How To Write A Mobile App Business Plan For A Startup?

Idea, planning, and execution. These three things are essential for any project to succeed. 

Yet, many business owners would forego the planning stage, believing that they should get started right away and create something after that. Trust us when we say that, for the most part, such kind of thinking won’t help you succeed. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.

Writing a mobile app business plan can help you understand everything you now have, how the pieces of the project should fit together to form a roadmap, and what extra has to be done to get the best outcome.

As a leading software development company we understand how to create a mobile app business plan after years of working closely with our clients and partners. Here you can find a comprehensive guide on developing a company strategy that will effect overall success.

Why a mobile app business plan is crucial for your company

Several studies support the importance of having a well-thought-out business plan for organizations at various phases of their business journeys. And a plan plays an even more important role for startup.

According to one survey of 3,000 business owners from various professions, those who had business plans were nearly twice as likely to succeed as those who did not. Furthermore, such strategic-planning businesses were more successful in acquiring investment or obtaining loans.

Attract business interest and investments

Most of the time, you will need to get funding for your new company.

You must choose between startup co-founders or investors depending on the sort of company strategy you wish to employ. You may need to attract both in certain cases. An application business plan is the only method to complete this work swiftly and move on to more crucial milestones in your company’s growth.

Lower risks

According to recent studies, establishing a business plan can help you get closer to your goals and desires. Entrepreneurs who have detailed business plans are more likely to grow their firm and improve their income than those who do not.

Planning is an easy approach for securing loans and investments.

Stay on track

It’s difficult not to overlook the vital things in a world full with distractions. As a business entrepreneur, you will confront new problems and challenges every day. However, a series of points on your blueprint will serve as a fast reminder of why you started it and where it should lead you.

Prepare thoroughly

Writing a plan can help you learn more about the industry you want to enter. This will help you clarify your goals, identify priorities, and create more accurate forecasts. It’s your chance to expose possible risks and establish your own voice in the business.

Execute effective management

Being a good manager takes skill. A mobile app business plan is your instrument for building a masterpiece. It gives a view of key tasks, allowing you to assign each one to the appropriate individual.

Is a business plan for a mobile app different from one for other software?

Mobile applications, websites, and other software solutions all have individual advantages and disadvantages. Their marketing strategies, monetization plans, and feature sets differ greatly from one another. Because of this, the business strategy for various solutions will also vary.

A mobile app company’s business strategy may resemble the format of a traditional software development business plan. Any document that represents the company and its products shall, nevertheless, have a distinctive content. It makes sense since every project is different, has specific goals, and an exclusive target audience.

Components of a mobile app business plan

Now that you are aware of the need of a business plan for any enterprise, let’s learn more about what it entails. A business strategy often consists of:

• A list of bullet points outlining your goals.
• A few facts that provide accurate data about the sector you intend to enter.
• Tables with clearly defined procedures and tactics you want to use to accomplish your objectives.

Is the product viable? Does it have the capacity to provide users fresh experiences while offering its creators with quantifiable advantages? These are the two main concerns your app business plan has to address. The inclusion of the following components will guarantee a successful outcome.

Section 1. Executive summary

Let’s start with the executive summary.

It is the first and most important section of your mobile app business plan since it will be the first thing an investor reads. Without going into specifics about how your product functions, the executive summary should be clear and concise. You must discuss the market scenario, your target market, and the specific challenge that your application may resolve in this section.

To set your business apart from the competition, make your proposal unique. In other words, create a unique value proposition (UVP). Use your imagination to visualize your executive summary as a teaser for a movie, with your investor as the audience. How can you make a teaser that would entice your investors to see the entire film?

Define your objectives. The goals outlined in this section have to be based on your business analysis. Investors will assess your goals to see whether they meet their needs. Additionally, you must decide what your exit plan’s ultimate objective is. Create a list of your company’s funding requirements as well as how the money will be used to accelerate business expansion. Making sure there is a high degree of transparency at every level – this is one of the key components of your startup business plan for your mobile app.

Make your document compelling. To do this, ensure that the concept and objectives of your product are clear and consistent across the entire plan. Give the reader (your investors) accurate information and attainable goals for your project. Of course, don’t forget to check that the names of your team members and the person who wrote the business plan and executive summary are used consistently throughout the document.

Section 2. Business description

This is where you may give a brief overview of your business, starting with some general facts before moving on to your proposed mobile app. Your company’s values, goal, product vision, and key success factors should all be covered.

This is the second most critical part following the executive summary. You must also entice the investors with this section. For example, Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator, believes raising funds to be by far the simplest part whereas working on ideas is the most important aspect of any company’s success. Before presenting newly-formed ideas to investors, Y-Combinator-like businesses frequently require that a complete business plan be prepared.

Company overview

This part should provide investors with comprehensive information about your startup, including its legal name, headquarters location, and organizational structure (LLC, corporation, etc.). Be sure to provide further details about your team, such as the number of employees, their names, positions, etc. In case of LLC or corporation, mention your registered agent, who acts as the official point of contact for legal documents and compliance notices. Specify whether you’re using a professional service, or serving as your own.

The mission statement of your organization should specify its goals as well as the guiding principles that drive it. After defining your objective, highlight the key issues and the solutions your business may provide.

Company history

Before presenting any business proposal, outline your company’s background, how your team got together, and how you came up with your idea. Furthermore, you may discuss the major stages of your company’s development as well as the experience that preceding the product introduction.

Team introduction

The app startup business plan should include information about your team so that you can get to know the reader better. You may convert a simple description into a virtual introduction meeting by including a few lines about the company’s expertise.

Inform the investors about the management team. Give details about the engineering crew members. Names, roles, experience, and even interests should be mentioned. When writing your app business plan, make the audience feel as though they know the folks you’re talking about.

Another useful approach is to include information about your advisory team. These professionals assist you in making decisions, and their names might make a difference in the local market.

Section 3. Market analysis

The essential aspect in the implementation of your app idea should be market information. This is a vital part of every company plan. You must be aware of the situation at the moment in your industry, as well as the elements that influence it, have up-to-date information, and be able to develop a short-term forecasts.

To perform market research, follow these steps:

• Examining the current economic landscape
• Creating a list of market research criteria
• Identifying your total available market (TAM), service available market (SAM), and service obtainable market (SOM)
• Acknowledging your direct competitors
• Analyzing your target audience and determining the cost per acquisition (CPA)

Remember that no market research in the mobile app sector can be undertaken without first evaluating Google Play and Apple App Store rankings for top paid, free, and top-grossing applications, as well as user reviews.

Market predictions

Forecasting is an important part of creating a business strategy for the reality of an app development company.

Forecasts from widely recognized research organizations such as Nielsen and Forrester can be valuable when building any business plan, whether it is a mobile app business plan for app development, a website, or a typical software startup business plan. To generate accurate market predictions, you can:

• Provide statistics about the growth of businesses that offer solutions similar to your mobile app.
• Include data on the amount of money invested in similar businesses (platforms such as Crunchbase can help with this).
• Add a few forecasts about the target customer’s behavior to your company plan.

The ultimate purpose of this research is to determine whether your product has a real market, whether there are enough consumers in the market, and, therefore, whether those customers are willing to shell out money for your product.

Business analysis

Here, you will access how your business will perform in the targeted market. There are several approaches to present this to your investors, but one of the easiest ways is using SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that allows you to offer a structured overview of your company’s current state. The reasons? It is simple enough to visualize, and it covers the four perspectives (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) that your audience is definitely interested in.

You should not try to hide your business’s weaknesses. It is normal for a company to have some aspects they are not excellent at. By knowing your weaknesses and risks, you know the aspects that need to be improved for a better performance. 

Section 4. Marketing strategy

An app marketing strategy is a link that allows your product to reach your clients. You must persuade investors that you have such a bridge. This is a critical component of the mobile app strategy. When creating a business strategy, you must specify which approaches you planned on using for application promotion.

Identify the marketing channels

Social media marketing is now often regarded as the most successful method of promoting a product. But will it be sufficient to advertise your app? Return to the research step and determine how many prospective people you can meet on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Provide readers with information on which channels are likely to be the most profitable.

A landing page for your app is another powerful approach to reach out to the target market. Make an appealing mockup. Include the name of the application, a description of its features, promotional videos, and so on.

Decide on key metrics

Initially, your success will be determined by the number of installs or conversion rates, not by financial revenue. Decide which metrics will be useful in evaluating your project.

Estimate marketing budget

Based on the market analysis described in the preceding part of the business plan, you may estimate the cost of marketing services. Understanding the marketing budget is critical for all parties, including you, the app owner, investors, and other stakeholders.

Think about product growth

Growing the user base strategy varies depending on the type of app startup, as does the business plan for entering different sectors. If you’re still developing a business plan, consider how you’ll build your user base ahead of time. This will greatly help you with future product development.

Select product launch type

In your company plan, be sure to include the type of product launch. There are two sorts of launches: hard and soft. The first is to provide a finished product to your whole target audience. A soft launch is when you release your app’s MVP or full version to a small group of users.

Section 5. Financing

To properly lay out this section of your business plan, you must first fully understand the type of funding you will need to proceed forward. Furthermore, the objective is to describe it as clearly as possible so that a potential investor gets it.

The financial model typically comprises a three- to five-year prediction of all key forecast indicators, such as profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheets, start tables, unit economics calculation, and expected revenues and expenses for your app. To establish the real cost and distribution of assets in the best way, your financial record must have the following components, each with a clear explanation.

Business expenses/funding required

Inform your investors of the estimated expenses. We recommend making fair estimations and allowing for additional costs because these figures may change.

Include:

• One-time expenses (for example, relocation fees, office space costs, equipment, servers, software, and licensing
• Fixed expenses are those that do not fluctuate regardless of whether you build anything or not (for example, rent, insurance, lease payments, and fixed salary).
• Variable costs: expenses that vary with production volume (for example, labor).

Monetization strategy

It is another topic that you must address in your plan. By displaying your monetization tactics, you will show your investors and other stakeholders that your project will be successful and deliver a return on investment with favorable unit economics. It will also assist you in determining whether your startup will reach its break-even point.

The most popular mobile app monetization models are:

• Advertising
• In-app purchases
• Freemium
• Pay per download
• Subscription
• Sponsorship/Partnership

Conclusion

Writing the first page of a mobile app business plan for a mobile app idea is the most daunting part of the process. In that situation, many people scramble in search of a free copy of another company’s business plan. They mistakenly think that using someone else’s business plan will help them accomplish their objectives. But it won’t, not at all!

A company strategy cannot be copied. It must be unique and express your passion and zeal for achieving your idea. If you’re unsure where to start writing, consider using a mobile app business plan template. It can give you a solid starting point and provide a helpful structure to reflect your vision. A strong business plan will demonstrate how financially desirable and feasible your mobile app company is. The higher the viability, the greater the investment prospect.

FAQs