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Ask HN: my plan to create premium iPhone app on tight budget

3 points by sixQuarks ↗ HN
Ok, so here's the deal: I don't know how to program, but I've got some great iPhone app ideas that I'm sure will do well. (I know, I know, don't we all)

I'm trying to figure out how I can create a top-notch app on a low-price contractor budget.

I know I can get competent low-cost iOS programmers on odesk, but they're not going to know how to design the app and take advantage of all iOS features.

What I'm looking to do is hire a top-notch developer as a "consultant" on a short-term basis. I will explain how I want the app to work, and they will tell me the best way to develop the app, and any pitfalls I need to watch out for. They will also provide a detailed outline of how it should be coded.

I can then use their outline and manage the project myself while working with the low cost contractors.

Does this sound like a plan that should work? Do you think top-notch app developers would be willing to do this?

8 comments

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speedyapoc
Even if you receive a plan for an application from a "top-notch" developer, work outputted by low-cost contractors, especially on oDesk or Elance, will still be terrible. If you want a quality application, with care and love put into it, you will have to pay a quality price.

I've personally been involved as a consultant in a job situation like this, and the client eventually just let me develop and program the application after he spent over a thousand dollars getting sub-par results from external developers. Even if you have something beautifully planned out and ready to be executed, like he did, there are still a world of things that could go wrong by hiring a lower cost developer.

sixQuarks
What if the app is relatively simple?
speedyapoc
What would you consider to be simple? Paying for a developer to come up with a plan and then find someone else to execute it might be more complicated and costly than just going with one pricier developer. Would you be able to provide samples of what your going for (change the idea, obviously, provide links to sample apps, etc)?
sixQuarks
It would be similar to a guessing game. Where users guess based on photos that are shown.
speedyapoc
Depending on how you provide the data for to the game, that doesn't sound too difficult. Just make sure the contractor knows how to make it look (provide graphical assets and whatnot), and also how you will be supplying the level information (hardcoding values is never the way for quiz style games, I would decide on a format to go by for providing the data). From there, just check up periodically on them and see how the app is doing. I'd create a private GitHub page for them to commit to and then build and test the app nightly to make sure everything is going well before they build or finish a feature.
jacksondeane
So you have a great idea, you are 1% of the way to a successful App. The rest will rely on how you execute, and getting a low-budget iOS developer will result in a low-budget implementation, even if you bring on a consultant to guide the process.

Let's not forget that you will need a designer to, at the very least, produce the graphical components, even if they don't design the UI from the ground up.

Bottom line, if you are unable to do any of these pieces, plan on spending a legitimate amount of money to get to a releasable product.

mchannon
Unless your time is worth more than triple the going rate for a good iOS programmer on oDesk (>$25), you should spend some time (hours, not months) learning the basic fundamentals of programming for iOS, even if you don't know anything yet.

Without that knowledge, your contractors will put out something far worse than what you want, simply because you don't know how to ask for it in language they understand. It'll also take much longer for them to complete it, and cost you a lot more.

Better to pay them to clean up your errors as you make them than for you to pay someone else to clean theirs up.

thedillio
Can you sketch? A picture is worth a thousand words.

If you can create pictures either with a sketch pad or digitally then it will help your developer visualize it and make it work correctly.

Also "use cases" are very helpful. For example, instead of writing specs, write several stories about how a user might interact with the app. In my experience, these always help me develop a product more inline with the overall vision.

Lastly, you could send your sketches to a designer to create, then send those PSD/PNG files to the developer.