Rahul Varshneya

The app economy has arrived. When every other entrepreneur that I speak to has an app idea to launch their business, you know that apps are big business. I get this a lot “How do I find an app developer?”

Quite simply, I always tell them. The difficult part is to find the right app developer for your app business.

For me, it was a very easy path to building an app development company, but the difficult part was to successfully build a business that empowers entrepreneurs in launching their apps and website businesses.

I speak from my experience of building one such company that finding the right partner is more important than saving a few hundred or thousand dollars in building your product. The right partner can add value in multiple ways than just development, which in turn will help you maximize revenues for your app business.

Let’s get started with firstly identifying how to find an app developer and then going on to what you should look for in an app developer to make the right decision for your app business.

How to find an app developer

1. You look no further and get in touch with my company, Arkenea Technologies that has over two years of experience in helping entrepreneurs in launching their mobile apps and website businesses. The company follows a consultative development process that offers free consulting on business and customer insights, free marketing support and advice on how to best monetize your business to drive maximum revenues.

2. There are plenty of developer networks where you can post your requirement and developers will respond with their bid. Most of the developers here are freelancers and may be working on more than one project at the same time. It is also difficult to find a combination of a good UI/UX professional and developer since most of them are independent developers. However, if you must go down this route, here are the options: AppTank – found to be the best among all of them; oDesk, Elance and They Make Apps are some other options, but tread with caution.

3. Do a Google search for app developers in your area and visit their website and check out their portfolio. Google will throw up many developer websites who may or may not be in your region or country. But that does not matter in today’s world. Stop at the ones with a good portfolio and write to them to initiate a dialogue (more below on what to look for in the right development partner).

The above ways will give you enough fodder to get you started and moving ahead and quite simply at that. But as I mentioned earlier, it is the finding the right app developer that is the difficult part. Here’s how you can overcome that challenge.

How to find the right development partner

1. Look for a developer that is interested in your business more than the development. Those are the people (the good ones) who know what works and what doesn’t through their experience of working with many clients. For example, most developers or development companies will start a dialogue with technical specifications. Arkenea starts with the reasons and motivation behind the app idea, differentiators and then go onto suggestions for making the app even better revenue grosser.

2. Assess their portfolio. A good developer MUST also have excellent U/UX skills. 60% of your application is about how a user interacts with it. Look for beautiful looking apps with excellent user interfaces.

3. Ask for client references. Look for developers who will readily extend client contact information for you to ask them questions and get real feedback on the company that you are going to work with.

4. Development of a mobile application is not a one-time activity. Apps have to go through many evolutions and cycles through constant user feedback. Look for a developer that will stick with you through the lifecycle of the product and not abandon ship once the initial development is done and the app is hosted.

Whatever you do, don’t look at costs as the primary deciding factor. You can always find a developer in your budget. But what you’re looking for is a partner who can help you make that difference between creating a good app and creating a fantastic app that will draw in revenues.

photo credit: Cristiano Betta via photopin cc