By 2030, the United States is expected to have a tech talent shortage. This year alone, 4.3 million jobs in America’s technology sector are projected to go unfilled — that equates to lost revenue of $162 billion. Luckily, Ted Lieu, California’s 33rd Congressional District Representative, has a solution for the state: Inspire our youth to innovate with the Congressional App Challenge.

Held last Thursday, the 2020 Congressional App Challenge featured sixteen students from ten high schools across Los Angeles County. Altogether, they submitted eleven amazing mobile app concepts. And Congressman Lieu invited Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media’s Co-Founder and CEO, to participate as a judge in the competition!

About the Congressional App Challenge

The United States House of Representatives established the Congressional App Challenge in 2014 to “connect today’s Congress with tomorrow’s coders.” The event encourages students from all corners of the country to get more hands-on with their STEM education by creating and submitting mobile app concepts. The winner receives national recognition and also has their work featured in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Building!

For Congressman Ted Lieu, the event is a special occasion that connects him back to his own education: “As one of just four computer science majors in Congress, I believe it is essential to encourage and nurture a generation of technology-savvy students who will continue to innovate our economy and advance our technological edge. The App Challenge provides young students throughout my district an opportunity to pursue their creative and technical talents. I encourage all eligible students to participate.”

Since its first year, the Congressional App Challenge has grown exponentially. In 2019, 10,211 students submitted mobile apps. To put this number in perspective, that’s a 373% increase from 2016! This event also now outpaces Silicon valley in terms of diversity: Compared to America’s tech innovation hub, participants are five times more likely to identify as latinx, four times more likely to identify as black, and two times more likely to identify as female.

On the other side of the equation, the Congressional App Challenge is also increasing STEM’s visibility in politics. Since 2016, 54% more Congress members have become involved in the competition and the mentions of STEM and computer science in congress have grown by over 2000%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s reception was completely remote. Dr. William Goodin, Industry Relations Coordinator at UCLA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and Mr. Howard Stahl, Santa Monica College’s Department Chair for Computer Science & Information Systems, judged this year’s submissions alongside Marc.

And the Winners Are…

Dylan and Winston Iskandar of Mira Costa High School and Chadwick School were selected as this year’s winners! Inspired by the ‘new normal’ we all find ourselves in during the COVID-19 pandemic, the duo developed a mobile app called “GroceryBuddies” that connects volunteers with at-risk individuals so they can help them run errands and get groceries. You can learn more about it in the video below:

Jake and Kate North of Stanford Online High School came in second place with their mobile app concept, “Ideos.” “MyChemistry,” a pocket-reference tool for chemistry information that was developed by Rachel Fox of Agoura High School, came in third place:

And “MaskCheck,” an app created by Jayden Bulexa of Beverly Hills High School that helps to educate people about and enforce mask-wearing, received an honorable mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8cHHSW9wPY&feature=youtu.be

Each of these entries was incredibly innovative. “As a recovering Computer Science major, I am inspired by all these students who have committed themselves to creating these innovative apps,” Congressman Lieu said.

Marc was also astounded by the level of creativity and quality that these young mobile app developers brought to the table: “It’s an exciting honor to witness the next generation of innovators harness the potential of STEM to improve our lives. I thank Congressman Lieu for the opportunity to help inspire, educate, and foster a passion for technology in our youth.”

It’s absolutely amazing that there’s so much young tech talent in the Los Angeles County area alone! We can’t wait to see what 2021’s participants have to offer.

Welcome to the final entry in our two-part series on figuring out just how much an app costs to build!

In the first part of this series, we covered the stages of the mobile app development process and other crucial factors to keep in mind that can greatly impact your cost calculations. In case you missed it or would like a chance to review, you can find the article here.

For this entry, we’ll be going over the different routes you can take to make your app as well as what you can expect in terms of post-launch endeavors and marketing. Ready to get started? Let’s jump right in!

Before We Begin

Before we proceed, there are a few pertinent questions you should answer:

1. Who’s your target audience?
2. What problem will your app solve for your audience?
3. What are the core features of your mobile app that solves the problem?

We know that answering these questions can be tough. But doing so will save you tremendous amounts of time (and possibly money) down the line. If you need help figuring these out, reference the first post of this series to guide you.

Choose Your Own App Adventure

How much does it cost to build an app will greatly vary depending on the type of product you want to build. But one thing many first-time app entrepreneurs forget is that costs are also dependent on the size and type of agency you choose to work with.

Mobile App Development Is an Investment

Cheaper shops can certainly sound alluring. But smaller companies offering end-to-end app development for a price that seems too good to be true usually carry some caveats to be aware of.

If the entire mobile app development process costs less than $50,000, it’s safe to assume that the company you’re working with is probably offering more limited services than a more built-out agency. When it comes to app development, you often get what you pay for.

When you increase your investment, what you’re really paying for is tried-and-tested experience as well as specialized expertise. It’s important to keep in mind that while the whole process of creating an app is lumped under “mobile app development,” hard-coding your product is actually one piece of the puzzle.

Cutting Corners Doesn’t Mean Cutting Costs

Cutting corners to save on costs in the early stages of the app development process usually backfires in the long run.

Remember the $50,000 price tag and limited services we mentioned earlier? This can usually be attributed to an agency taking a “lean” approach—basically, they’ll code an app for you, but they won’t have expert designers and strategists on-hand to help ensure it’s a success.

In these instances, it’s not unusual for app entrepreneurs to sink more money into the project later on to save face. By this point, you’re probably thinking, “Well, what does a complete mobile app development team look like, and how much would they cost?” We’re glad you asked!

It Takes Teamwork to Make the Dream Work

Let’s pretend that you’ve nailed down your mobile app vision; you want to release a polished product that meets a specific need of a specific market segment. It’s safe to assume you’d get a price quote of around $300,000 from both large agencies and mid-sized shops to deliver such a product.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Where are all these funds going?” You know, you are really asking all the right questions today! Although, the answer to this one is: It depends.

Many large agencies adhere to the “waterfall” development process. This basically means they will deliver on your original specifications after farming out much of the work to the lowest-common bidder. In contrast, many mid-sized agencies employ the “agile” development process. Agile software development is a methodology in which requirements and their solutions evolve through collaboration between a self-organized, cross-functional team and the customer.

Essentially, you get a more personal, hands-on approach and specialized expertise when you work with a team like this. What does this team look like? A versatile mobile app development team includes the following key players:

• UX/UI Designers: They create all of the visual content and imagery that will be coded into your app.
• Front-End Developers & Back-End Engineers: They optimize your product’s functionality for Android and iPhone devices.
• Product Managers: They oversee the app building process. Think of them as the director.
• Account Managers: They act as the liaison between the team and clients to ensure coordination is smooth.

This may sound like a lot of horsepower. But it takes a talented, coordinated team to create and launch a successful digital product in the competitive, overcrowded app marketplace.

We Have Liftoff!

So let’s say you’ve gone through the process with an awesome app development team as your partner, and you’re just about ready for launch. Congratulations! You’ve probably put in an incredible amount of hard work by this point.

But you can’t rest on your laurels just yet. You still have launch, marketing, and maintenance to attend to! We’ve already discussed maintenance in the first entry of this series, so let’s turn our attention to the other two.

A poorly structured launch and marketing plan will only serve to bring down your product before it can ever take off in the market. If your app development team is experienced, they’ll know the nuances between submitting to Apple’s App Store and Google Play. It really is an art form in itself.

Google Play submissions are usually available to the general public mere hours after submittal. On the other hand, Apple’s App Store can take upwards of 10 business days to approve (or reject) your app. Besides this longer review period, 30% of App Store submissions get rejected.

This can usually be chalked up to issues that could have been addressed beforehand. But rejections do happen due to other cases. Don’t fret; just take the feedback in stride and implement the recommendations and suggestions that the reviewers give. It will help you become a stronger contender in your niche when your app finally arrives in the market.

Alongside this, it’s important that you prepare all marketing material, graphics, and app assets so that you’re ready for public launch. We work closely with all of our clients to ensure that everything’s set to go when your app is ready to launch.

Ready to Get Started?

Regardless of whether you go with a mid-sized app developer in L.A. or a major agency in NYC, it’s important to remember that all apps that succeed on a large scale have three common factors: they start small, they have a detailed strategy, and they have passionate founders behind the product.

The sky is the limit for what’s possible with mobile app development. The first step takes incredible courage and investment, but the rewards can be well worth it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series. if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out for a free consultation!

Do you know how much an app costs to build? Here’s the simple answer: between $99 and $500,000! Okay, maybe that answer isn’t so simple. But the range is realistic.

At Dogtown Media, we’ve launched over 100 mobile app projects in a variety of fields including artificial intelligence (AI), MedTech, the Internet of Things (IoT), and FinTech. So we know that calculating the cost of a mobile app can get quite complex.

To make things a little easier for you, we’ve compiled everything you need to know to make a ballpark estimate of mobile app development costs. Doing this is one of the most important steps to take on your journey from app idea to app store.

In the first entry of this two-part series, we’ll cover the stages of the mobile app development process and other key factors to keep in mind with regards to cost.

The Phases of the Mobile App Development Process

In most businesses, you either sell products or services. Apps happen to fall right in between, which is why they can be so darn tricky to price. And before you can take away a prince range for your app idea, it’s important to get familiar with the three stages of the mobile app development process: prototype, beta, minimum viable product (MVP), and maintenance.

Prototyping

Let’s pretend your app is a movie. That means your prototype serves as the preview teaser. Similar to cut-out buildings in old spaghetti westerns, the prototyping phase is mainly for aesthetic purposes. It’s where you solidify the feel and look of your app without the back-end architecture.

Prototypes are a vital piece of your value proposition; they’re how you demonstrate that you’re serious about your vision to investors. A typical mobile prototype runs between $5,000 to $10,000 when employing lean UX principles. This range can change depending on the scope of the project.

Beta

Going back to our movie analogy, the Beta version is the rough draft of your script. It’s where more of your app functionality gets fleshed out. During this stage, it’s not unusual to do a “soft launch.” This gives a handful of users early access, which in turn gives you insightful feedback on how to improve your app experience.

As far as the cost of app development goes, the prototyping phase is usually the easiest to estimate. The Beta stage is a little more complex and can drastically vary in price since you’re now moving from a general idea to a specific vision.

MVP

By this point, you’re almost there! The only thing left to do before launch is the MVP, your flawlessly coded and rigorously tested mobile app without all of the non-essential features. No biggie, right?

During the MVP phase, your paramount priority is to perfect your app’s core features so that it’s approachable for new users. Second-tier features, bells, and whistles can usually wait until after launch. Doing so has the added advantage of feedback from your growing user base; these insights can show you the right direction to steer your product in.

For MVPs, efficiency is the name of the game. The developer you work with should be focusing on crafting code that can handle heavy usage without compromising on precision and speed. The cost to build an MVP varies; most organizations set aside roughly $120,000 to $500,000 for this phase alone.

Maintenance

Many first-time app entrepreneurs erroneously see mobile app development through a “set it and forget it” approach. It’s easy to see why—sitting back while paying someone to build out your vision and launch it while you relax and profit sounds ideal.

Unfortunately, approaching mobile apps like this only leads to less-than-ideal results. Mobile app development is an active endeavor, even after launch. The marketplace for mobile apps is extremely competitive. If you don’t continuously work on improving your app concept, someone else will seize the opportunity and enter the market with a better app.

Maintenance costs run the gamut; everything from app performance tracking, upgrading servers, creating new content, processing payments, and emergency management all fall under this phase.

To simplify finances, it’s a good rule of thumb to set ide 20 percent of your initial development costs to spend on maintenance each year. So if your app costs $200,000 to initially develop, you should dedicate $40,000 of funds annually to maintain it.

Other Key Factors to Consider for App Development Costs

Beyond the stages of mobile app development, there are a whole host of other factors to keep in mind—each greatly impacts your budget.

Development Time Length

Is it possible to develop a mobile app in a day? Yes—but only if your requirements are bare-boned and your app life cycle is (surprise!) a day. In reality, expediting the process usually leads to a mediocre product. Great products take time to build.

Of course, some app functionality and features are easier to implement than others. For example, if you want to add e-commerce capabilities to an Etsy store, you could employ a variety of purpose-built technologies to make it happen faster.

But with each additional feature, the length of time grows. Mobile app development agencies promise timelines that can greatly vary. Some will say 13 weeks, while others will claim 3 weeks. There is no absolute right answer for this, but it’s important to pay attention to the quality of your potential developer’s previous projects when weighing your options.

App Core Features

The core features you want to include in your app have a profound effect on the final costs of the project. This is usually done in the Beta phase and forms the foundation of your business proposition, so it’s crucial that you and your developer get this right.

Even features that sound simple usually require calculated coordination of software elements behind the scenes, so it’s important to approach your core features with an open mind. Your development team should help in identifying if the core features you’d like to include would actually provide substantial value for the user experience.

Seed Funding

Successful mobile apps aren’t just products; they’re actually full-fledged tech companies in their own right. And just like any company, finances often dictate their future. If you’re launching a startup alongside your mobile app, there are some other financial factors to keep in mind.

It’s common to proceed with a seed round or a “friend and family” round after the delivery of your MVP. There are no exact numbers to aim for, but generally speaking, raising around $250,000 to $500,000 will allow you to run your startup for roughly six months.

To get your startup’s app up to speed for widespread consumer use while maintaining operations, it’s not uncommon to raise a bridge round. Around $500,000 to $1M more is usually required to keep your startup operational and flesh out your prototype to be ready for release.

So, essentially, you’re looking at raising about $1.5 million to support your startup and app development costs for the first 18 months. Keep in mind that that the location of your startup could greatly affect the amount you need—operating costs in tech hubs like San Francisco or New York City will be substantially higher than in other areas of the US.

Stay Tuned!

We hope you’ve found this overview of mobile app development costs helpful so far! Stay tuned—next week, we’ll delve into the different routes you can take to make your app as well as what to expect in terms of post-launch endeavors and marketing.