Margarita Repina, founder of RepinaTech. AI entrepreneur & tech startup adviser for 15+ years. Launched 10+ products reaching 60M MAU.

Every year, various teams worldwide release more than 300,000 mobile apps on the App Store. Do you think all of them succeed and generate millions (or billions) of dollars?

According to Fyresite, only 0.5% of mobile apps are successful. This happens for a number of reasons—too few downloads, too few active users, a lack of revenue or income and users rarely returning to the app.

I have launched over 10 successful technology products in my career, and I can confidently say that most failing teams make the same mistakes. I'll discuss the top five mistakes that are most likely to lead to failure if made during the early stage of mobile app development and examine how to avoid them.

1. Lack Of Product Vision

Many apps fail due to the lack of a clear value proposition. It's unrealistic to expect an audience to appreciate your product if you don't understand what it does and why it exists. Without a vision for the final product, you will make unnecessary movements during development, spend more time on UX design or, worse, figure out what your product should do while coding. This leads to wasted time and money.

However, spending months on vision isn't practical, either. Your task is to describe the product vision clearly and concisely.

Answer these questions at the initial stage.

• Who is the target audience of the product? Briefly describe key user types.

• What problem does the product solve?

• What alternatives exist for solving the same problem?

• How does your product solve the problem differently from existing solutions?

• What makes your solution unique? What advantages does it offer? This will be your initial unique value proposition.

• What will change for the audience as a result of interacting with the product?

Save detailed competitor research, monetization model development and financial and promotion model development for later stages of business model development.

2. Ignoring Customer Research

Insufficiently studying audience needs and preferences leads to the creation of apps that nobody wants. Ignoring potential customer research to test hypotheses at the beginning can be a fatal mistake for a startup.

As an entrepreneur, you have likely experienced the rush of a "genius" idea, thought about it all day and planned its implementation. You were in a hurry to start doing something. People generally hold their ideas dear. Most struggle with criticism, especially strong entrepreneur leaders.

Obsession with their idea often results in launching a product that only one person needs—the founder. It's like trying to sell a beach umbrella on Mars. To avoid this, conduct audience research to test your hypotheses on real potential users.

• Create a brief description of the product and value proposition—this is not yet a full vision.

• Develop a list of hypotheses about product perception you want to test. For example, if you think the world urgently needs metal coffee cups, ask people on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely they are to switch from plastic cups to metal ones. Don't forget to ask "why" in the form of an open-ended question. There should be 10 to 20 questions about features and consumer behavior patterns.

• Launch a survey among friends and family or a broader audience using paid services.

You will gain a wealth of insights that either confirm or refute your idea's "genius," saving you from a potential startup graveyard.

3. Skimping On UX Design

Want users to abandon your app during onboarding? Provide them with a poor user experience through a confusing interface and slow performance. I'm being sarcastic, but it's crucial to ensure your UX design is intuitive and attractive while covering all basic functionalities of the app.

Avoid long loading times at any stage of the user journey, lengthy paths to network features and tedious registration and onboarding processes.

Overall, do not skimp on UX design. It's a significant determinant of your product's success. Hire a top-notch UX designer and thoroughly vet their previous work.

4. Chasing "Bells And Whistles"

If your MVP has too broad of a focus and/or too few features, it can lead to a loss of direction. For example, when launching a habit tracker, the primary task of the MVP is to implement the habit-tracking function well. Leave complementary features like meditation for later.

Also, in the MVP stage, avoid too much variability and/or personalization such as switching themes from dark to light or customizing individual buttons. You will create a product that doesn't solve users' main problems.

Remember your app's goals and values. Focus on achieving them quickly and cost-effectively.

When determining the scope of the MVP, it is important to assess the shortest path to a paid action within the app. Additionally, focus resources (budget) on increasing the reach of users testing the core functionality and hiring excellent team members for UX design and coding rather than on additional features ("bells and whistles").

5. Poor Team Dynamics

The most crucial resource you have is your team. You should approach hiring thoughtfully. If you're a founder or CEO, pay close attention to building team dynamics, as poor coordination and ineffective team interaction can significantly slow development and increase costs.

Openness and trust in the team help speed up decision-making and create a quality product without countless iterations and approvals. When employees feel comfortable and supported by management, they are more likely to bring new ideas and offer innovative solutions. This is exactly what you need to create an outstanding product.

If you have issues in any or all of these areas, it will significantly extend development time and increase product costs.

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