Why Every Developer Fears the “Billion-Dollar App Idea” Conversation

When a software developer is at a social gathering, they are uniquely vulnerable. They might be standing in a corner (alone), minding their own business, when a friend of an acquaintance sidles up.

“You’re a software developer, right?

The reply, although mumbled, is a clear “yes”.

“I have a great idea for an app. Let’s talk!”

What follows is an existential crisis for the software developer. There is no escape, and the fight-or-flight response bubbles up to the surface.

Because although the CEO-in-waiting genuinely thinks there is space in the crypto world for a social platform they need a developer to make their dreams come true. You just need to listen to their long ill-thought out ramblings before you tell them that you’re just not the right person for their venture. They look upset, you were the developer who would solve their problems, for free of course, and now you’re turning down this great opportunity.

Fantasy vs. The Reality

Everyone has a billion-dollar idea in them. Flying cars are a great idea, and I’m going to start on a landing page where you can express interest real soon.

Excluding that idea, people with “billion-dollar ideas” usually fall into two categories:

The Overconfident Business Guy

They have no technical background, no funding, and no plan, but they’re convinced that “execution doesn’t matter, only the idea”. 

Spoiler: It’s the opposite. Everybody has ideas, they are everywhere. It is the execution that marks some for success and some for failure.

The Clueless Enthusiast

They think making an app is like making a PowerPoint presentation. Just drag and drop some buttons, right? Because they work “in tech” (on the cashier at Walmart) they know all about creating apps.

They just need you to create the login system and a backend to store the data of the parrots and their progress through the Mandarin learning journey. How hard can it be? You’ll figure out the details.

Spoiler: It can be incredibly hard.

Requirements

The problem is that ideas are so cheap they’re everywhere. Even if you identify a problem that needs to be solved, it’s probable that 100 people have entered the domain and attempted to solve it already and failed in 100 different ways. The solution might be too early (Sinclair C5), too late (Microsoft Zune) or a Theranos vaporware solution.

So, when people come with an idea, they need to understand what makes them (and their solution) actually different? What data do they have that there is a customer base who will use the service / purchase the product?

Without work before pitching the idea to anybody, the idea is just a cheap pot-shot at success. And once you’re over the first hurdle of assessing the idea, execution is everything. Execution requires months (or years) of work, a team, funding, market validation, and a thousand small decisions. They don’t care about that. They just want you to build it. For “equity.”

The Equity Trap

If you have an idea and want to get people on board to build it, but don’t have any money, you need a solution. That solution is equity.

“I can’t pay you right now, but you’ll get a share of the profits when we make it big!”

The chance of an idea launching into a product is low. The chance of it actually making money? 1 in 1,000,0000 doesn’t really cover the astronomical improbability of any software project becoming a success.

Developers know better. Nearly all of these ideas will never make a cent. We’re not investing months of our lives to build your dream for a hypothetical payout that will never come. We’ve bought into the dream before, and it didn’t work out.

Why Developers Would Rather Face a Firing Squad

In the moment, when a software developer hears “I have a billion-dollar idea,” the exhaustion is immediate. It’s not that we hate ideas. We just hate the assumption that we owe our time and effort to random people who haven’t thought their plan through.

I remember just this situation, where I got cornered in an unexpected pitch meeting. The idea was to track children in a park so parents would know if their child’s friend was there, and how busy it would likely be. They had a demo app running on Android, and it looked as bad as you might imagine. The problem with this idea was that it would be a pedophile’s dream, and this particular proto-ceo hand waved away the problem. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be involved in a project that makes no sense, has legal issues and is morally problematic.

So, What Should You Do If You Have an App Idea?

If you really do believe in your idea, you’ll need a developer to help take you to market. Don’t simply go to a developer without thinking through your idea first. 

Here’s a guide of what needs to be thought about.

Research, Research, Research

Has this been done before? What problem does it solve? Who is your target audience? What data can you find regarding the problem space?

Learn the Basics

If you want to lead the development of an app you don’t need to be a coder. Yet understanding app development and what is actually possible would be useful. As would business models, projecting what you think will happen and anything else that might make you more credible.

Have a Business Plan

How will this app make money? How will you acquire users? 

If you can’t answer these, your idea isn’t yet ready.

Secure Funding

If you’re serious, raise money to pay a developer. Good developers don’t work for free. You’ll need to pay for tools; you might even need to pay for things you haven’t thought of.

You’ll need money. Money can be exchanged for goods and services. You need goods and services to make an app.

 Be Willing to Learn

Development is a collaboration, not a one-way street where you throw an idea at a coder and expect magic.

If you do all that, you might just find a developer willing to listen. Maybe.

Conclusion

Software developers love coding, but don’t expect them to do it for free. A half-baked fantasy isn’t usually sufficient to attract a developer onto a project, so if you want an idea to become reality, make it oven-ready.

Build on the viable idea, respect the time and effort it takes to build an app and ship it. You might just get rich.

If you’re not able or willing to put the full effort in, don’t be surprised when developers pass over your billion-dollar pitch. Oh, and part of that effort is knowing when the time and place is to present your idea — my grandfather’s funeral isn’t the place FYI.