My little experience with launching an app and my mistakes

Hello (directly from Brazil), IH!
I met this community a few days ago and I confess that I am surprised at how much useful information I have found. We don't have here in Brazil (at least I don't know) a site like this where we can share our experiences and count on the help of more experienced people like this. Amazing!

My name is Thiago, I am a doctor, and I would like to share my recent experience in an attempt to launch a product. An app. I would like you to give me feedback on my experience and my mistakes, as I am starting something new and I want to do it more correctly this time.

Here in Brazil, most doctors do not work with any type of employment relationship. Service slots are offered from one doctor to another. Often we need to spend a short notice at the last minute and we use whatsapp and telegram to find someone available. I had the idea of creating an application that could make this service offer by geolocation, transferring all doctors to him. In the application there would be exchange of messages, user profile, active duty by geolocation and everything. A brilliant idea (according to many people I talked to). And best of all, FREE! I found a friend who was willing to take a chance and we went ahead. We hired a designer and a company to create the app. We spent a lot of money, but after about 07 months, everything was ready! We did the marketing on the launch day on social networks (whatsapp) and talked to several friends. On the day we launched, during the night, many people liked the idea and joined the platform. We had about 30 registrations in about 2 hours. In the days that followed, more and more registrations. We were euphoric. It would be all right.

However, the days went by, the registrations were decreasing and the app did not attract more attention. I was wondering why it was not working, but deep down I already knew: the app was not solving any problems. The shifts that were registered were those that nobody wanted, so they stayed on the main page for days. It took a while to register shifts. It was a lot of work to do something that whatsapp and telegram already do very well. Over time people stopped using the app. They saw that there was no point in looking at him if everything he had there was already on WhatsApp. Not to mention the programming errors (there were several). We did massive marketing afterwards for all of Brazil, but they only had a few registrations per week. Time passed and no one else used the app. It didn't solve anything. Today I look back and understand many mistakes I made. I read many entrepreneurship books and things became clearer. I will highlight the errors that I believe were decisive for the failure of the app.

1. We didn't do an MVP. This for me was the worst mistake. We created something out of our imagination, believing it would be the eighth wonder of the world. We did something that we believed would solve a problem without first testing and validating the idea.

2. We don't create an audience. I saw in many books the importance of having an audience already prepared for the launch of the product. I find this particularly very difficult. I have no idea at the moment how to create an audience (either through instagram or other social networks). I don't know how to create good content and I don't like to expose myself. So any business you do is bound to fail if it depends on it. I accept suggestions on how to do this part.

3. Because we didn't do MVP, we didn't get feedback from users to get to the exact point of the app. I see today that the product feedback and testing cycle is crucial for product development. As I understand it, we should always launch a beta version and test as much as possible with a small group to adapt to their needs.

4. We created many features that didn't add anything to the app. Today I see that a single feature that solves a problem in a practical and intelligent way is enough for a good application. Of course there can be more, but first I must focus on what is most important and offer the best user experience. I started looking at other aspects of the app (like user profile, the professional training of doctors) and forgot to improve the main function (or understand that it would not be necessary and try to pivot that function). It would be difficult to pivot the idea, since we were spending money out of our own pocket and we had already spent too much.

5. We launched a free app with no idea how to monetize. Here I see that it was really an innocence on my part. I thought I could create something extremely innovative and that it would grow so much that I could win with advertising. I thought that when I had many users I would not lack ways to monetize. However, even if the application had worked, no one would pay for something that is very well resolved by whatsapp. I lacked the maturity to accept this right at the beginning.

6. We spend a lot! I invested heavily in the application without having the slightest idea of how it would have any return. And if we have no financial return, we cannot reinvest.

7. I hired a marketing agency for advertising. I don't think this was a big mistake, because having an agency helps a lot. The publicity was good and so was the content. However, he thought that advertising alone would sell the app. Today I believe that if something is really good and resolutive, then it sells itself. Marketing will only leverage it well. But if the product is not good enough, marketing saves none.

8. MORE IMPORTANT! Without a doubt, my main mistake was this. I didn't build something for any real purpose. I really wanted to build something to feed my ego and see that I was able to do that. I regret that a lot. First, it is not worth wasting time on something that you don't believe in from the bottom of your heart or that has no clear purpose of helping people or adding value to others. Second, if it is just for some kind of fame or financial success, no endeavor will last long if there is no real thing that motivates you to work on it.

Anyway, I believe I made many other mistakes, but those were the main ones. It was more of an outburst on my part, but I really wanted to expose all this to other people.

I am currently starting another project. No application (it's a lot of investment). I'm creating something on an internet page (I have a feeling it's not the best idea, but it's the only one I have). I took an idea from another existing application and am just improving its functionality in a more practical way for users (including for my own use). After a defeat it is difficult to get up and move on. It is very difficult to believe in your own ideas again(this is the worst). But I'm trying not to make the same mistakes and do it differently this time. Without much exposure. Failure is normal, but failure in public is devastating.

Sorry I don't have much to offer. I feel like I made another outburst. I accept any opinion that can help me understand my mistakes and ways so that I can create something better this time.

All text was translated by google translator. Ignore any errors =)

Thank you!