It’s becoming increasingly easier to develop mobile apps – AI assistants are becoming a programmer’s most useful and utilized tool. What used to take me days in terms of development and debugging now can take minutes. In this sense, this is the best time to design, develop and launch the mobile app business you’ve been dreaming about.
At the same time, there are potential hidden dangers in hiring a digital services firm to design and develop your mobile app. On multiple occasions I’ve witnessed situations, in which a seemingly trustworthy design and development company resorts to “dirty tricks.” This usually means that the firm takes the client’s money and does not deliver on their promise with the hidden intent to get more money from the client. Let’s look at some of these dirty tricks, and then consider ways to not fall for them:
- Weaponized Scope Creep. While “scope creep” usually refers to unintentional expansion of project features, some firms deliberately underbid and under-scope the project to win the contract. Once the project is halfway done, they demand more money for “new” features that were actually implied or expected from the beginning. This can also be called “Predatory Bidding.”
- Bait-and-switch. This is where the firm promises one outcome for a low price (the bait), then switches to a more expensive reality partway through. It’s often used in marketing, but the concept applies when a development firm delivers an incomplete or buggy product and demands extra money to “finish” what was promised.
- Ransom Billing / Project Ransom. The client is “held hostage” with an unfinished or broken system, and the vendor demands more money to fix it, knowing the client is locked in.
- “Salami Slicing” or “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” The project is sliced into so many mini-charges and follow-ups that the client ends up paying much more than expected. Common in freelance contracts or with less scrupulous agencies.
- Build the app using old technology, so that the client is later forced to pay again, in order to “upgrade” to the new technology. One negative experience I’m familiar with is when the hired firm built an app using an old, obsolete development environment, which was getting ready to be retired.
How does one not fall for any of these? There are several things you can do, in order to steer clear of trouble:
- The most important idea is to research the company you want to hire. Ask for a quick meeting with not only the firm’s sales person, but with their project lead, designer and developer. If this cannot happen – for whatever reason – it’s a red flag. If they’re too busy for you before taking on your project, then you can extrapolate what will happen later. Reach out to the firm’s previous clients and ask them about their experience. This can give you insights and a preview of the road ahead of you.
- Draft a detailed contract. If you can, hire a competent attorney to meticulously account for every possible outcome. Include exhaustive project requirements that include every detail of the functionality you need. Think about the timeframe and late penalties. Precisely define what success looks like, as well as what happens in all kinds of possible unwanted scenarios. A firm, for which I once developed a mobile app, asked me to sign a statement – separately from the contract – which said that I will not ask for more money for the project than we agreed upon. Think in this direction. How will your launch look like? What will happen after the launch?
- Maintenance. A mobile app is not a mortar-and-brick building, which you can have designed and built once, and then use for the rest of your life. Technology always evolves, operating systems change, new phone models emerge, and old programs quickly become obsolete. Even a new, cutting edge technology will become old someday. Think about a maintenance contract – separate from the development contract – which you will most likely want to sign with the same firm when signing the development contract. How do you make sure that bug fixing isn’t billed as maintenance? Again, with a meticulously drafted contract.
- Partnership. When it comes to mobile app development, you want to establish a partner relationship with the person or firm you’re hiring. If this feels off – don’t do it. In terms of the amount of work and compensation – consider an actual long-term partnership with the developer, complete with assigned responsibilities and profit sharing. If this is an app, which will bring a steady income, then profit sharing may be a much better idea than looking for a cheap way to design and develop your app and risking not launching at all. If you properly incentivize the developer to help you design, develop, launch, maintain, and grow your app business, while sharing a percentage of your profits with the developer, then the developer will be motivated to go above and beyond the requirements. This is the kind of partnership you want to build. The best incentive for a mobile app developer is when your success becomes your developer’s success.
Keep all these in mind when thinking about your Android/iOS app business idea. I can help you design, develop, launch, maintain, and grow your app business. Reach out at any point for a free 30-minute consultation – even if I’m not the man for the job, the least I can do is give you helpful advice or point you in the right direction.