You probably heard in recent days that a new app developed by a seventeen years old student based in London, an app named Summly - capable of summarizing in a few lines a larger content available from news channels - was acquired by Yahoo for 30 M$.
Why is this an interesting business lesson? How could it be so successful?
Here are the 5 points to watch:
1. To create an app based on innovative/breaking through technology, a teeneger may suffice
It is thought that software development implies a team of people gathering requirements, preparing plans, focussing on market positioning and so forth. WRONG. If you are a programmer with some time available - even better if you have a lot of time available as a student usually does - then you are a good candidate (Skype was developed by two people only).
2. You need to bring to life an unexpressed need which might be of interest to a wide area of users
Solve a real problem you have on a daily basis and understand if this - not being already addressed by others - might be interesting enough to an extended/ubiquitous public.
3. Create a first version, acquire feedbacks, improve it
Don't hesitate to improve your application, do not stop when facing with criticism.
Summly is sort of version 2.0 of Trimit, a quite criticized app - same functionalities - from the same author.
4. Having some people/friends/parent's colleaugues to show the tool helps a lot to spread the word
Nick D'Aloisio, the author of this application, has his father employed in Morgan Stanley.
5. If your application has a technology useful to big corporations, you are almost through
Theoretically, there are no big enterprises willing to see that an interesting technology, something they might have developed in house having the idea first, gets aquired by a competitor.
Such a risk can only be avoided through an early and aggressive - one shot - acquisition.
