Building a Mobile App with 200,000 Users in 8 Months
Overview
Innertune Media aimed to launch a groundbreaking affirmations listening application that prioritized user experience while requiring minimal maintenance resources. The challenge was to rapidly validate the concept, develop a robust app using hybrid technologies, and ensure high-quality delivery for both the App Store and Google Play. The goal was ambitious yet clear: to create an engaging, viral app within a stringent timeline.
"What I thought would take a year to develop, we ended up having a functional product in less than one and a half months."
~ Marc Olivier, CEO at Innertune Media,
The Team and Process
The success of such an innovative project rested on the shoulders of a meticulously assembled team led by a proactive Product Manager who ensured the seamless progress from concept through to launch. The core team included:
- Product Manager: Spearheaded the project, defining product requirements, organizing the development backlog, and setting priorities.
- Senior Flutter Developer: Played a pivotal role in building the Proof of Concept (POC) and integrating essential services such as Firebase Analytics.
- Backend Engineer: Tasked with creating a scalable centralized database and APIs as the app gained traction and required enhanced backend support.
- Frontend Engineer: Developed a web-checkout process, integrating Stripe for payments and refining traffic flow from web to app.
- QA Engineer: Ensured the app's quality at every stage, focusing on the integration of payment systems and maintaining high testing standards.
- UX/UI Designer: Crafted a unique, compelling design, enhancing user experience to foster app virality and engagement.
Phases of Development
The project unfolded over several key milestones:
Discovery Phase (3 weeks)
The discovery phase laid the groundwork for the app, with the team scoping requirements, validating assumptions, and planning the basic POC. This phase culminated in wireframes for 8 screens and fundamental user flows.
MVP Development (1.5 months)
The MVP phase was executed swiftly, with functional app deployment to app stores, gathering initial user feedback to refine and improve.
Product Fit (6 months)
A critical period of user growth and feature expansion, the team implemented core functionalities, enhanced UX, and instituted a Scrum process to accelerate development, doubling the user base to 60,000.
Scaling Phase (Ongoing Development)
Following product-market fit, the team expanded to include Backend and Frontend Engineers, focusing on integration with analytics and payment systems to support growth strategies and acquisition channels.
Challenges Encountered
The journey to creating and scaling the affirmations listening app was filled with challenges, each necessitating creative solutions and strategic shifts. The key obstacles were:
- Developing a robust content management system for the world's largest library of affirmations.
- Streamlining development from a single codebase to deploy on both the App Store and Google Play Store.
- Consolidating subscription data and integrating analytics for better decision-making.
- Implementing web checkout to streamline the user experience and maintain a consistent user base.
- Crafting a modern and unique design to attract and retain users.
Technologies Used
This project's technology stack includes:
- Flutter: Used for creating natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
- Firestore: Chosen for real-time database needs, providing seamless data synchronization and integration with Google Cloud for scalability.
- Google Cloud: Implemented for its scalable cloud computing services, which support the project's growth and demand.
- ReactJS: Utilized for frontend development, enabling dynamic and responsive user interfaces.
- NestJS: Selected for backend development, offering a framework for building efficient, reliable and scalable server-side applications.
- PostgreSQL: Employed for database management, known for its reliability, data integrity, and robust feature set.
- Airtable was utilized to enable non-technical team members to manage media from the admin dashboards.
Conclusion
The successful collaboration highlighted our team's capabilities in rapidly developing a high-quality mobile application that achieved significant user growth. It showcased our expertise in leveraging modern mobile technologies and agile methodologies to deliver a product that not only met but exceeded client expectations.
