How to Write a Business Plan for Mobile App Development

We are living in the modern world where it is hard to find someone without a smartphone without any mobile applications installed. It has become a necessity for reaching people. And as long as smartphones/tabs are growing in numbers, there is no doubt that the mobile app industry will continue to boom its revenue and bring jobs for people.

So, to start up an app business you need to write down a business plan which is a very crucial element in the app development process. Below we have sketched what you actually need to include in your business plan before launching a mobile application.

Business Plan Template

Executive Summary

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The first and most important part of your business plan is the executive summary. It is the first things that get a read by the investors. It’s a crucial part of your business plan template which should be clear and concise; also, remember less is more here.

Problem

A problem is a complexity that a consumer is facing which has not been addressed or not rightly tackled yet. Also, it should also depict that this complexity or problems impact people enough and hence how this shortcoming or complexity needs to cope up.

Solution

It is referred here as the solution to the complexity that is faced. You need to introduce how your app is the best solution to the problems faced by the consumers. Explain enthusiastically why your app is the potential solution for companies or people and how it addresses the problem faced.

Value Proposition

A unique value proposition makes you stand out of the crowd. It differentiates your business from competitors in the market. And using unique value proposition means your it shouldn’t be common and be the only entity in the world that can claim it. And very precisely, for being the best among all you need to invest your time, money and some good resources which others may lack.

Goals

Make sure your goal aligns with the solution you provided. It is what investors need to know and you need to explain what success looks like. Consider explaining your success definition, time frame and your exit plan in the goals section.

Company details

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For any app to work, the team plays a significant role. And for investors, the company section of your business plan is the most important you need to explain the history of your company where you briefly need to explain the brief about the idea that motivated you to start the business. Also, the expert management and advisory team you got in the house. This is why accelerators like Y-Combinator base most of their decisions on the founding team and company potential.

Marketing Plan

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The marketing plan isn’t consistent and iterates during the initial years as per requirement. Investors seek for such a marketing plan that will persuade users/customers to get their hands-on product/service.

Customer Acquisition Strategy

Under this heading, you have to jot down your basic strategies that will help in customer acquisition. Mention each approach and tactic you’ve planned for acquiring customers. Explain thoroughly how much it will cost to acquire one customer (CAC) from each channel but make sure to give a realistic expectation. Try to be specific and quantitative. This is what an investor is looking for at this stage.

Product Driven Growth

It is imperative to build a referral program into your app to leverage network effects if you are looking for a business model that requires a great mainstream user base. Uber app is one such success with which you get a coupon for the next ride you are going to take. Moreover, your friends also get the coupon for taking their first rides with Uber.

Key Metrics

It’s simple for startup founders to rely on “vanity metrics” or metrics that make it look like you’re doing good enough, but in fact, you’re not on the road to sustainable business. Therefore, you need to pick one or two metrics that you plan on focusing on that matter specifically for your business. For instance, if you’re a social app, active users on a regular basis may be more crucial than your full number of downloads.

Financial Plan

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After all the other sections of the business plan has been read by the investor, you must show them what kind of investments you’ll be needing for your app. So, you must know what and how much finances you need meanwhile you must inform the investor where their money is going. The financial model generally involves a three-to-five-year forecast of all major forecast models, including profit and loss, money flow, balance sheets, start tables, and valuation.

Monetization Strategy

Here are some of the ways to monetize an app:

Advertising: If you are among the running social app and people spend time scrolling through your feed, then advertising is the best way to monetize from your app.

Paid: Most of the running apps are free today. The strategy is to keep your app free and once the user gets involved you may then charge for the extra features. However, if you have a paid app business model, explain how you will get over this hurdle.

In-App Purchases: In-app purchases are a very prevalent model of monetization. We see these most common in games and other gamification applications.

Subscription: Subscription models perform because they keep billing individuals until they decide to stop subscribing.

Startup Cost

Whoever is investing must know what everything is going to cost and what are the variables. Depending on the complexity of the app’s features and developer’s rates, the cost of app design and development varies greatly. However, some prices remain constant for instance, subscriptions salaries, office rent, etc. while the others are going to increase as your business scales, e.g. server space. Make your price predictions on your revenue so that the investor can see how the business should grow over time, and ultimately begin registering a profit.

Funding

The final part is the integral one since it is the stage where you will ask for the funding you need. You must be well informed enough to sketch how much time and funding is needed to attain profitability. This is the amount you ask for and in return, you justify what you are giving. work on how long it will take to bootstrap until profitability – once you’ve got an app to launch.