Last week was a big one for Tuitive: we officially launched FunnelBug, a web app we created for “business owner sales people” to manage their sales leads and forecast future revenue.
Having designed dozens of applications for clients, I figured there wouldn’t be much we had not seen before. Boy was I wrong. Here are 6 things I learned, relearned, and am learning from that experience:
- Design matters
Most of us have heard that a good aesthetic design is critical to a positive user experience, but I had never before considered its effect on the developer. When it’s 3:00 am and you’re tired, and you’re wondering if the whole project is a costly, foolish pursuit, nothing bounces the mind back like a visceral reaction of “dang, that looks gooood!” - Copy writing is user interface design
The great thing about “lorem ipsum” is that it makes a screen look done even when it’s not. But that’s also the enormous problem. It’s not done until you actually do it, and such placeholder text contributes to copy being treated as an afterthought. It mustn’t be—put as much care into your copy as you do your code. - The only thing more expensive than programming is reprogramming
It’s inexcusable how much development we did on designs that were “mostly done,” only to have to redo them later. I should have known better; I preach this to clients all the time. It stinks having to choose between keeping what you’ve built, and rebuilding something into what it should have been in the first place. That’s not to say you need to make it perfect, though, because… - You can’t afford to make it perfect
If you insist on perfection, you’ll have spent too much money on an app that never sees the light of day. I used to take pride in being a perfectionist, but now I regard it as a curse; it hurts more than it helps. Besides, who defines what perfection is? You, or your future customer? Which one really matters? - Until you launch it, you’re completely guessing
I’m a big fan of the “scratch your own itch” approach to application development. But one can never know the viability of a product or how to improve it until it leaves the nest and meets the full brunt of praise or criticism by the marketplace. Every day you delay your launch is another day you deprive yourself of the benefit of real customer feedback. - To build an app is to build a business
A wiseman (Michael Cloran at Developer Town) once gave me some advice about building an app, but he kept using the words “starting a business.” I thought this was a curious difference in semantics at the time, but now it makes sense. An app can only exist and flourish within the ecosystem of staffing, marketing, and other key elements that make up a sustainable business. We haven’t yet figured all that out, but we get it.
We’ve worked hard over the last year building FunnelBug, but building the app might have been the easy part. I’m grateful for groups like Verge that serve as a source of camaraderie and inspiration for local start-ups like us. It’s a great time to both be and serve software start-ups in Indy!
Get a 30 day free trial of FunnelBug
If you’re a “business owner sales person” looking for an easier way to manage your sales leads and forecast future revenue, go to funnelbug.com for a 30 day free trial.
A favor please…
You know the drill. We’re trying to get enough Facebook likes to get the ‘facebook.com/funnelbug’ web address. You can help us out by ‘liking’ our FunnelBug Facebook page!
While you’re at it, you can follow FunnelBug on Twitter.
