Tips for Submitting Your App

Congratulations, Technovation teams, you are entering the last week of the Challenge. Below is my general advice for getting the maximum score on each part of the rubric. Our judges are a mix of Technovation mentors (previous and current), previous judges and guest speakers, and industry experts. To make things fair, all judges will only review submissions from outside of their region (e.g. a San Francisco mentor will not judge any San Francisco teams). Reach out to me me with your questions or any help editing/refining.

Is your app a good solution to a problem in your local community?

A good problem is specific and relatable to a set of users. It can also be explained in one or two sentences. For example, the GasBuddy app helps drivers solve the problem of finding the least expensive fuel in their area. With gas prices rising, drivers need to be able to find fast ways to save money. You probably know someone who has shared how expensive gas is — what a problem! Well, here is a solution.

“Finding local volunteering opportunities” is not a specific or relatable problem. When was the last time you heard someone say, “I wish I could find more volunteering opportunities”? More likely you have heard. “I’m bored this weekend… I wish I had ideas about what to do,” or, “Wow, Hurricane Sandy was devastating, I wish there was something I could do,” or, “I was completing my college application essays and realized I have nothing to say for an essay that asks about my community service.” Each of these are separate problems for separate potential users. Instead of trying to create an app that solves a hypothetical problem for everyone, think about how you would solve a real problem for a specific set of users.

Do you understand the size of your app market?

Who is the market for GasBuddy? Drivers with smart phones. If you wanted to know the size of your target market, you could try finding out from driver societies such as AAA in the United States or maybe even from websites or publications for no-text-while-driving groups.

If I wanted to focus on a market for the problems

I outlined above, I may focus on teenagers with smart phones and add to that information about how many teenagers use apps or websites to find activities or volunteer opportunities.

Do you understand your competition and how your app is different?

If you have not done so already, go to Google Play or the Apple store and type all of the keywords that could relate to your app. As you are doing this research, think about how your potential users will find you. As you look at the apps that come up, check the number of downloads, their price, stars, and feedback. For example, you may see that an app similar to yours has comments such as “too expensive,” and, “the button for ___________ is hard to read.” Think about what feedback you can apply to making your app a better version of what those users want.

Do you convey your understanding of computer programming?

When you explain your app’s features and functionality, feel free to explain how you made the screen and/or workflow on App Inventor. These short comments will also demonstrate that your process and decisions have been deliberate.

Does your Pitch explain your business plan? and Is your Pitch clear and concise?

The business plan explains how you would make your app happen. Eliminate filler words such as “very,” “important,” etc. Educate and explain through information. Not great: “We looked at other apps and we think our app is very competitive and better, and a lot of people will buy it. We plan to share it on Facebook.” Better: “From the 10 similar apps on the market, ours is the only to have the ___________ feature, which allows users to ___________ For this reason, we are pricing our app at $3.99 at the higher end of the range for other apps on the market ($_ – _). We believe that our target user is someone who ___________. For this reason, we believe we can best reach them [at these special interest websites/places/etc.].” Review Week 2: Market Research for ideas on how to investigate your market.

You may want to write a script before you film your video. Try to make your point first and then explain the logic for that point. Sometimes explaining before you make your point makes the listener impatient. When you make your point first they are more likely to understand and appreciate the logic of what you say after.

Do you leverage the capabilities of the platform you are using?

An app is a product meant to be used on a smartphone. In general, stick to ideas that make sense for people to use on their phone. For example, you would not probably make an app to use on an airplane, since most of the flight the phone needs to be turned off.

Leveraging a platform can also be realizing that you can do something on App Inventor and using that knowledge to improve the app.

Is your app a good representation of your vision?

As mentioned earlier, make your app specific. For example, ElementQuest, the finalist app for New York City last year, showed how their app taught chemistry by focusing on one element. In their pitch, they explained how a user would learn all about the element helium and showed the screens that the user would see. This specific example helped the judges understand two things 1) what the app looked like and 2) how a user would interact with the app. They were then in a better position to assess whether the app was actually helping students learn chemistry.

Do you have a practical vision for extending the capabilities of their apps beyond the prototype?

Going back to ElementQuest, the team shared how they envisioned creating a screen for each element and having the users purchase a portion of the Periodic Table of Elements.

Does your app have adequate functionality?

Teams will be at different stages in their app development, and that is completely fine. What you have created as far as screens, particularly if they link to each other, please share in your pitch.

Is your app visually appealing? and Is the app user-interface intuitive and easy to use?

When you pitch, explain any key features that have gone through observation and testing.

Review Week 3: User-Centered Design to make sure your app makes sense to users. Have other non-Technovation people (preferably your target users) use the app. For example, if I made an app for an older age group, I might assume that they use their index finger to type (instead of their thumbs), so that may influence where I position the buttons on my screen. I may observe a few people in that age group typing on their phones. Then I would have them try the screen or app I have created to make sure I got the design right.

I hope my advice has been helpful. Wherever you are in your process, please make sure to submit your deliverables by April 13. It is a huge accomplishment to have a product ready to pitch. Give it everything you’ve got and who knows? Maybe I will see you in San Francisco on May 2nd.

Good luck!

Angélica Torres

E-Mail: Angelica (at) IridescentLearning (dot) org

Senior Director, Technovation Challenge