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By PASCAL FINETTE

The Heretic is a free dispatch delivering insights into what it takes to lead into & in the unknown. For entrepreneurs, corporate irritants and change makers. Raw, unfiltered and opinionated.

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Oct 21st, 2014 Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Avoid The Shiny

Nowadays it seems that everybody and their dog wants to be in the “app business”. A business where untold riches are being made, where the playing field is level and where the sun always shines.

Or does it?

As shiny and glitzy as this brave new world might seem to an entrepreneur — it’s a battlefield littered with dead bodies (pardon the stark image). Take this data point as evidence: The global consulting firm PWC compiled a study looking at the more than 100,000 (!) health apps in both the iOS and Google Play app stores. Very few of those have been downloaded more than 500 (!!) times and of those which have even been downloaded, two-thirds haven’t been used after a few weeks.

The smartphone app business is insanely hit driven (not unlike the music industry) — a fact which seems to be lost on a whole bunch of entrepreneurs who believe it’s their surefire way to fame and gold.

You’re much better off avoiding the latest, greatest and shiny and brutally focus on your customer. Find out what she really needs, validate the market and solve a real need for a real customer. Customers don’t buy drills — they want holes in their walls (and drills just happen to be the way to get there).


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