs (not to mention a whole range of other useful stuff) take a look at the Microsoft BizSparksite.

Read on for a roundup of the most popular funding options.

Grants

A grant is a sum of money awarded to an individual or business to help them fund a project. If you meet all of the scheme’s requirements, it is unlikely that you will need to pay back the grant.

Grants are available from a variety of sources, including the Government, the EU, Business Links and local authorities – and there may be others in the specialist field targeted by your app.

However, it is not always easy to secure a grant. A tough economy has meant that many funds have been scaled back. Competition is likely to be very tough in any case, and you will have to pass a series of eligibility requirements.

Grants vary in amount and there may be an expectation that you will match the amount awarded from your own resources.

Good sources of information about grants are listed below:

• Business Link: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home
• The Prince’s Trust (note that you must be under 30 to apply): http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/
• If you’re a student, you can enter the competition for the Microsoft Imagine Cup grant

Bank loan

While a difficult economic climate has made it a lot more difficult for small businesses and individuals to borrow money from banks over recent years, the Coalition has now made a pact with high-street banks to encourage new lending to entrepreneurs and small/medium businesses. Total funds of £76bn have been earmarked for these purposes. Apart from anything else, it now looks good for banks to be supporting innovative projects so you should find a friendly ear if you approach your bank manager.

If you do decide to pursue a bank loan go prepared with a business plan, paying particular attention to the financial details around your idea – the minimum start-up amount you will need and your financial projections as the project unfolds and the product is launched.

Before any funds are released, you will be subject to credit checks and the bank will want to look at any previous small business activity you may have been involved in. To increase your chances of securing a loan, it may be an idea to partner with someone who has had business success in the past.

The rate and terms of your loan will vary depending on provider and the perceived ‘risk’ of your project, so do your research to ensure you go after the most appropriate loan for you and your idea.

Angel investors

Angel investors, or business angels, are affluent individuals who are keen to invest in ideas they believe will be profitable. The panel on Dragon’s Denare angel investors.

As it is their own money they are risking, angels will be demanding and will scrutinise you and your business plan. They will also require on-going progress reports and may prefer to stagger their investment as the project progresses. Many angel investors are former business owners with a wealth of experience under their belts. It will be hard to pull the wool over their eyes, and they will expect to be involved in important decisions.

Choose your investor carefully based on their area of particular interest, as they are likely to specialise in the field(s) they know best. Research their background before you approach them to make sure they will be receptive to your idea – and to show that you’ve done your homework. Often, angels invest through networks or groups to minimise their own personal risk and to share knowledge.

If you’re after a significant amount of money, angel investors can be a great option. But don’t expect quick and easy money – or necessarily the full amount you’d like. It can take several months for an investor to commit, and they may not be prepared to shoulder the entire risk. Directories of angel investors can be found online (the British Business Angels Association at www.bbaa.org.uk/ is one of the most comprehensive resources), and Intermediary agencies exist to match entrepreneurs with angel investors (see for example http://www.inbizvest.com/).

There are also other sources of practical help and advice such as Microsoft BizSpark. BizSpark is a global program helping software startups succeed by giving them access to software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, and providing marketing visibility. Take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/.

Crowdfunding

In an uncertain climate where no one has much money to spare and nearly everyone is worried about the future, it can help to spread the risk. Another way of looking at this is letting multiple people share the opportunity to invest in and be part of your success!

On a personal level, perhaps various family members, friends and work colleagues would each be prepared to put up a small amount of the money if they believe in you and your idea – in return for some share in your riches if your app turns out to be profitable.

If you’re worried about entering into financial arrangements with people close to you, or don’t have wealthy relatives you can turn to, why not take a more arms-length approach and appeal to networks of willing strangers via a ‘crowdfunding’ web sites. These are web sites designed to connect budding entrepreneurs with everyday people who’re willing to take a punt on a good idea. Each person may only contribute a small amount, but if a high number of investors catch on to your idea, you’ll soon hit your target figure. And more than simply being about upfront cash, this can also be an excellent way to help you find people with the skills to help get your ideas off the ground.

Most crowdfunding sites require you to submit your idea for review. If it passes the guidelines, it is posted to the site. You set the amount you’re looking for and the date by which you need the money. The catch is that if the total required funds aren’t raised by the deadline, you won’t receive anything (a bit like the situation on Dragons Den).

It is likely that you’ll be required to pay a percentage of the amount raised to the crowdfunding website and its payment provider if you do secure the money. Make sure you read through the site’s terms and conditions too, to ensure that you still retain ownership of the app and any proceeds once investors have been paid back.

• Useful crowdfunding tips can be found here and here.
• Ten of the best crowdsourcing websites are listed here.
• For crowdfunding forums specifically targeted at mobile apps, check out AppBackr and Appsfunder.
• And Quora details those with global coverage (i.e. outside the US).
  

  And finally…. the bank of Mum and Dad

  Do your parents or other family members believe in your idea? Would they be willing to support you financially so that you can get your app built and to market?

  If so, it may be worth sitting down and discussing your idea with your parents or close family – in a way that shows them how serious you are. This will mean indicating the research you’ve done, showing them something of the market potential, and giving them a feel for how you plan to move forward.

  The upside of keeping it in the family is that, if the individuals concerned are generous, they won’t add on any interest. But don’t take too much for granted. Remember that money matters can be a source of tension in families, and your backers are going to want to see an end product at some stage.

  Download the Windows 8 Release Preview

   

  RESOURCES

  • Download the Windows 8 Developer Tools– they’re all free
  • Windows Developer Centre– all news, updates, links and downloads
  • Building Windows 8– an inside look from the Windows engineering team
  • http://channel9.msdn.com/– video tutorials and product information from Microsoft
  • Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum– need help? Try here.
  • Windows 8 Developer Linked In Group – got an idea for an app? Join the Windows 8 developer group on Linked In to get your app into the Windows Store.

Depending on how big your ambitions are, you’ll need to think whether you’re likely to need financial resources to help get your app off the ground and propel it into the stratosphere.

Whether you need funding to develop and promote your app will really depend on your own skills and how much time you have. Just as budding musicians can now launch an entire music career from their bedrooms equipped with nothing but their talent, an instrument, PC and an upload to YouTube, it is certainly possible to create a market-defining app without any external monetary backing – assuming you have the necessary expertise and commitment.

Self-sufficiency, where this is possible, is clearly the simplest path, but the process of getting your app to market is likely to take longer. You may need to make more revisions along the way too, if you get things wrong in the first place.

A few things to consider

• The competition.If you’re building Android/iOS apps, there are hundreds of thousands of apps available. To make yours better than anyone else, you’ll need to deliver a really special user experience, and make sure the app is stable and looks professional, standing out in its design and marketing. However, if you get in early with Windows 8, you’ll make sure your app will be available at launch, customers will find it easily as you’ll be one of the first in store AND you’ll get great feedback on your app from customers beforehand to perfect it and make sure you have the best chance of making it a success.
• Set realistic expectations. As much as you’d love to keep control of your project so you can genuinely lay claim to any success, if you have good people working with you the chances are stronger that you’ll end up with a better app than doing it by yourself.

Tip: The longer the app takes to create, the more it will cost you. Here’s a useful article to help assess what’s realistic

Download the Windows 8 Release Preview

RESOURCES

• Download the Windows 8 Developer Tools– they’re all free
• Windows Developer Centre– all news, updates, links and downloads
• Building Windows 8– an inside look from the Windows engineering team
• http://channel9.msdn.com/– video tutorials and product information from Microsoft
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum– need help? Try here.
• Windows 8 Developer Linked In Group– got an idea for an app? Join the Windows 8 developer group on Linked In to get your app into the Windows Store.
• Designing Windows 8 apps – what experience do you want to provide to the user?

Even if the premise for your app isn’t completely original, if you refine it well enough by measuring it against competitive apps and seeking early feedback, you’ll be off to a strong start.

Once you’ve got a clear picture of the app you want to develop, you’ll need to validate your idea by determining how it will fit into the existing market.

If there are other apps like it, you should establish how yours will be hotter, sharper, and catchier – not just in what it does, but how. So check out the competition, and what those other apps do well and not so well. What is the user experience like? Could you come up with a cleaner, simpler design for example? Make notes so you can refer back later to anything you thought was particularly good or bad.

Conversely, if you find that your imagined app carves a new niche, it’s worth considering why that might be. Is there something you haven’t thought of – a reason why the idea might not work in practice? Hopefully it’s because you’ve hit upon an untapped opportunity, in which case Way to go!

Less is more

Be realistic about any advanced features you plan to include in your app. As impressive as it might be to make use of GPS functionality on a mobile device, for example, you’ll need to bear in mind the impact this will have on battery life. It might also alienate users who are nervous about location-based services, or who may frequently be out of signal range.

Having honed your idea, invite feedback from prospective users. Think laterally about who your target audience might include and seek out a range of views, canvassing for additional ideas to help you really nail your idea.

Identify core features, create a wish list of those features and how they fit into the core functions of the application. Attach priorities to the features based on your intentions and the feedback received.

Go wide in your questioning too – find out more about potential users’ lifestyles, their preferred sources of information, or entertainment, how they manage tasks, the apps they already use, and what they like or dislike about them. Crucially, find out what’s lacking for them? What do they want more of?

When you introduce your idea, ask for honest feedback, both about the concept, and the way you plan to execute it – the way you see the app working, what it will do differently, how it will look and feel. Again, take notes. Try to embrace criticism – if this is constructive it will ensure you create the best possible product, avoiding any crucial oversights that could cost you user numbers once the app has entered the market place.

Device choice

Find out about the range of different devices used by your sample group, to pin down anything that irritates them about the way existing apps perform on different screens.

Use this valuable user research to help establish the platform(s) that will deliver the best user experience for your chosen app – and also the biggest potential audience.

Will your app prove most useful, or come to life best, on a smartphone, tablet or PC/laptop? Are there particular features you’ll want to harness that will dictate the user device?

Developing for multiple platforms all in one go may be taking on too much. There are a few options. The first is to start with the most popular platform for your app and for your user base and extend to other devices once you’ve gained some traction in the market. Alternatively, look at what you achieve with web-based development using HTML5 – while this may not let you exploit some of the features of individual platforms, it can offer a way to develop for multiple devices right from the start. You could also look at growing platforms like Windows 8 – there’s an opportunity to promote your product without the noise of a million other apps (but not for long!).

Thinking ahead

It’s important to think ahead however, so start to give some thought to the strategy you plan to adopt for developing, testing and promoting the product, as well as any external skills and resources you may need to draw on at each stage of the process.

All of these measures will help shape your idea from the earliest stages so that your app is set up to be as successful as possible.

Final tip: Don’t spend months on research – the app world moves quickly and you’ll have a valuable head start if you can get the first app of its type to market.

Download the free Windows 8 SDK

RESOURCES

• Open a Windows Store Account
• Windows Developer Centre– all news, updates, links and downloads
• Build an app in 10 minutes with ZipApp - Find out more
• http://channel9.msdn.com/– video tutorials and product information from Microsoft
• Windows 8 Developer Linked In Group – got an idea for an app? Join the Windows 8 developer group on Linked In to get your app into the Windows Store.

What better inspiration to draw on than your own experiences and frustrations? If you add research and context you’re off to a good start.

So how can you pin down your own big idea?

Many successful apps solve a problem, increase productivity or provide individual and/or shared entertainment (e.g. games).

Even within the Facebook phenomenon, numerous other developers have made their mark developing companion apps. And what do many of them have in common? They are enhancements born out of a personal desire to do something differently or better, while using the social network.

For maximum impact, your app should be:

• Something that hasn’t been done before;
• Something that meets an unfulfilled need; or
• A significant improvement on something that already exists.

Don’t be downhearted if that light-bulb moment doesn’t come straight away, or if your idea doesn’t take off as you’d expected. There are bound to more first-time failures than successes, but think of this as a learning experience and don’t be afraid to give something a go.

“If you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else.” ― Paul Arden (advertising guru)

Where to look for inspiration

Necessity is the mother of invention, so for your starting point think about the things that irritate or hamper you in a typical day – information you can’t easily get at, niggling frustrations at work or as you travel.

Local authoritiesare actively encouraging people to create apps that improve public services and making data sets readily available to would-be developers. Bristol City Council, for example, has made multiple datasets publicly available on data.gov.uk. These cover everything from data on bus stops with raised kerbs, to the latest air and river pollution measurements.

Consider your hobbies too, and those of your friends. Perhaps you know someone who’s struggling to set up a book club or walking group, organise a car or babysitting pool, or find a local dance partner. Maybe there’s a local fishing club who needs more environmental information to more effectively manage river stocks. Once you’ve pinpointed a user group and possible data sets, you can get down to the real creativity – designing a transformational app that looks sharp and is intuitive to use.

If gaming is your focus, the sky’s the limit. The idea might come straight from a dream, or from a child in the family. Or what about your favourite TV programme? With growing interest in the so-called ‘second-screen’ experience, many broadcasters and content makers are now looking to develop play-along apps to engage and expand their audience. Drawing on your passion as a Torchwood or Top Gear devotee, you could be just the person to help.

Ask around

“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas” – Linus Pauling (US chemist & pacifist, 1901 – 1994).

There’s nothing like a good brainstorming session to get the creative juices flowing, so why not organise a focus group made up of a few of your friends, family members or work colleagues – the more varied in interests, the better.

It will help to have a starting point for your idea – even if it’s very broad, such as helping people get to work on time. Generate conversations around this topic – viewing the situation from different angles. Write everything down, however bizarre, and then review – a bit like they do on The Apprentice.

The more ideas, the better – out of 100 ideas only a handful may be viable. It could take several focus groups to hone an idea fully.

Use the tools

Often the very tools you’re building with can provide inspiration. The design framework for Windows apps has been created with the specific goal to inspire developers – by helping them to create successful motion-sensitive/gesture-driven Windows Phone and Windows 8 experiences suitable for even the smallest devices.

Download the Windows 8 Release Preview

RESOURCES

• Download the Windows 8 Developer Tools– they’re all free
• Windows Developer Centre– all news, updates, links and downloads
• Building Windows 8– an inside look from the Windows engineering team
• http://channel9.msdn.com/– video tutorials and product information from Microsoft
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum– need help? Try here.
• Windows 8 Developer Linked In Group – got an idea for an app? Join the Windows 8 developer group on Linked In to get your app into the Windows Store.

New to app development? However skilled you are in software design and development, there will be times when you will need to draw on outside expertise. Involving others can also provide a useful additional perspective, ensuring that potential issues and bugs are picked up.

Once you’re confident in your idea, you’ll be itching to get started on the design and development – so that you can get your app to market as soon as possible and bask in the kudos. Seriously, though, getting customer feedback is key to making sure your app is the best it can be.

Getting an app to market quickly means completing key stages in the creation process efficiently. Having a clear design and development plan is crucial, as will be having access to the right skills and resources at each point along the way.

Don’t be too proud – or possessive – to ask for help. No one can do everything well and, as the old adage goes, it’s better to be a master of one trade than a jack of all. So be realistic about your own strengths and limits and be prepared to ask for assistance when needed.

Preparing to collaborate

Start by defining what skills you have and how these fit into the app development lifecycle. Identify where you have any gaps in knowledge so that you can start lining up suitable support.

Next, document your app idea, including as much detail as possible about how you think it will work. This will help you get across your vision accurately to other members of the team so you’re all on the same page.

Defining where you will need help

These are the main stages of a typical app project, giving you the opportunity to predict any additional resources you will need at each point:

1. Requirements definition

This is where you sketch out what your application will do and the technical requirements involved in making this happen. That includes defining the user journey within the app, and how all of the content and features will work together. It’s important to get this right – you should allow 2 to 3 weeks to define and refine your thinking.

2. Creative elements – design & wording

Design

Designing an app’s data storeis as much an art form as the visual design, so don’t focus on one at the expense of the other. The relationship between the data and the front-end user experience is crucial to the performance of the app.

The app must be designed to perform efficiently, taking full advantage of the underlying technology platform.

For a sleek and engaging look and feel to the app, a strong visual designis vital too. Your choice of logo, colour scheme and special effects will make all the difference in ensuring your app is eye-catching and immediately identifiable as users browse through the given app catalogue. Clean and simple may be best, but make sure you harness the input of a design expert, and test your design on target users.

Design skills needed, then, will include:

• Application database design: to establish and optimise the inter-relationships between your app’s content and features, and ensure you have the optimal set up for the technology platform used by your target device

• Apps design: for visual branding and page designs

• www.behance.net is a good source of creative design professionals (see http://www.behance.net/?field=51 and http://www.behance.net/?field=109)

For resources specific to designing Windows 8 apps, take a look at:

• Windows style design principles
• UX guidelines for Windows apps
• Downloading design assets for Windows apps (includes Photoshop templates)
• Touch interaction design

You can also find further useful links in the resources section below.

Wording

While a good graphic can be worth 1,000 words, there will be at least some written content in any app, and the way this comes across contributes significantly to the user experience. Make sure you apply the same creativity and flair to the wording of any instructions and content displayed to the user as you have to the visual elements.

Although you may know exactly what you want to say, working with someone who’s good with words will lift the user experience, getting the personality and tone of voice of the app absolutely right. The smaller the screen, the fewer words you’ll be able to use to have an impact, so make each one count.

Any professional copywriter should be able to help, but web and even specialist appcopywriters will have good experience of creating attention-grabbing content in the space of just a few words. A good port of call may be someone who specialises in delivering pithy 140-character Twitter posts on behalf of their clients.

Try a directory like http://www.freelance-writers.co.uk/.

Testing

Testing your app thoroughly is vital to ensure absolute quality and a good first impression when the product hits the market. This is something you should NOT try to do in isolation as it will be impossible to pick up all the bugs yourself.

When getting help, seek out:

• A technical QA – to identify and log any glitches that impact the user experience or back-end processes.
• An editorial QA – to ensure user-facing content makes sense, is grammatically correct and reads well.

Sourcing professionals

Investing in individuals can be expensive but can ultimately save you time and minimise mistakes. The best resource will be someone believes in your app, rather than someone who’s motivated solely for the money. Find people who are passionate and experts in their field.

Good places to start your search include online tech communities like Generation App, events and social networks like Linked In. Have at it!

Download the Windows 8 Release Preview

RESOURCES

• Download the Windows 8 Developer Tools– they’re all free
• Windows Developer Centre– all news, updates, links and downloads
• Building Windows 8– an inside look from the Windows engineering team
• http://channel9.msdn.com/– video tutorials and product information from Microsoft
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview forum– need help? Try here.
• Windows 8 Developer Linked In Group – got an idea for an app? Join the Windows 8 developer group on Linked In to get your app into the Windows Store.