Getting Your App Idea off the Ground: Zero to Critical Mass
Getting your app idea off the ground is similar to getting a rocket into space. Both are risky. Both take an enormous amount of fuel to reach their goal. And unfortunately, both crash and burn without careful planning. When startup founders look up and see big brands like Instagram and Facebook floating effortlessly across the […]
Investors Vote with Their Wallets for Messaging App Startups
Messaging was a theme for the past three years of mobile app development, even before bots came into the picture. While SMS has long been scheduled to go the way of the dinosaurs, the ecosystem has gotten more complex rather than more streamlined. Between Slack, Messenger, Google Hangouts, and dozens more, group messaging is one […]
How Startups Can Succeed as “Mega-Apps” Dominate App Store
Apps are like people — they tend to congregate in the interest of convenience. User behavior has changed dramatically in recent years, and there’s no longer a feeling of excitement about seeking out, downloading, and learning to use smartphone apps. Instead, users expect things to “just work.” Between Google’s predictive information services and the prevalence […]
Studies Show Diverse Startup Teams Outperform Their Peers
Diversity is more than just a buzzword in Silicon Valley. A study in the last year by McKinsey found that ethnically diverse teams outperformed their peers by as much as 35 percent. MIT, Columbia University, and other leading research institutions have made similar findings. Overall, homogenous teams tend to make more predictable decisions — and […]
Facebook Messenger Opens Native Payments to Bot Developers
There’s been a lot of chatter about the “bot revolution” the past few months, but the spread of bot app usage among mainstream mobile app users has been slow at best. Part of the reason behind that, at least on go-to messaging platform Messenger, is the limitation on payments. Specifically, in order to make a […]
3 “Easy” Startup Roles, and Why They Aren’t Actually Easy
Engineers can dismiss designers as frivolous and unskilled. Designers are just as likely to dismiss engineers as tasteless code monkeys. Everywhere you look at an NYC mobile app company, you’ll find plenty of opinions about which roles are “easy” in a tech startup. This can be incredibly frustrating for team members when other people on […]
Google Analytics Come to Cards for Mobile App Developers
Google’s Analytics suite has been growing steadily larger on the back end, adding new features and functions to help websites and app developers understand their products better. The biggest problem, though, has been information overload. When you can know everything about what visitors to your site are doing, how can you decide what information is […]
Lack of Regulation Makes Drones a Danger and an Opportunity
Drones are undeniably on the rise. Consumers are already getting used to the idea of drone package delivery, and San Diego mobile app developers are working with hardware developers to create ever-more user-friendly autopilot experiences. The big problem: drones are largely unregulated. The big opportunity: drones are largely unregulated. Every new technology goes through a […]
Could Mobile Tech Revolutionize Government?
We may not be seeing it in their actions, but at least on paper politicians are starting to come around to the idea of digitalizing government processes. In an age where everything is efficiently available at the push of a button, why should basic functions like taxes still be operating via pen and paper? (Or […]
MedTech and Diversity Themes at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 1
Y Combinator is lifting the curtain on this year’s batch of disruptive mobile startups. While the products are diverse and often unexpected, a few themes shine through: MedTech and diversity. Seeing health-focussed startups in significant numbers is encouraging, as mobile app developers have been trying to break into the medical industry for years with limited […]