Wondering how to sell an app idea? Here’s some cold-dose-of-reality truth for you: achieving a hefty dollar gain just by selling an app idea is impossible. This may sound disappointing, but you’ll hardly ever monetize your hey-I-have-a-startup-concept offer. However, if you know what to do to make that concept worth a million, chances are you will succeed in finding potential investors.
Anyone who knows how to develop an application already has tons of ideas on their mind. And they’re not searching to buy anyone else’s concepts, alas. As a matter of fact, an app idea without a deep-rooted value is nothing to write home about. A worthy app idea only fills with some actual value when backed by evidence and the possibility to really see it in action.
Naturally, to infuse your idea with value, you need to work really hard on it. Aside from the time-consuming and labor-intensive app development, you’ll also need to conduct in-depth market research, engage in project management, securing finances, and practice App Store Optimization (yes, starting the latter as early as possible is the smartest choice).
In this post, we’ll cover the main stages you’ll need to go through if you want to know how to pitch an app idea to a tech giant in the most profitable way.
- Shape Up Your Startup Concept, Write It Down
Having an app or mobile game idea in your head is not enough. You need to brainstorm and think over a multitude of aspects prior to even trying to sell your game idea. To maximize the effect of all the brainstorming, note everything down.
Is what you have in mind one of a kind? In what way? What’s the mission of your startup? What features will it have? What good will it bring to your target consumers? Aside from answering these questions in writing, put down your design considerations, mobile game marketing strategy patterns that tickle your fancy, as well as a few name versions of your startup.
When considering your app concept, keep a laser-like focus on the uniqueness of your product. No doubt, you will need to research your competitors and analyze their perks and drawbacks. However, there are piles of similar applications within one niche. And only one or two of them are truly, ground-breakingly successful. That’s because, at this very stage of planning and brainstorming, they once concentrated on creating a specific service that only they could offer. In this first draft, you don’t have to delve into much detail right away. You’re just starting to shape up your app concept.
- Analyze Your Competitor Apps
Creating an application (as well as filling your app idea with value) is similar to starting a business. Therefore, knowing your target consumers — and studying your competition is paramount. Start by identifying your competitors, then determine their strong and weak points. Do research about their clients, read their customer reviews. That way, you will figure out what their apps lack — and how you can provide what they fail to offer. By filling that gap, you will most likely stimulate people to opt for your product over that of your competitors. Once you’re through with this analysis, make a list of the benefits of your idea over similar already-functioning applications.
- Consider Your Monetization Possibilities
Figuring out how to make money from an app idea is challenging but doable. There are several ways to achieve this goal. Some apps come with paid downloads, while others feature in-app ads or purchases. The method you’ll opt for is determined by your target consumers and their ways of using your app. For instance, a slew of mobile games feature their own currencies. Players purchase in-app currencies to adjust the visuals, unlock tools, or level up in the game. Or, if your startup is a yoga app, for example, you could sell various yoga programs or advertize yoga mats and outfits.
- Inject More Value Into Your So-Far Intangible Project
If you make a decision to keep on materializing your app idea, turn to a reliable patent lawyer. A trusted attorney will aid you in filing paperwork with the governmental institutions for the purpose of protecting your right to the idea. If you don’t sort out a patent, someone may take advantage of your startup concept and utilize it before you or your investors do. Bear in mind that getting a patent is expensive. You can apply under your own steam to save money, but only if you are familiar with the procedure.
Below, you will find some more steps towards developing your startup vision and making it valuable:
- Build a Functional Model of Your Application
Who needs to buy a profitable app idea? Smart investors. And smart investors will only consider buying your app idea if you go the extra mile to bring it to life. Work up a model to let the potential buyer play with it. The more perks you’ll show in action, the higher their interest may rise. Make sure the prototype is very good, hire a dev team if that’s something you can (and want) to invest in.
As a fine cost-effective alternative, put your app idea through its paces via a dummy website. By making the most of this creative approach, you get to test if your target consumers fancy your idea or not. Create a website for your startup idea, as if the application has already been released. List the features, screenshots, etc. Include a mock download button within the website.
After that, invest some available resources in marketing and attracting potential app users to the website. Observe the stats of the website visitors, check how many of them intended to download the application. They won’t be able to download anything, of course, but the data will show you the percentage of potential downloaders. If the outcome looks promising, then you can be sure that pitching app ideas is your thing. We hope that it briefly answers your ‘How to sell an application to a company?’ question.
- Think Over Your ASO Strategy
Creating your ASO strategy well in advance (even before the app is released) is a smart idea. Read more on a treasure trove of ways of reaching your relevant users. Explore the notion of ASO for the App Store vs. ASO for Google Play. Learn to think like the devs behind these major app stores in order to adjust your startup idea to fit into their paradigm and i.e., get featured by both.
You can use ads as part of your app promotion, but the ultimate choice depends on how much time and money you or the app buyer want to invest once the product is up and running. Make sure you get to grips with this concept and involve all the bells and whistles of your project to make the idea appeal to potential buyers. If you’re not app marketing savvy, you can always ask for professional help. If you’re on the prowl for a top-level ASO checklist and tools, you’re welcome to make the most of Asolytics.
- Start Looking for Investors
First and foremost, find a reputable startup service like Startup.co or Gust.com and post your idea there. Bear in mind that a lot of investors will want you to keep on working on your startup to boost its success. So, if you just want to sell an idea without further investments, this path may not be your best bet. Alternatively, you can initiate a crowdfunding campaign for the purpose of raising funds from potential investors. Here’s what else you can do to find potential app idea buyers.
- Cover Your Vision Briefly on Social Media
Create a professional profile on social media and share the fundamentals about your app idea in your posts. Post on a regular basis and make sure you sound convincing enough to attract your potential buyers’ attention. Before sharing the information about your startup idea online, ensure you have a solid patent. Whether you have a patent or not, revealing the juiciest details about your startup concept is not recommended.
- Get in Touch With Potential Investors Directly
Another way of finding potential investors is by contacting them directly. This approach is not easy, so it’s best to turn to it when your startup prototype is ready i.e., when you have the living proof of your idea’s potential profitability. Just call or email an organization that may need your application or an entity that works with business project investments. Whether you’ll manage to convince them that your startup is right up their street or not will depend on your business plan, as well as your ability to convey the I-sell-success message.
Here are some handy tips to follow when presenting your startup idea in front of potential investors:
- be yourself;
- make your sales pitch brief;
- use simple language;
- be passionate;
- be convincing;
- back each statement with evidence;
- let them see it all in action with your functional prototype.
Long Story Short: Never Give Up
As you’ve probably guessed, you won’t get paid for submitting app ideas into thin air. Tech behemoths don’t reward for ethereal ideas that are impossible to test-drive. That’s logical. That’s natural. Reputable companies purchase ready solutions that are good enough to empower their own products and become worthy competitors.
Learning how to sell an idea for a potential trending apps chart leader and get paid very well for it revolves around treating your startup like a business. If you invest your time and knowledge in this smart approach, you will eventually succeed in sealing the deal with one of the major players on the mobile app scene. Apple, Android, Facebook, and many others are among them.
If you are consistent enough and avoid shotgun solutions on your way to gaining profit from your startup, you can significantly increase your chances of earning a fortune from the hard work you invest in filling your app idea with value. Do you wanna develop an app? Would you rather use a dummy website approach described above? What’s the perfect investor company for you? Ask yourself these questions. They will help you determine where you stand and i.e., show you which way exactly you need to go.
Cutting to the chase, one thing is for sure: if you want to get millions in revenue from selling an app idea, you will need to work very hard on the project. That suggests developing a solid working app itself, as well as investing in app marketing activities and the project’s overall regular growth. If you’re ready for this long-term journey, we can only wish you good luck. Be patient, take one step at a time, and never give up. Your hard work will pay off, we promise you that.
