• The Idea.
• The Name.
• One Button.
• Panicky Sweat.
• Beta Testing.

In the spirit of the above mentioned series, we thought we’d add one more piece about the single moment we realized we needed Paprika.

Simply put, it all began with a wish. I think a lot of apps are born this way, or at least the ideas for them. Somewhere, someone thinks to themselves: “I wish there was a tool that let me do this more easily.” That person thinks about how much this app would positively affect their productivity, and how they could integrate it into their workflow. Research is done, and when it appears there’s nothing out there exactly like the conceptual application, the excitement begins because development is looming in the future… but let’s go back to the wish part.

In my opinion, there are two types of people: those who don’t realize they need something until they already have it, and those who create something because they realize they need it.

Personally, I’m the first type. I love it when an app is an extension of my thought process- but I’m not sure I would have figured out my need for it on my own. I work with the second type of people, though, and I’m starstruck when I watch them think, and follow the progress of their thoughts.

If you’re an app developer, wishes take on a whole new meaning. Although the connotation of the word implies that wishes are relatively unattainable (that’s why you’re wishing to begin with), developers have the power to make it happen. It’s a mindset I think more people should adopt. I can boil it down to this: nothing is impossible.

So this wish for Paprika came from dissatisfaction- failure to find a tool that was an extension of the way we already thought. We (and by we, I mean Paste- collectively) knew if we were unhappy, chances were others were unhappy, too. The dissatisfaction led to the wish, which led to the research, which led to the excitement, which led to the work, which brought us Paprika.

Now if we could just find a genie to grant us the other three wishes we don’t have time for…

We recently launched our brand new app into beta testing. Paprika is our third full app, and we’ve managed to learn a few things along the way.

Tweet, Tweet, Paprika.

We used Twitter to get the word out about our beta invites, and sign-up. Twitter has become an even better catalyst for spreading news than it was when we launched Jumpchart, and we’ve managed to make friends with people who do what we do, and are a lot like us. (That’s the point, right?!) It’s a great way to start a conversation, and has become a legitimate recommendation tool for our industry.

Reaching Out.

We tried something new this time around- we reached out within the industry using good old fashioned e-mail. We tried to target designers and developers who we thought would appreciate Paprika the most, and give us really valuable feedback on it. Of course, the difficult part was getting through to those we didn’t already know personally. With the touchy BS detectors out there, we really didn’t want our e-mail to sound like spam. It took some careful word-smithing, and lots of revisions, but we reached a version of “Hey, would you pretty please try our new app? It would mean a lot to us, and we really value your opinion.” we were happy with, and out the e-mails went.

Beta Sign Up.

The tried and true method of having people sign up for an invite was a method we used again this time. We set up a simple, slick sign-up page that asks for e-mail address only and included the option to receive our newsletter. By noting very clearly that all e-mail addresses we received would be deleted after the beta (unless the user signed up for the newsletter) we relieved any pressure that we might be contacting them again in the future, or that the user would be held to any future obligations.

Newsletter.

We already know lots of people from Jumpchart and Staction- and thought they might like to hear about Paprika, too. So we used our newsletter to tell them. Although the primary purpose of the newsletter was to spread the word about our beta test, we also included information about other happenings around the Paste office. This effort really spiked the number of beta signups!

Getting the word out about your beta test is nearly as important as getting the word out about the launch, but in a different way. You’re soliciting the feedback of your peers, your competitors, and your potential users. The information that comes from these tests is crucial to the overall success of your app when launch day arrives.

Blog Posts
Oh yeah, and, Sign up for the Paprika beta!
(see it works!)

• What would happen if we solved the opposite problem we’re trying to solve?

• What would Apple do?

• What would it look like if it was made in the 80’s? 90’s? 00’s? Ten years from now?

• If this app could only have one button, what would it be?

Recently I hit on another thought provoking question to ask myself:

• What would terrify me if I saw it online the day before we launched this app?

Let’s tell ourselves the story to get full impact. You’ve been working on your app for months. The app is complete (enough to launch), the sales site is ready. The emails and the PR is queue’d up and ready. Tomorrow you will launch!

You head home for some much needed relaxation as you gear up for the slew of support requests and other launch-associated tasks headed at you. Time to unwind and spend some time catching up on the feeds you’ve been neglecting.

Then it happens. You click the first link and read about some new site that just launched. We’ll call it http://theotherapp.com. It does exactly what your app does, but it’s slicker, better, and is already getting great buzz.

You ought to be feeling the sweat right now. That feeling. That panic. Now quick, ask yourself these questions:

• What does the site look like?

• What feature does this site have that you didn’t have time for?

• What are you jealous of?

• What are the bloggers saying about it?

You might not have answers right away, but the change of context is fun, and mind altering. The acknowledgment that something could be better than what you’re working on gives you the freedom to imagine. The acceptance that the competitor could exist- but doesn’t yet- reminds you to keep focusing on the reaction of your customers.

A really great name is essential to a great app- but you don’t need to wait on development to find the perfect name. When we begin a new app, we pick a code name. Something we can call it. Something friendly, and neat. 

We try not to burden the codename too much with being perfect, we just pick one of the best of our first ideas that seems acceptable. It takes the burden off of having something to call your app, and lets development move forward in a more natural way.

Picking the real name

Picking the real name is much tougher of course. All sorts of things come into play.

• If you like it.
• If everyone who works on the project likes it. 
• If (you think) the people who will use the app will like it.
• If the domain you want is available.
• If the name you want has trademarks, competitors, or other confusing things to worry about.
• If you can own the name enough in searches to make it findable.
• If it sounds cool…

It’s really challenging. Especially since it seems like all the best urls are taken. We’ve worked on a list of questions that help us explore, and create more original names. Follow along, and add every thing you think of to the list, no matter how silly.

A few brainstorming ideas

• What common phrases seem applicable to what this app does? By common phrase, we mean the really trite ones like “pot calling the kettle black” and “early bird gets the worm.” you can’t base your name directly on them, but they can lead to interesting derivatives.

• Make a list of words that remind you of your app, or that sound cool, and look them up in a thesaurus. Write down the coolest, and most interesting words.

• Look up several words that describe your app well in an alternate language dictionary. Latin is always fun too.

• Think of movies, songs, and books that remind you of your app. Explore major character names, quotes, and plot devices that might be interesting or illustrative of your idea. The nerdier the better.

• Think of famous people in history who remind you of your app, or what it does. Look them up in Wikipedia and see if any words, or names leap out at you. 

• Search Google using the image search, the text search, and especially the advanced search to see what weird cross references you can find.

• Search quote reference sites like: http://www.brainyquote.com/ that offer quotes based on topic to see what’s been said about what your app does. Look for any word, or words that stand out.

Once you have a great list of words, and phrases, move on to searching for domains that are available. Here are a few places to start.

http://www.dotomator.com/index.html
Use this site to combine your words with other terms to make something unique.

http://domai.nr/
Use this site to see what unconventional uses of your words are available as domains..

https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpHome.aspx?se=%2B
Check the existing names that are for sale to see what might work.

A few more tips…

If you have a name you really like, and the domain is not available, try these things:

• Remove the vowels.
• Add “app” to the end.
• Add “go” the the beginning.
• Add “hq” to the end.
• Think of alternative phonetical ways to spell your name, even if incorrect.

When you have a domain you like

Once you have a name and domain you like, you still need to run it through a few checks. 

• Is it easy to say?
• Is it easy to remember?
• Does it look good on paper?
• Can you own the search of the term?
• This list is a great resource… http://www.dotomator.com/tips.html

Some final advice.

When you have the final answer, permit yourself room to change. Live with a name- register as many as you like; they’re cheap. But give yourself room to grow. As development moves forward, and as you formulate your ideas, other analogies may become more relevant to you. We’re not advocating being indecisive, only that you allow your ideas on naming to evolve the same way your ideas on your app evolve.

For us, our new app has a codename, and a possible real name. We’re calling it Groundhog, and have a whole mess of domains registered to match. Unfortunately, groundhog.com is not one of them, but we’re pretty happy just the same. Maybe that will be the final name, maybe not. But the name of our new app is absolutely not holding us back from mockups, programming, and writing. Any ideas what an app named Groundhog might do?

Next up… Where to start…

...We don’t know them ourselves.
...They’ll probably change a lot before we’re done.
...After exploring, we might decide not to finish the project due to several reasons.
...It’s a competitive advantage to be somewhat secretive when building niche apps.
...Keeping things a secret builds interest, and makes the whole thing more fun.

Still, keeping everything secretive goes against our nature. We love to share, and we love to help the community. As an experiment, we’re going to share some of the growing pains we’re experiencing as we plan, sweat and think about this new app.

We’ll be as forthcoming as we can about the process we’re going through, and maybe if you’re going through some of the same steps you’ll find this useful.

The first thing we want to talk about is the idea.

When an idea hits, sometimes it smacks you over the head, and sometimes it builds slowly. They can both be valuable, but this particular idea smacked me over the head. It was such a clearly defined niche that it practically leapt out at me.

I always think that’s a good sign. It’s one thing to learn to love, but it’s yet another
thing to fall in.

But, I want to say very firmly, and not braggingly, that I have lots of ideas. One of my jobs here at Paste is to think about our momentum, and where we might go next. I carve out lots of time in my week to just think about stuff. I’ll say this next part firmly and unabashedly, too: most of my ideas are total crap.

That’s what’s great about ideas. You can flirt with them, get to know them, see how they evolve. Several times a month I practically jump out of the shower, or wake from an ebbing sleep suddenly, or have to use the nerdy voice recorder app on my iPhone because I am assured that I have the next huge idea. I’m not especially proud of that fact- anyone could do it if it was their job to do so.

Ideas are practically valueless. Sure some are better than others, but what creates value is time and energy invested in an idea. And that is something that I’m sort of proud of. For every 100 ideas we have, we only work on one or two. There’s a loose, but thorough vetting process we go through.

Here are some of the things we think about.

Will people want this?
How many people?
Are these people identifiable in a certain niche?
Can we get at them inexpensively?
Is this the type of idea that builds its own momentum? If not, are the customers we’re able to get through normal means enough to make it profitable?
Will we be proud of it?
Are we passionate about it?
Do we think we can do a good job of it? Just because we can, and just because it’s a good idea doesn’t mean we can make it great.
Are there competitors? Direct competitors? Can we do better? Does it matter if we do?

These thoughts happen before we even bother with technical stuff. Before we write copy, think of names, or push pixels. Before we waste a single minute on execution, we think about whether we should even bother.

Your time is incredibly finite, so it’s important to be critical of your ideas.

If we think the idea passes these tests generally, that’s great. But you imperatively have to check, research study- make sure. We call people in the industry. We research blogs, forums and anything we can get our hands on to check our facts and see if we’re right.

If, and it’s very rare that it happens, we’re still convinced that the idea is good at this point, we start to chase it. That very thing happened to us last week. It’s not too late- we might still dodge a bullet. All sorts of things could convince us that our time is better invested somewhere else. But for now, our teeth are sunk in and we’re trying to bite off exactly what we can chew.

Next time: Naming.