3 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a New App

It's tempting to dive straight into development with a rough idea and a lot of enthusiasm but investing in software costs money and time and it’s very easy to fall into common traps that may leave you with no more budget, missed deadlines, and no product. The result is either giving up or having to restart from the beginning.

The good news is you can avoid these common traps and not waste a cent or a day on poor product development. The following points will make sure every dollar and day you spend on building your tech dream will be well spent and get you to market with an intuitive, meaningful product.

Mistake #1 - Skipping discovery

Don’t skip discovery day! A thorough discovery phase sets a solid foundation for everything that follows.

Discovery is when you sit with the dev team to discuss your idea. It’s important for your dev team to understand your vision, requirements, timeline, budget, goals, user types, existing processes, etc. and what you need your app to do.

Discovery leads to the design phase where the Product Manager and UX/UI designer will work with you to define the core features and create a set of mockups for you app. These mockups are the blueprint for the app.

Mistake #2 - Adding too many features too soon

When building an MVP, focus on the 1 or 2 core features first. These are the features that offer the primary value or service. When you write a one-liner or elevator pitch for your product, this will pretty much tell you what your core feature is.

MVPs are typically how new builds start when money is tight (even if it’s not tight, it’s a smart way to build anyway). MVPs can be designed and coded within a few weeks so you can get to market and get feedback and revenue. User feedback will guide you towards what features should come next.

Another quick exercise you should do is list all your features and then assign a priority level to them. Here are the priorities and how to apply them:

Must-Have: Your app absolutely needs this to do what it’s meant to do to make money and server your users. Must-Haves need to be started first.

Should-Have: Your app doesn’t need this to survive but it should be addressed once all your Must-Haves are out of the way.

Could-Have: Your app could have this feature but it isn’t necessary and it may offer a little convenience. In my experience, these almost never make it into the build due to the immediate Must-Haves and then user feedback encouraging more important features.

Nice-to-Have: These also almost never make it in but it’s worth being aware of and if you get funding or start becoming a tech billionaire, these can be nice additions for your users.

Remember! When applying priorities to your features, keep your one-liner/elevator pitch in mind and it will tell you if the feature is MVP-worthy or not.



Mistake #3 - Choosing the wrong dev team

Software development is a long-term process and it’s important to partner with a team you like and who understands your goals. A good team will collaborate with you and guide you through the design and development process and help you make decisions. A good team will be transparent with you on cost, timelines, challenges, options, and other important considerations. A good team will keep you updated on progress, share access to staging environments for you to test, schedule regular demos with you, and keep you as an active participant to ensure alignment and that you get what you want as quick and cost-efficiently as possible.

Generally, off-shore teams are NOT good options. They are cheaper at first but you pay more later. Typically, off-shore teams do not communicate during the process and make bad code that leads to costly testing and feature adds later. We have performed many project takeovers because of clients working with off-shore teams, or even just bad teams. This leads to lost time, lost money, and a lot of stress.

It’s absolutely worth the investment to partner with a team who is communicative, honest, writes high-quality code, secure, and sets your product up for scalable growth.

Here are just some questions you should ask a potential dev team:

Can you walk me through your development process from idea to deployment?
Why: This will show you how organized and thorough their workflow is (planning, design, coding, QA, deployment, etc.).

Have you built similar apps before? Can you show me relevant examples or case studies?
Why: Experience in similar domains often leads to fewer surprises and better results.

What does your QA and testing process look like?
Why: A solid QA process is key to a stable, usable product.

How do you estimate project costs and timelines? What’s included in the estimate?
Why: Prevents surprises and allows you to compare apples to apples with other vendors.

What happens if the project runs over budget or past deadlines?
Why: Reveals their risk management strategy and accountability.

How do you handle scope changes or feature requests mid-project?
Why: Helps you understand how flexible (or rigid) they are and how they manage change control.

Building an app is a big investment, so it’s worth doing it right from the start. Skipping discovery, cramming in too many features, or picking the wrong team can seriously slow you down—or worse, sink the whole project. Avoid these common mistakes, stay focused, and give your app the best shot at success.