The opening of a mobile development studio from scratch in St. Petersburg - 3.5 years later. Reincarnation. Part 2
Hello everyone, I continue to publish - today Part 2 of the history of our studio (no, I absolutely do not like the word STUDIO - the company!) Of the mobile development notissimus.com , which for 3.5 years from 3 people managed to grow to 19+ people at the time of this writing. The first part of the opus can be found at this link . Let me remind you that the story itself was written long ago, but now I wanted to look at it and add upd.2016 - update and additions. Let's just say, a retrospective analysis of what is happening with a more sober and experienced look. We made it a rule to record daily videos with our experience and review of projects that we have ... this is the last video we recorded today - it showed the momentum that a trading company can receive only from mobile applications. After all, this is all interesting, huh?)
Go…
ps Part 1 is required to read, if you have not read it - you will get confused.
In our business plan, we had pledged funds for a one-time purchase of fixed assets (OS) for the launch of the company. What is included here? Computer equipment, peripherals, tables, chairs, etc. All purchases made on the site ulmart.ru, along the way getting quite a few bonus points on the account - it is convenient, because surely you will forget something from the trifle, what kind of cable or extension cable there is. Everything was bought reasonably - simple - necessary (sometimes very simple, then I had to improve my PC - I bought more memory, so I advise you not to cheapen all the equipment for everyday work). Below is a fragment of our managerial p / l (income - expenses) for May 2013. Nobody else received a salary from the team, only rental costs (in part, I don’t remember why this amount), the purchase of fixed assets, opening an account, registration of legal entity etc. No income, only expenses in the amount of 517,000 p. (contribution of the founder to the company’s account as an investment loan).
')
Fragment of management reporting for May 2013 - no operational activity yet
In June 2013 we actually made repairs, arranged furniture, laid communications, etc. Nothing interesting in general, and on July 1 we started our activity in a new building. 3 people - your humble servant (responsibility - customers, meetings, advertising, website, etc.), Svetlana - our financial genius and the person through whom we were able to find investments and Denis - technical director. Naturally, the task of finding additional developers immediately arose, since the plans were ambitious and it was necessary to “prepare for success” in advance. Here I can advise the hantim.ru resource - we all found the guys (and girls) at the very beginning with its help and in my opinion - this is the only resource useful and concentrated on IT specialists. No IT recruitment agents, although suggestions for such services are made regularly. We had to immediately find another .net developer and designer in the team. Coped. It is true to note that the last time we are looking for developers including through hh.ru - the placement of a vacancy costs 600 rubles for Peter. and this, by the way, is cheaper now than through hantim.ru.
The team, instead of making mobile apps, plays a board game. The furniture is the simplest, the tables could have been smaller ...
The first mistake - our business concept turned out to be ... slightly not vital.
Naturally, from the very first days of business, we tried to stick to our original business concept - the designer of mobile applications. And with the first major client - the company 2-Berega (sushi and pizza delivery), we faced a harsh reality. What did we plan to do? After reading in the media that there are about 30,000 online stores in Russia and inspired by this figure, they suggested that using our achievements, which we further called proudly “platform”, we can quickly launch native mobile apps made using some simple design templates. . Naturally, the number of templates (let's call it the product visualization grid) was supposed to increase over time. In the business plan, we laid down that in a month we will be able to connect 7 new Internet shops and take 7,000 rubles from each payment. per month for the support (rental) of all platforms. That's so linear and considered, do ... eccentrics. I don’t even want to give an Excel table here so as not to shame. The seasonal fluctuations in demand were not taken into account (at least the January holidays, the May holidays), although it would seem that so many years in business and so many different plans were made!
In fact, we made a rather serious mistake in planning when we decided that mobile applications can be done using templates, that we will linearly attract 7 new customers every month and that everyone really needs it. The basis of the error, as I said, was the erroneous opinion about the value of mobile designers in Russia and the feasibility of having mobile applications for a large number of online stores. By no means criticizing existing projects of application designers, we were convinced by experience that this simply does not suit a more or less serious (medium, large) business!
And if you have a small online store, then you just do not really need applications. Or I will say this, probably, you can pay 500 p. per month and having created something typical to play with a set of installations, but it will be just a “game” and not a serious project with a long-term perspective. I want to note that I regularly see how companies are trying to enter this market under the name “designer of mobile applications for online stores” and invest in advertising (I see it more often in facebook). I do not have the right to criticize this approach, I note that, in my opinion, our country is still “not ripe” for such projects and need to focus on other countries. I often find confirmation of this conclusion by reading thematic groups for owners of online stores on facebook - people write that there are applications, but there is no return, because they simply do not need to gain sufficient audience of users of applications (installations) to start receiving benefits in the form of orders. Here you can argue that applications are not only orders, but one of the methods of brand promotion, but this statement is well understood by companies that have marketing departments and spend considerable budgets on image advertising, and small online stores rely on a completely different approach: there are orders - there is a benefit, no - there is no benefit, we close the project.
What does a company want that is firmly on its feet and understands the value of applications for itself? She wants a solution for herself, with her design for each element made according to the basics of the brand book and, more importantly, the company wants its own functionality! Yes, based on the applications of any trading company - a product catalog, a basket and other common things, but then we get various suggestions that instantly translate work into customized development.
During the time when you work in business in general, you grow familiar and of course we first went to familiar with offers of cooperation. These companies became our first customers. And after the first negotiations, it became obvious - our idea about the designer of mobile applications is no good and we need to change very, very quickly.
How many application development teams are there in Russia? I don’t know for sure, I met some 700 figures. I don’t even dare to comment on the veracity, I believe that half of this is web-studios, which also include applications (hello, html5). And even with the groundwork in terms of applications for retail companies, we, working individually with each client of the b2c segment, played against the “adult” boys in the same sandbox, which had a portfolio. Therefore, in August 2013, we decided to propose the following concept - we develop native mobile applications for retail companies absolutely free of charge (in the basic functionality sufficient to launch the first versions), introducing technical support for 15,000 p. per month for all platforms. We did the design for free too. And yes, we still concentrate only on the b2c segment, refusing other projects (chats, taxi calls, Instagram clones, etc.). Why is that? We did not have a strong portfolio, we assumed that the solutions would be similar and we would be able to replicate the achievements to the maximum.
What mistake did we make at this stage? There are too many platforms, each of which takes time, and since resources are limited, we had to look for more developers. Costs increased, but the first large retail customers appeared, for example, clothing chains: oodji, LOVE REPUBLIC, befree - in person meetings (these companies from St. Petersburg) were able to convince us that we are not swindlers and work responsibly, despite the free development. All customers are very important, but the first ones who believed in us at the beginning are the most valuable.
Another mistake (at that time) was a possible scheme of work, in which we offered online stores to create applications for the future% of orders (bought out or transferred). The idea itself, in general, is not bad, and is suitable for small shops that are ready to promote their applications and be content with basic functionality with a reasonable - sufficient design. We made several such projects for one of the platforms (usually Apple iPad) and faced a conflict of interest, which was not the store’s willingness to promote applications. Let me clarify that in order to have orders from which we could receive our rewards in the future, you need to actively type installation applications. The store simply needs to actively notify customers about the availability of applications, and the customer base will gradually accumulate. But at the same time, the owners reasonably want to immediately get rich functionality and only then actively promote the applications, and we offered exactly the opposite (let's start with the simple and get to the complex). As a result, we quickly turned such an approach. However, thoughts of reviving this strategy are steadily “hovering” in our minds. Why? Take a small online store. Given the growth of traffic from mobile devices, the owner has a desire to make a mobile version of the site, and then the application. Moreover, applications should be functionality if they yield to the site, it is not very much. Applications must be branded, design is very neat. And the work model, when we are still developing for free (asking for payment only for design) and supporting the% of orders, can be attractive, especially considering that from the point of view of the store owner, support for% implies our involvement in the process, not just " made and forgotten. " In the early stages of the launch of the company, we still didn’t have such a large number of developments in order to immediately provide rationally sufficient functionality, but the situation is changing ...
To be continued. Part 3. There will be a speech about turnover, etc.
In general, do not disconnect)
ps For those who want to get much more information on different tools on the Internet, we advise you to refer to publications on the site http://startup.today
Go…
ps Part 1 is required to read, if you have not read it - you will get confused.
In our business plan, we had pledged funds for a one-time purchase of fixed assets (OS) for the launch of the company. What is included here? Computer equipment, peripherals, tables, chairs, etc. All purchases made on the site ulmart.ru, along the way getting quite a few bonus points on the account - it is convenient, because surely you will forget something from the trifle, what kind of cable or extension cable there is. Everything was bought reasonably - simple - necessary (sometimes very simple, then I had to improve my PC - I bought more memory, so I advise you not to cheapen all the equipment for everyday work). Below is a fragment of our managerial p / l (income - expenses) for May 2013. Nobody else received a salary from the team, only rental costs (in part, I don’t remember why this amount), the purchase of fixed assets, opening an account, registration of legal entity etc. No income, only expenses in the amount of 517,000 p. (contribution of the founder to the company’s account as an investment loan).
')
Fragment of management reporting for May 2013 - no operational activity yet
(upd.2016 - damn it, we bought the simplest things, in the end, over the years, we had to change some of the equipment. Programmers need more powerful Macs, designers, too, etc. But this ugly desire to save money has been felt and I catch myself thinking that even new PCs we buy cheaper. I was here yesterday, one senior manager told how they bought an unprofitable chain of stores, which started very pompously - in the office even the secretary had 27 "Mac, which she doesn't need. And they are modestly so gray , poor thing and ... ate a competitor in the end. Conclusion? Save. Ek If you earn more money, change the park of equipment. Ponts are superfluous, no one will appreciate them anyway, although they say they are more valuable than money).
In June 2013 we actually made repairs, arranged furniture, laid communications, etc. Nothing interesting in general, and on July 1 we started our activity in a new building. 3 people - your humble servant (responsibility - customers, meetings, advertising, website, etc.), Svetlana - our financial genius and the person through whom we were able to find investments and Denis - technical director. Naturally, the task of finding additional developers immediately arose, since the plans were ambitious and it was necessary to “prepare for success” in advance. Here I can advise the hantim.ru resource - we all found the guys (and girls) at the very beginning with its help and in my opinion - this is the only resource useful and concentrated on IT specialists. No IT recruitment agents, although suggestions for such services are made regularly. We had to immediately find another .net developer and designer in the team. Coped. It is true to note that the last time we are looking for developers including through hh.ru - the placement of a vacancy costs 600 rubles for Peter. and this, by the way, is cheaper now than through hantim.ru.
(upd.2016 Now we are looking only through hh.ru - 700 rubles and a few responses in your pocket. 80% of whom are really, let's say softly, very beginner programmers. Strange, but at the moment we have no problem finding it programmer for Xamarin - aha, we write code on it, but there is an amazing difficulty in finding a programmer for the web .net. In the team there is always one programmer - a beginner who gets involved in the processes, learns and in 2-3 months is ready in commercial projects not high complexity).
The team, instead of making mobile apps, plays a board game. The furniture is the simplest, the tables could have been smaller ...
The first mistake - our business concept turned out to be ... slightly not vital.
Naturally, from the very first days of business, we tried to stick to our original business concept - the designer of mobile applications. And with the first major client - the company 2-Berega (sushi and pizza delivery), we faced a harsh reality. What did we plan to do? After reading in the media that there are about 30,000 online stores in Russia and inspired by this figure, they suggested that using our achievements, which we further called proudly “platform”, we can quickly launch native mobile apps made using some simple design templates. . Naturally, the number of templates (let's call it the product visualization grid) was supposed to increase over time. In the business plan, we laid down that in a month we will be able to connect 7 new Internet shops and take 7,000 rubles from each payment. per month for the support (rental) of all platforms. That's so linear and considered, do ... eccentrics. I don’t even want to give an Excel table here so as not to shame. The seasonal fluctuations in demand were not taken into account (at least the January holidays, the May holidays), although it would seem that so many years in business and so many different plans were made!
(upd.2016 - yes, we were not mistaken, just in 2013 nobody needed it! Even now, in 2016, although everyone is talking about the mobile first, not so many companies really realize the feasibility of mobile applications for themselves. But, the situation changing and getting faster. Why? And I judge by the number of calls from small and medium online stores that call-write and ask for mobile apps. Yes, 99% of the owners are not sure until the end what it will give them at all. But a couple of years back and there were no calls - we concentrated on major brands. He himself sat on the body I’ve been in the portfolio and new ones are appearing, but I’m seeing a growth trend in appeals from small players on the Russian Runet market. Lamoda.ru recently mentioned that they have 50% of their turnover from mobile apps. Conclusion? We will all be there (I’m talking about applications), the question is different, but what will happen in 4-5 years after that?).
In fact, we made a rather serious mistake in planning when we decided that mobile applications can be done using templates, that we will linearly attract 7 new customers every month and that everyone really needs it. The basis of the error, as I said, was the erroneous opinion about the value of mobile designers in Russia and the feasibility of having mobile applications for a large number of online stores. By no means criticizing existing projects of application designers, we were convinced by experience that this simply does not suit a more or less serious (medium, large) business!
(upd.2016 - this is not so far, as it turned out. I explain and repeat - even a large trading business often does not understand the ultimate value of mobile applications. Plus, now budgets are being seriously reduced and no one wants to spend 2-3 million rubles on mobile applications without guarantees of return on investment within a reasonable time. We have a lot of examples when federal companies came and said - “Max, listen, we need a mobile application, but let's start with the first stage a very basic functionality of your ready-made something, but then we outline a plan for improvements, if it flies ... ". They launched, took off and then people allocated other budgets and planned work for the years ahead. In general, the more smooth the launch, the better)
And if you have a small online store, then you just do not really need applications. Or I will say this, probably, you can pay 500 p. per month and having created something typical to play with a set of installations, but it will be just a “game” and not a serious project with a long-term perspective. I want to note that I regularly see how companies are trying to enter this market under the name “designer of mobile applications for online stores” and invest in advertising (I see it more often in facebook). I do not have the right to criticize this approach, I note that, in my opinion, our country is still “not ripe” for such projects and need to focus on other countries. I often find confirmation of this conclusion by reading thematic groups for owners of online stores on facebook - people write that there are applications, but there is no return, because they simply do not need to gain sufficient audience of users of applications (installations) to start receiving benefits in the form of orders. Here you can argue that applications are not only orders, but one of the methods of brand promotion, but this statement is well understood by companies that have marketing departments and spend considerable budgets on image advertising, and small online stores rely on a completely different approach: there are orders - there is a benefit, no - there is no benefit, we close the project.
(upd.2016 - yes, the situation is changing. I read what I wrote 2 years ago and understand how much the market has changed during this time! Medium stores are ready for mobile applications and are ripening small ones. There are a lot of calls to us from owners promoted instagram stores that, for obvious reasons, are trying to reduce the risks of a single sales channel and ask for applications, but no one is willing to pay much at once and do it “richly.” Few customers have heard of initiatives like Google Instant App & Google App Indexing can help stand out among competitors , if you have a website, but everyone wants to send push notifications, they ask for an instant messenger in mobile applications, because many customers write communication channels to whatsup, etc. In general, you know, it’s interesting to look at the offline trade market. After all, mobile applications are for loyal customers, and anyone, even the smallest store, has them. And there are a lot of such in Russia ...).
What does a company want that is firmly on its feet and understands the value of applications for itself? She wants a solution for herself, with her design for each element made according to the basics of the brand book and, more importantly, the company wants its own functionality! Yes, based on the applications of any trading company - a product catalog, a basket and other common things, but then we get various suggestions that instantly translate work into customized development.
During the time when you work in business in general, you grow familiar and of course we first went to familiar with offers of cooperation. These companies became our first customers. And after the first negotiations, it became obvious - our idea about the designer of mobile applications is no good and we need to change very, very quickly.
(upd.2016 - by acquaintances, which just became more, and we continue to work. Recommendations work. Moreover, we are not looking for clients in an active and traditional way. So it turns out that they turn to us - by letter or call. By writing more often At the same time, there are a lot of calls that are sent to many studios at once, which then causes peremeshki in the mail between people, especially if the client’s task is “make me instagram tomorrow”)
How many application development teams are there in Russia? I don’t know for sure, I met some 700 figures. I don’t even dare to comment on the veracity, I believe that half of this is web-studios, which also include applications (hello, html5). And even with the groundwork in terms of applications for retail companies, we, working individually with each client of the b2c segment, played against the “adult” boys in the same sandbox, which had a portfolio. Therefore, in August 2013, we decided to propose the following concept - we develop native mobile applications for retail companies absolutely free of charge (in the basic functionality sufficient to launch the first versions), introducing technical support for 15,000 p. per month for all platforms. We did the design for free too. And yes, we still concentrate only on the b2c segment, refusing other projects (chats, taxi calls, Instagram clones, etc.). Why is that? We did not have a strong portfolio, we assumed that the solutions would be similar and we would be able to replicate the achievements to the maximum.
(Upd.2016 - you can never do anything for free. This is an axiom. There can be no point. The client doesn’t feel any values ​​at all. Easy to get? Easy and lagging behind, or rather the client has easily left you. This is from the field of human psychology, which is stronger than us but technical support should be necessary, especially if you use your server capacities. By the way, the stupidest nonsense we have done is to abandon projects in favor of “specialization.” Foolishness, I would even say. Now we have clients in different categories in the portfolio we would not b Remas to do only games, and everything else - no problem. And you know - the development team grew professionally very much when people did retail yesterday, and today they make a solution for mobile crowdfunding. And when you give away clients that you can make to your competitors, you simply increase your chances of closing a business. Do you know how many different small studios write to us with a proposal to work for us on a subcontract? A lot. And I understand them.)
What mistake did we make at this stage? There are too many platforms, each of which takes time, and since resources are limited, we had to look for more developers. Costs increased, but the first large retail customers appeared, for example, clothing chains: oodji, LOVE REPUBLIC, befree - in person meetings (these companies from St. Petersburg) were able to convince us that we are not swindlers and work responsibly, despite the free development. All customers are very important, but the first ones who believed in us at the beginning are the most valuable.
(upd.2016 is strange, but they don’t ask Windows 10 to do it at all. I still don’t understand the reason, but fact is fact. We write code in c # and use Microsoft Xamarin for mobile applications, so Windows 10 could be beautifully maintained, but ... do not want customers).
Another mistake (at that time) was a possible scheme of work, in which we offered online stores to create applications for the future% of orders (bought out or transferred). The idea itself, in general, is not bad, and is suitable for small shops that are ready to promote their applications and be content with basic functionality with a reasonable - sufficient design. We made several such projects for one of the platforms (usually Apple iPad) and faced a conflict of interest, which was not the store’s willingness to promote applications. Let me clarify that in order to have orders from which we could receive our rewards in the future, you need to actively type installation applications. The store simply needs to actively notify customers about the availability of applications, and the customer base will gradually accumulate. But at the same time, the owners reasonably want to immediately get rich functionality and only then actively promote the applications, and we offered exactly the opposite (let's start with the simple and get to the complex). As a result, we quickly turned such an approach. However, thoughts of reviving this strategy are steadily “hovering” in our minds. Why? Take a small online store. Given the growth of traffic from mobile devices, the owner has a desire to make a mobile version of the site, and then the application. Moreover, applications should be functionality if they yield to the site, it is not very much. Applications must be branded, design is very neat. And the work model, when we are still developing for free (asking for payment only for design) and supporting the% of orders, can be attractive, especially considering that from the point of view of the store owner, support for% implies our involvement in the process, not just " made and forgotten. " In the early stages of the launch of the company, we still didn’t have such a large number of developments in order to immediately provide rationally sufficient functionality, but the situation is changing ...
(upd.2016 - yes, the CPA model - pay per action really looks like a bait. But this is a hook with a hook inside. I strongly advise you not to work like this. In general. Never. You can't build a win-win relationship here. At the very beginning, you as a studio it will not be profitable at all, then, as the company develops, you can start earning more and more income. And then it will no longer be profitable for your client. In general, this approach did not work for us in 3 years, I don’t think It will work out in the future, although of course the idea itself is so tempting.
To be continued. Part 3. There will be a speech about turnover, etc.
In general, do not disconnect)
ps For those who want to get much more information on different tools on the Internet, we advise you to refer to publications on the site http://startup.today
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/313744/
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