2021 saw a record USD 621 billion invested into startups globally via the venture capital route. By comparison, this figure would occupy a convenient spot in the world’s top 20 countries by GDP. However, as we move into the tail end of 2022, the global economy is moving through a very rough phase, with recessions looming right across the horizon in almost every major country.
The record money pouring into startups may get constrained soon. The sense is that investors will eventually tighten the noose and demand more value from every dollar invested. For startups, this means they need to save on every front to ensure that their core business model isn’t subject to any funding crunch. For app-driven startups, this means taking every effort to control and reduce their app development costs.
Controlling App Development Costs – A Priority
App-driven startups, especially in the B2C space, have a very strict mandate to provide the most seamless customer experience to win repeat business. As such, most startups fear losing out to the competition if they cut costs in tech. However, what they do not realize is the fact that saving on app development costs and cutting budgets are two different aspects that can be totally unrelated to each other.
Cutting budgets for app development is not a great option, but startups can certainly save a ton of money if they learn how to control their app development costs. Let us explore five ways in which app development costs can be kept in check at startups:
1. Prioritize Launch Platforms
For beginners on a very limited budget, the best way to optimize app development costs is to first select just one platform for a beta launch. For example, a startup could build an Android app and launch it via an invite program to potential users. They can collect feedback and see if building a version for iOS will be able to justify the additional investment for the time being.
They can then either go for the 2nd platform version if there is enough buzz surrounding the first one. Or, they can collect feedback from the beta program users to improve the experience to a level that makes the 2nd platform a viable option for app development.
2. Curate the Essential Requirements
It is quite common for app-based startups to have a galore of ideas waiting in the pipeline to be included in the deployment version of the application. But, in reality, a good number of those ideas may not be great or may not find much usage at this stage of the business’s market penetration.
Therefore, app startups must curate a list of essential features that they see as must-haves based on data- and research-supported insights and feedback from potential markets. Prioritizing investments on UI, backend, and deployment infrastructure for these features will help manage costs considerably until these features can bring in a monetization path that supports further scaling and additional features.
3. Leverage Cross-Platform App Development
The first tip we covered may not work for a good number of B2C startups that cater to global audiences. This is because of the high degree of difference in platform usage in different countries. While the US may see a higher percentage of the population using iOS, Asia as a whole has a greater affinity for Android. In such a situation, the best way to control app development costs is to follow a cross-platform app development strategy.
Using platforms like Flutter, startups can create a common codebase for their apps which can then be leveraged across multiple platforms like Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, etc. This gives startups the flexibility to unify their technical efforts into a single workstream while the cross-platform development tool manages adaptability to different operating systems.
4. Go Serverless
A lot of technical coding and development efforts go into creating backend functionality for apps. However, today there are several SaaS services that offer these functionalities on demand. To that end, startups can go serverless and call these functions via APIs when needed, thereby eliminating the need for heavy backend development, server maintenance, and infrastructure billing.
In fact, the market size for serverless architecture is estimated to grow to USD 21.1 billion by 2025 globally as more startups realize the cost benefits of moving to serverless functions.
5. Strike an Efficient Outsourcing Partnership
There are things that startups can do on their own to manage costs in their development initiatives. But one of the major challenges is that these cost optimization efforts often involve leveraging newer technologies and tools that most startups do not have the inherent skills to operate. The best way to achieve seamless cost control with technology optimization is to select the right outsourcing partner for app development.
Bringing better cost control into app development initiatives involves a deeper sense of understanding of how technology works and how it can be implemented with less cost but with no compromise on quality. A well-experienced technology outsourcing partner like Zingworks can help startups achieve this with a superior app strategy that is underpinned by innovation and technology. Get in touch with us to know more.
