
Analysing the strategies used by successful mobile apps gives app founders valuable insight into how to create a profitable product of their own.

Amongst the [most popular apps in the world](https://www.businessofapps.com/data/most-popular-apps/), Spotify is one such example of a successful app. Valued at over [$66 billion](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-worth-67bn-has-seen-its-share-price-treble-in-10-months-should-daniel-ek-hand-cash-to-artists-as-a-thank-you/), Spotify currently has over 345 million monthly users and [155 million](https://investors.spotify.com/financials/default.aspx) paying subscribers. 

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="547px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/4.png' alt="Monthly active Spotify users (in millions) from 2015 - 2020" class="size-medium" />


The platform boasts one of the [largest-ever audio content libraries](https://www.businessofapps.com/data/spotify-statistics/#3) in history, including over 70 million songs and 2.2 million podcast titles. 

Founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, Spotify aimed to address the growing issue of online music piracy prevalent in the early 2000s. It succeeded in achieving far more.  

This article looks at how Ek and Lorentzon rendered a high-quality user experience to fundamentally change the way we listen to music and audio content (and created a $66 billion brand in the process). 

We’ll take you through the aspects of Spotifys’ user experience that have made it successful, such as its revenue model, design elements, cooperation with artists, and features that endear the platform to its millions of subscribers. 

## Table of Contents:

* The mission: What has Spotify achieved?
* The revenue model: How Spotify made money
* The design: Simple yet stimulating
* The features: Behaviour modification and encouraging constant use
* The deals: How Spotify leverages exclusivity to attract more users
* The future: Where Spotify goes from here
* Wrapping up

## The mission: What has Spotify achieved?

Spotify claims 34% of the music streaming industry’s market share, making them the most prominent music streaming platform in the world. 

The company has overcome fierce competition, legal issues, and disputes with celebrities to claim the lion's share of the audio-streaming industry. But how have they done it?  

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="325px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/5.png' alt="Spotify Market Share vs Rivals, Q2 2020" class="size-medium" />


To appreciate how Spotify got here, understanding how the internet, file sharing, and music-streaming completely changed the music industry is required. 

### Pre-1999

Pre-1999, the music industry profited from the concept of listeners purchasing and owning a tangible object (i.e. vinyl’s, cassette tapes, or CDs) that contained the copyrighted musical data. The concepts of music streaming and downloading didn’t even exist.

When Napster, the first file-sharing platform, was created in 1999, everything changed. 

Napster enabled users to freely share MP3 files with one other; directly causing a massive financial loss for record labels and artists. The impact that Napster and file sharing had on the music industry is so significant that CD sales plummeted the year following Napster’s inception.  

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="401px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/6.png' alt="CD sales in the U.S. (in millions) - pre and post-file-sharing (RIAA)." class="size-medium" />

CD sales in the U.S. (in millions) - pre and post-file-sharing ([RIAA](https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/)).

### Post-2001

When Metallica sued Napster in March 2001 for copyright infringement, in the first case of an artist suing a peer-to-peer file-sharing software company, Napster was ordered to remove all copyrighted songs by Metallica or be shut down. This lawsuit set the tone for the legal and ethical struggle faced by labels, artists, and music listeners.  

As more file sharing platforms emerged in the early 2000s’, such as Limewire, The Pirate Bay, and BitTorrent, it was clear that music listeners wanted easier access to a greater variety of music, and that they were willing to break copyright laws to do so. 

Their only alternative to Napster, and breaking the law, was to pay Apple’s iTunes as much as $2 per tune—something they understandably weren’t very keen on. 

But how could users get the music they wanted without infringing on copyright laws? Someone needed to bridge the gap between what the public wanted and the protection the music creators deserved. 

Enter Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.

### Streaming as a concept

[According to Daniel Ek](https://quorasessionwithdanielek.quora.com/How-did-Daniel-Ek-start-building-Spotify-Did-he-code-it-himself-or-hire-a-developer), Spotify was conceived because he and Martin Lorentzon “thought that it was cumbersome to get content, despite the technology (Napster) being around since at least 2000”. 

Ek and Lorentzon understood that to grow a profitable business, it needed to avoid the legal pitfalls flagged by the early file sharing platforms and avoid the same per-track purchase model as iTunes. 

As Ek puts it, "the only way to solve the problem was to create a service that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry." 

So, they created a platform where users didn’t own music but instead “had the world’s music at their fingertips”. 

By heavily focusing on song loading speed (latency), Spotify wanted to replicate the experience of listening to a downloaded album to pull users away from file sharing and towards the concept of streaming. 

This is the quintessential feature of Spotify that has revolutionised how we listen to music (and has made them billions in the process). 

## The revenue model: How Spotify made money

Spotify very cleverly leverages paid advertising and free service to simultaneously generate revenue while enticing new users to the platform.

How do they do it?

Spotify attracts new users with a completely free service and doesn’t require any credit card information. Free users can listen to the entire Spotify library, with one catch—they also need to listen to advertisements. Spotify benefits from this twofold:

- They generate income from the advertisements
- They get more users 

Free users are then encouraged to upgrade to a paid monthly subscription, where music listening goes uninterrupted without ads and audio content is played at a higher quality. Premium subscribers can also opt to download music and access it without an internet connection. 

Like the [meditation app Headspace](https://wearewip.com/blog/how-headspace-became), Spotify also leverages social sharing and personal connection to drive revenue user acquisition. Simple features like “share this song” encourage users to connect with their friends and draw more people toward the app.  

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="300px" height="650px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/7.jpeg' alt="Social-sharing features make user acquisition seamless and enjoyable for Spotify users" class="size-medium" />

Social-sharing features make user acquisition seamless and enjoyable for Spotify users

## The design: Simple yet stimulating

Part of Spotify’s success is attributed to how easy and engaging their on-app interface is. Ek and Lorentzon’’s vision for their app was one of a seamless listening experience, and interacting with the app had to replicate that. 

### Dark interface

Spotify chose their dark interface after testing different designs on its users. The team felt the dark interface enhanced the user experience by highlighting the album art within the app: 

“We believe that when you have music or art that’s very colourful and very artistic, and you have beautiful cover art for music, that it really shows more clearly visible in a product like this, when it’s about entertainment”, [says Michelle Kadir](https://www.fastcompany.com/3028603/inside-the-redesign-why-spotify-went-black), director of product development at Spotify.  

### Device optimisation

Delivering a consistent, seamless experience on all devices has removed any barrier a user has to access Spotify. 

Spotify started as a desktop program, and its successful transition to a mobile app for Android and iOS was paramount in keeping the brand alive and growing. 

The desktop program uses structurally consistent grids and visually spaced lists to organise the vast array of content.

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="623px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/8.png' alt="Growth Illustration"/></div>

The mobile interface focuses on a scrolling discovery experience to keep the screen uncluttered, with text standing out on the dark interface.

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="300px" height="650px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/9.jpeg' alt="App Cost Illustration" class="size-medium" />

### Quality button design

Having clear calls to action is essential in facilitating a seamless and enjoyable user experience that keeps users coming back.  

#### Colour scheme

The black, white, and green colour scheme Spotify uses for its buttons aligns with app branding and directs user intention.   

The solid vs. outlined buttons also attract users’ attention towards primary goals (play) without detracting from the possibility of engaging with the secondary objective (follow). 

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="360px" height="79px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/10.png' alt="App Cost Illustration" class="size-medium" />

#### Interactive feedback

The app also reassures users during their experience with visual feedback cues, particularly hover states and click interactions. 

These features help users know exactly what they are doing and what they have done to facilitate the all-important seamless user experience.  

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="360px" height="79px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/11.gif' alt="App Cost Illustration" class="size-medium" />

#### Curved edges

As Spotify arranges the songs, albums, and artists in linear grids and lists, using curved lines for the buttons helps them stand without interfering with the aesthetics of the rest of the screen. 

Doing so invites users to interact with the buttons and facilitates user intention.  

### Intuitive interaction

Users start to realise how Spotify communicates the more they use the platform. By being consistent with their design language, Spotify encourages users to navigate the app intuitively. 

For example, artists are consistently presented in spherical frames, while songs and albums are square. Users quickly become familiar with this language and learn that a square means ‘play’, whereas a circle represents ‘see more’.

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="284px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/12.png' alt="Regular Spotify users quickly learn circles means artists, and squares mean songs or albums" class="size-medium" />

Regular Spotify users quickly learn circles means artists, and squares mean songs or albums

## The features: Behaviour modification and encouraging constant use

A critical factor in creating any successful mobile app is to make the app part of a user’s daily life. 

Having people use the app habitually means they sign up month after month, year after year, and they also encourage their friends and peers to do the same. 

As a music app, Spotify already lends itself to daily use. But what makes it so successful is how the app has changed our music-streaming expectations and personalised the user experience.

### Core offer

Before file sharing and streaming services, music listeners were restricted to the type of audio content they could consume according to their personal libraries. If you didn’t own a CD, you either visited a friend who had it, went and purchased it, or couldn’t listen to it. 

People listened to music every day, but the ownership nature of the music industry pre-1999 meant they just didn’t have access to the variety available to us in 2021.  

Spotify fundamentally changed this. 

The platform switched the music listening industry from one of ownership to one of access. As Daniel Ek said, his vision was to create a place where people could access the world’s music. Within their core offering, Spotify had secured a position in their users’ daily lives. 

### A place for discovery

Using algorithmically curated playlists and personalised recommendations, Spotify not only gave people the music they wanted to listen to, but they also offered people the unprecedented opportunity to discover entirely new music from all over the world. 

When Spotify introduced Discover Weekly in July 2015, it attracted more than [40 million](https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/25/11765472/spotifys-discover-weekly-40-million-users-5-billion-streams) new users. They featured a curated playlist of 30 songs each Monday according to the listeners’ preferences and habits. 

This created a hyper-personalised relationship between app and user and proved the power of algorithms in suggesting content to keep users engaged. 

Spotify uses this same data tracking to come up with playlists such as:

* “Made For You” 
* “More of What You Like” 
* “Your Top Songs of the Year” 

In effect, they leverage emotions such as nostalgia to further embed the app in users’ daily lives. 

Spotify users also engage with the platform on an educational basis, with access to over 2.2 million podcast titles. This evolution into an educational and recreational audio-streaming platform further secures Spotify as the market leader for audio content. 

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="300px" height="650px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/13.jpeg' alt="Spotify leverages nostalgia and memories with algorithmically curated playlists to engage and retain users" class="size-medium" />

Spotify leverages nostalgia and memories with algorithmically curated playlists to engage and retain users

### Pushing it too far

The Spotify engineers got so good at suggesting appropriate content for its users that when the app algorithm gets it wrong or the app makes an unwanted suggestion, users might respond unfavourably.  

For instance, many users reacted with distaste when starting July 29, 2020, Spotify repeatedly suggested their new exclusive podcast listing “The Michelle Obama Podcast”.  

As regular users had become so accustomed to algorithmically determined suggestions, not ones based on marketing, [some felt](https://www.reddit.com/r/spotify/comments/i04yvs/no_i_dont_wanna_listen_to_the_michelle_obama/) they were being told what to listen to by a platform they had grown to trust.

Despite some discontent, however, exclusive listings (alongside exclusive listing marketing initiatives) has proven to help Spotify retain users, grow in the app store ratings, and increase their share price.

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="555px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/2.png' alt="Growth Illustration"/></div>

## The deals: How Spotify leverages exclusivity to attract more users

Spotify started announcing exclusive celebrity deals in 2020. [Exclusive listings](https://investors.spotify.com/financials/press-release-details/2021/Spotify-Technology-S.A.-Announces-Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-2020/default.aspx) such as Kim Kardashian West (KKW), and The Joe Rogan Experience have helped Spotify diversify their celebrity podcast library to attract new users and retain old ones.  

Signed in May 2020, The Joe Rogan Experience was responsible for a significant increase in users on the platform and also in boosting Spotifys’ app store listing in 17 different markets.  

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="481px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/14.png' alt="Spotify App Store Rating & Share Price" class="size-medium" />

Spotify App Store Rating & Share Price

These exclusive partnerships also appear to positively influence investor interest, with the price jumping by $14.8 for Joe Rogan’s announcement and $25.5 for KKW. 

In alignment with their mission of bringing the world’s music and content to their users, Spotify has also focused on releasing Original & Exclusive (“O&E”) podcasts in Latin America, Central and South-East Asia, such as:

* Caso 63 in Chile
* Telugu Lifetime in India 
* 123 Segundos in Brazil 
* 6 exclusive podcasts from Indonesia

## The future: Where Spotify goes from here

It can be difficult to imagine where Spotify can keep going from here. 

It’s clear that the platform will continue to evolve its machine learning algorithms and keep suggesting more relevant, newer music to keep users engaged (and away from competing platforms). 

Many of the recent updates in 2021 have been focused on improving the podcast listening experience. Giving visual cues to remind users which podcasts they have tried and how far into the episodes they are increases podcast engagement, so it’s likely we’ll see the platform move more heavily into podcasting. 

Users love and trust in the personalised relationship they have with their Spotify accounts, so hopefully, they keep this top of mind as they continue to scale. When Spotify betrays this relationship by marketing material the user doesn’t want to see, it can damage loyalty.

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="555px" src='/blog/assets/blog/complete-spotify-user-experience/3.png' alt="Growth Illustration"/></div>

## Wrapping Up

From where we are in 2021, it’s easy to take our access to information for granted. We can more or less listen to any genre, album, or song we like without expending much energy or needing to navigate any copyright loopholes. In large part, we have the founding team at Spotify to thank for this access-rich experience.

As an aspiring app founder, keep in mind what the founders said at the beginning: “We wanted our users to have the world’s music at their fingertips”. 

They didn’t say, “we want to build a $66 billion brand”. They had a clear goal, and they had the opportunity to solve a problem for parties on both sides of the music-sharing debacle. 

By pursuing an ideal, everything else came naturally. They easily attracted the designers, software engineers, marketers, artists, and record labels along the way, because what they offered was so valuable and it solved a large problem.  

Focus on fixing your problem, and everything else will fall into place.

Learn how pursuing a vision, not a financial goal, was the key to Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon’s success in building a $66 billion app brand.

How Spotify Built a $66B Brand with a High-Quality User Experience

Understanding how to strategically seek app investment, who to ask, and at what funding stage, will boost your chances of securing capital.

How to Attract Investors For Your App

Netflix controls over 50% of the entertainment streaming market. Discover how the brand achieved this dominance using strategy, technology, and culture.

How Netflix Built a $220 BN Brand by Mastering User Retention


Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, even White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain have signed up. So have leading professors, engineers, comedians, and politicians.

Launched in [March 2020](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/23/clubhouse-hires-android-developer-work-on-android-app-has-begun.html), Clubhouse, the invite-only social media app, already has over [6 million users](https://www.businessofapps.com/data/clubhouse-statistics/) and just closed another funding round that values the company at about [$4 billion dollars](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/clubhouse-closes-new-funding-round-with-valuation-reportedly-at-4-billion-11618784584).

The app (for the entire first year) was exclusively available to iPhone users who received an invitation from a Clubhouse member, which is why we wouldn't hold it against you for perceiving Clubhouse as one of the most elitist social media apps on the market. They finally [released an Android app](https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/9/22424399/clubhouse-android-app-release-date-news-features) just this month (May, 2021).

Nonetheless, the apps' rapid success can't be denied. As an app founder, there are some valuable lessons to learn from Clubhouses' in-app user experience and marketing strategy.

In this article, we break down the process by which Clubhouse went from a Silicon Valley concept to utilising its 'exclusive' factor to become an international hit. We’ll also examine its shortcomings and why the Clubhouse sensation may soon be a thing of the past.

## Table of Contents

- The exclusivity factor: How Clubhouses’ invite-only strategy built hype
- The role of a great UX and UI vs. a strong launch strategy
- The gamble of betting on a great idea first and placing usability second
- Wrapping Up

## The exclusivity factor: How Clubhouses’ invite-only strategy built hype

In [February 2021](https://www.businessofapps.com/data/clubhouse-statistics/), there were 6 million users on Clubhouse and over 10 million downloads from people hoping for a peer-to-peer invite to gain entry. (There’s been a drop off since, which we’ll discuss in a later section.)

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="558px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/4.png' alt="Clubhouse User Growth Illustration" class="size-medium" />

Clubhouse, an audio-chat social media platform, uses this invite-only methodology to drum up interest and generate demand.

Incorporating anticipation and hype into your marketing strategy can be incredibly effective, as the power of anticipation influences consumer behaviour and decision-making.

Consider how fear of missing out (FOMO) affects buying behaviour today. Studies show that 60% of millennials [make reactive purchases](https://strategyonline.ca/2015/03/09/the-impact-of-fomo/) due to FOMO (e.g. their friends purchased something and are enjoying it, so they want that experience too). Further, after seeing other families react positively to a purchase, parents are more likely to make the same investment for themselves.

Why do we exhibit this behaviour?

Psychologically, humans are driven by the desire to belong to a group. We also have a unique intelligence that gives us the freedom to choose. Yet, because we can’t predict the future, we struggle with knowing if we’re making the right choices. Thus, we look for cues from others and [imitate their choices](http://www.imitatio.org/brief-intro).

Social proof and word of mouth work the same way. People begin to hear about a product, service, experience, or event from their networks, wonder what the hype is about, and want to see it for themselves.

People also trust reviews more than a business’s claims about itself, which explains why 94% of consumers are more likely to use a business [if it has positive reviews](https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/), and 92% will walk away if they see negative assessments.

Combining exclusivity with social proof, Clubhouse skyrocketed to the #1 position for ‘social networking’ across several countries. This is further testament to the effectiveness of hype and anticipation in their launch strategy.

Of course, timing plays a role, too, and their timing could not have been more perfect (which we’ll discuss in more detail below).

First, let’s dive deeper into the core principles behind Clubhouse’s appeal.

### People desire inclusion

Most effective marketing strategies capitalise on the basic human desire of inclusion.

For example, the global film industry, worth over[ $140 billion annually](https://www.statista.com/topics/964/film/), leverages inclusion, exclusivity and anticipation as staple marketing tactics.

In the build-up to any major film release, interviews and trailers proceed the feature film for months, with the sole purpose of building hype and anticipation.

Exclusive pre-screenings for a select audience of peers and critics further fuels the general public's desire to watch the movie on opening day.

Clubhouse uses these same principles. But where the film industry creates exclusivity with pre-screenings, Clubhouse does so with peer-to-peer invitations.

### Peer-to-peer invitation-only and celebrity influence

For the entire first year, only iPhone users with an invitation from another Clubhouse member could sign up to the app. Still, even though now anyone with an iPhone or Android can download the app, they can't access the chat rooms without the key.

Consider how alluring that is. Clubhouse incentivises people to download an app that they can’t even use. This is similar to putting a deposit down to get on a waiting list in the hopes that somebody will abandon their position and free up space.

Essentially, the potential reward is worth the effort, and the wait.

This, of course, limits the growth potential of the app. But Clubhouse is beginning to address this potential problem (as we’ll discuss in more detail in a later section).

For now, they’ve focused on leveraging celebrity and media personalities, the likes of Kevin Hart, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey, to participate on the platform.

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="390px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/5.png' alt="Elon Musk Tweet" class="size-medium" />

This helps to supercharge social proof and drive interest to exponential levels.

### Transparency and validation with social proof

Traditionally, app founders use their app store listing or website as a platform for social proof. Clubhouses' website looks like this:

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="697px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/6.png' alt="Clubhouse Welcome Message"/></div>

So how on earth are they leveraging social proof if they haven't even built a functional website?

You guessed it: social proof. Because celebrity influencers keep talking about Clubhouse, it proves that all the buzz created around the app must be for something.

We've just touched on a critical component of Clubhouses' early success: the user experience on the app.

## The role of a great UX and UI vs. a strong launch strategy

An apps' UX is represented by every single touchpoint. This includes onboarding, signing up, creating a profile, and using the app.

Combining a valuable UX and an appealing user interface (UI) is what drives long-term app success.

Until this point, it is Clubhouses' UX that has made it such a successful social media app. According to early critics, the UX is enormously engaging, and the content on the app encourages daily use.

However, there is plenty of room for improvement (which we’ll dive into shortly).

Where Clubhouse diverges from the industry is in its go-to-market launch strategy and user acquisition tactics.

### Simple but engaging user experience

People have described Clubhouse as akin to “if LinkedIn could talk” or “if Medium had a voice”.

Without a confronting camera or in-app recording function, users from all over the world can search and join any number of ‘discussion rooms’. Each room has a different topic, curated by expert hosts with a range of experience and influence.

Room hosts and curators decide the rights that users in their rooms have. In some cases, users may only be allowed to listen in on the conversation. Other hosts allow users to request to speak or enable multiple speakers to talk simultaneously.

Participants then vote on their hosts, in effect socially regulating the reputation of personalities on the platform.

It's clear that the UX Clubhouse facilitates is hugely valuable, particularly in a mid-pandemic world where people have extra time, a desire to learn something new, and an impulse to connect with others in this unparalleled time of isolation.

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="555px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/3.png' alt="Clubhouse Illustration"/></div>

### Encouraging daily use

Devoid of any visual components, Clubhouse empowers its users to engage with the platform during ‘dead time’ (i.e. time allocated to chores such as cleaning the dishes or folding the laundry.)

As these chores are habitual and repetitive, this strategy encourages daily use, which is key to long-term app success.

Furthermore, the app only allows users to listen to live discussions, as there are no recording features to playback the chats. This is a strong motivator for users to regularly check the list of

current talks and continuously engage with the app lest they miss out on a discussion of interest.

That said, while Clubhouse ticks the UX and daily usage boxes of standard app adoption practices, their initial launch stands in defiance of most standard go-to-market strategies and user acquisition principles.

## The Clubhouse launch strategy: Unconventional yet powerful

Most new apps follow a standard go-to-market strategy that includes tactics such as app store optimisation, organic user acquisition, paid advertising, influencer marketing and an internal design to scale user growth.

Interestingly, Clubhouse is negating most best-practices:

- In their app store listing, they have all but abandoned keyword optimisation
- They don't have a subtitle or brand keywords
- Their description is poorly optimised
- They aren't purchasing ads
- They haven't invested in organic user acquisition
- And, as we saw in the last section, they don't even have a functional website

Take a look at Clubhouses' app metadata to see what we mean:

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="801px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/7.png' alt="Clubhouse Illustration" class="size-medium" />

So, what gives? Why, despite ignoring these strategies, has Clubhouse seen so much initial success?

### Why Clubhouse been able to use a non-conventional launch strategy (so far)

Clubhouses’ exclusivity tactic is not the only reason why they’ve been able to skirt around app norms.

Here are a few other reasons why and how they’ve gotten away with an atypical launch (so far):

### Content is king

Good, new, relevant, engaging content speaks for itself. Consider:

- Who doesn't want unfiltered, direct access to their favourite celebrities and authority figures?
- Who doesn't want to listen and chime in on live discussions on any topic imaginable, especially when we’re all stuck at home in lockdown?

Clubhouses' conversations and discussion rooms cover all manner of topics, meaning the app offers users the chance to interact with like-minded people and expand their perspective.

This adds an element of discovery and adventure to the otherwise curated and targeted news feeds we experience on most social media apps.

As tech analyst [Jeremiah Owyang](https://twitter.com/jowyang), one of the [first people to sign up for Clubhouse](https://www.npr.org/2021/02/11/966503986/clubhouse-may-be-social-medias-future-whats-all-the-hype-about) says, “The pleasure of not knowing what's next” is part of what makes Clubhouse so alluring and engaging.

This capacity for connecting with an untold amount of people and having unique discussions in real-time has allowed Clubhouse to rely on simply word-of-mouth referrals during this early stage of adoption.

Timely release

We’ve touched on this already, but it's important to note that Clubhouse launched as the world was entering into COVID-19 induced lockdowns (and ensuing meltdowns) in March 2020.

The limited social interaction caused by lockdowns and travel restrictions fueled the rapid growth of independent audio-only content, with podcast numbers increasing from [850,000 in January 2020](https://castos.com/podcast-statistics/) to[ 2 million in April 2021](https://podcasthosting.org/podcast-statistics/).

Screen time during the pandemic also [doubled for most age groups](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1189204/us-teens-children-screen-time-daily-coronavirus-before-during/). But with doctor’s saying that more than 3 ½ hours of TV a day can be excessive and [cause cognitive and physical decline](https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-05-06/too-much-tv-coronavirus), it’s no wonder that people also sought other forms of entertainment.

Through market research, the Clubhouse team likely knew about the rising trend in audio-only content and developed their UX around the needs of their target market (alongside societal trends).

The timely release of Clubhouse cannot be underestimated when assessing how they

managed to avoid traditional launch tactics. If people had not been in lockdown, Clubhouse may very well not have reached such success (at least not so quickly).

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="555px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/2.png' alt="Clubhouse Illustration"/></div>

## The gamble of betting on a great idea first and placing usability second

Early critics of Clubhouse have pointed out that the app's UX and UI still need significant work before mass adoption. The main problems people are reporting with the app include:

- The list of curated discussion rooms appears to be random and poorly managed
- The app pre-selects 50 people for you to follow, but doesn’t mention that your content will be curated based on their feeds—meaning you need to manually unfollow and then refollow others to build a homepage that aligns with your interests
- The app also does not take into account your language preferences, so if you follow somebody that speaks another language, you’ll begin to see rooms primarily dedicated to that language as opposed to your native one (and it’s difficult to tell which person you're following is having these effects on your newsfeed)
- Information on user accounts is limited, offering the opportunity for fake accounts to pose as personalities
- It is easy for users to create click-bait accounts, a reported problem with the current Clubhouse UX
- The app is not built for accessibility—it’s currently impossible for HOH and Deaf Users to participate
- There’s no privacy so everybody can see what room you’re in at all times—presenting a barrier to blending personal and professional interests at the same time
- There’s no way to know if the people you’re following have ever joined a room, so you could follow tons of people that never engage and thus do nothing to add value to your app experience

Many view Clubhouses' approach to their product launch as a gamble, particularly with such obvious UX and UI issues.

A good defence of these obvious flaws is to consider this early stage app launch as akin to a business' soft launch. The Clubhouse team have released their app to a select portion of their audience, are gathering feedback on the product, and constantly updating the app in the runup to mass adoption.

But Clubhouse is at an inflection point. Installs are rapidly decreasing, as shown by a [73% dip from February to March](https://www.adweek.com/media/clubhouse-is-at-an-inflection-point/) 2021 (9.6 million to 2.6 million).

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="630px" src='/blog/assets/blog/clubhouse-became-the-hottest/8.png' alt="Growth Illustration"/></div>

Once Clubhouse opens to the public, they'll need to start leveraging more traditional user acquisition techniques, as their exclusive peer-to-peer invite function is beginning to lose its potency.

In fact, they may already be on the road to transitioning from the exclusivity appeal to mass adoption. They recently created a notification system that asks Clubhouse members if they’d like to offer access to someone on the waitlist, which significantly shortens the time spent waiting to get in. This could be a sign that the ‘waitlist’ is an active issue they’re trying to solve.

At the same time, the world is opening up again, meaning people won’t have the same level of time or interest in listening to or talking with strangers in an app all day.

Additionally, given that 79% of U.S. adults have never even heard of Clubhouse, they’ll need to move beyond word-of-mouth if they hope to achieve prolonged uptake and success.

Wrapping Up

Clubhouse is a shining example of:

- How anticipation and hype are essential to an app marketing strategy
- How powerful influencer marketing is
- How successful an app can be with the correct value offering
- How an early launch can be used to gain early-stage feedback while creating buzz around the product
- How market research and capitalising on timely social trends can make or break the launch of an app

What remains to be seen is how the Clubhouse team moves forward from here.

Once the app goes public, the team will need to invest heavily in organic user acquisition, app store optimisation, and updating the app to ensure current users stay engaged and new users are met with the amazing experience they’ve been promised.


Learn how Clubhouse combined hype and exclusivity with a great UX to generate demand, and why their atypical app launch strategy could hurt them in the long run.

How Clubhouse Became The Hottest Social Media App with Exclusive User Experiences

This guide teaches you exactly how to deploy a user acquisition strategy to get more users downloading and using your mobile app in 2021.

How to Build a User Acquisition Strategy: 5 Approaches and Tactics for 2021

Hoping to build the next million-dollar app brand? Discover here how the founders and developers behind Headspace, a meditation guide, achieved just that.

How Headspace Became a $320 Million Brand with Great App & UI Design


With [218 billion](https://www.statista.com/statistics/271644/worldwide-free-and-paid-mobile-app-store-downloads/) app downloads globally each year, mobile apps are projected to generate [$685](https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/)[billion](https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/) in revenue in 2021.

As an early-stage app startup founder, claiming your share of the lucrative mobile app market depends on enlisting an app developer&#39;s services who can take your vision and turn it into a profitable reality.

But how do you find the right app developer for your startup? How do you maximise your chances of bringing your app concept to reality?

By and large, app startup founders can choose between an in-house hire, a freelancer, or an agency. Which option best suits you depends on your unique project requirements.

In this article, you&#39;ll discover your options for hiring an app developer, what skills your app developer will need, where to search for experienced developers, and how to evaluate potential developers so your app can enjoy long term success.

## Table of Contents:

- To outsource or not to outsource: Understanding your options for hiring an app developer
- The problem with freelance sites
- Finding the right developer for you
- Where to find an app developer you can trust
- How to evaluate potential app developers and agencies
- Wrapping up

## To outsource or not to outsource: Understanding your options for hiring an app developer

Most startup founders have an idea of what they want to build. The first challenge they come across is how they&#39;re going to bring this idea to life within the budget they have.

The good news is, there are plenty of places to find the right app developer for your startup.

In general, there are three main options to choose from:

- Hire in-house
- Use the services of an app development agency
- Work with a freelancer

Each option has its own benefits and drawbacks. How suitable each one is for your startup depends on your particular goals and project specifications.

Let&#39;s explore each choice in a bit more detail.

### Hire in-house

If you&#39;ve got time and a big enough budget, hiring in-house gives you the most control over your app development resources.

Employing a full-time app developer gives you the freedom to choose someone who embodies your company&#39;s culture. By working as part of your team, an in-house app developer will gain a deep appreciation of your vision and be personally invested in the project—from ideation to launch to versioning and beyond.

The primary downside to this option is that it&#39;s the most costly, both in time and money.

For example, the average base salary for a mid-career app developer in Germany is just shy of $70.5k:

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="365px" src='/blog/assets/blog/how-to-find-an-app-developer/i1.png' alt="Mid-Career Base Salary" class="size-medium"/>

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/germany-application-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,7_IN96_KO8,29.htm)

And remember, this is just _base_ salary. It doesn&#39;t include benefits, overtime, insurance, taxes, or any other overheads that come with a full-time hire.

For example, looking at app developer salaries in New York, the average base pay is just over $77k/year, but the average additional cash compensation ranges from $1,505 - $17,692, depending.

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="365px" src='/blog/assets/blog/how-to-find-an-app-developer/i2.png' alt="Average Base Pay" class="size-medium"/>

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-application-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,35.htm)

The hiring process also takes a staggering amount of time. From creating an attractive job description to vetting applicants, making a shortlist of candidates, and conducting rounds of interviews, it can be months before you find the right in-house hire.

If you feel confident that you&#39;ve got the money and are willing to make the investment, an in-house hire might be the way to go. That said, the risk-reward for startups hiring in-house is quite high.

It makes sense that in-house hires are the preferred method for startups who have product-market fit, have raised a significant round of funding, or are looking to aggressively iterate their mobile app. But startups that are looking to grow while keeping a close eye on their cash flow need to proceed with caution.

That&#39;s why if you don&#39;t have tens of thousands of dollars and several months to spare, you might consider working with an app development agency or freelancer instead.

### Work with a freelancer

As an early-stage app startup, the main attraction of hiring a freelance app developer is the low initial cost. That said, visualise this entire section with a giant warning label stamped over it that reads &quot;proceed with caution&quot;.

Without needing to worry about a contract, taxes, office space, and equipment, hiring a freelancer can be a cheap and viable option. It&#39;s also easier than ever before. There are tons of freelance sites full of capable app developers ready for gig work.

<div class="size-big"><Image layout="intrinsic" width="1110px" height="555px" src='/blog/assets/blog/how-to-find-an-app-developer/2.png' alt="App building like a Rocket Launch"/></div>

But just because something is easy and cheap does not mean it&#39;s the right option for you. Why? Because hiring a freelance app developer means you have zero quality control, and almost zero recourse should the freelancer fail to deliver on your agreement.

Not to mention, you don&#39;t always get what it says on the tin. So while the freelancer option may appear to be the cheapest app development route, in many cases, it can turn out to be a very costly process that results in sub-standard work.

We&#39;ll dive into what we see as the problems with freelance sites in more detail in the next section.

### Work with an app development agency

Many early-stage app startups face similar initial hurdles, such as:

- Budget constraints
- Talent gaps
- Tight deadlines
- Lack of clarity

Working with a reputable app development agency addresses each of these issues head-on. An app development agency offers your startup an ideal balance between your investment, the quality of work delivered, and the expert guidance you&#39;re looking for.

App development agencies have skilled, experienced professionals for every stage of your app development process: From idea evaluation to business consulting and analysis, monetisation strategy, and project management—app development agencies cover all the bases.

And the good news is these services come much cheaper than an in-house hire in the long run. You don&#39;t need to pay for employee insurance and time off. Rather, you only need to account for the services you agree on with your chosen partner.

## The problem with freelance sites

While freelance sites might be the cheapest option available to you, it also poses the most risks.

In a bid to secure your job, some freelancers may embellish their skillset and agree to tight deadlines that they can&#39;t realistically stick to.

Freelance platforms such as Toptal, Upwork, and Clutch do offer testimonials and rating systems. However, the quality of a high rating score or glowing testimonial is only as valuable as the person that writes it.

Of course, a low-skilled freelancer could perform excellent work for a low-paying client. But if you have expert needs requiring years of experience, that testimonial doesn&#39;t hold any weight.

This is not to say that there isn&#39;t scope for freelance app developers. Many freelancers are honest and hardworking and do bring serious skills for relatively low-cost. For projects with a low budget and a minimally complex app goal, a freelancer can be an ideal choice.

It falls to you as a founder to perform due diligence and research and evaluate all available options before making a decision.

No matter what route you choose, in order to find the right app developer for your project, you first need to know what you&#39;re looking for, and where to look.

## Finding the right app developer for you

The right app developer for your startup depends entirely on your needs. That said, knowing exactly what your startup goals and limitations are might not be as easy as it sounds.

> In fact, research has shown that [47% of all unsuccessful projects](https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/requirements-management.pdf) failed to achieve their goals due to poor requirements management.

This is most likely because the startup-world is busy and demanding. Startup owners are often juggling multiple tasks at once, sodevoting time and energy to a project specifications document on your own may present a challenge.

That&#39;s where an app development agency&#39;s experience and expertise comes into play. They can audit your goals and reverse engineer a project specifications document for you—offering solutions and opportunities based on years of experience and industry-specific knowledge.

With this in mind, correctly identifying and prioritising your project specifications is the first step towards producing a high-quality, user-friendly app.

This is why establishing clear direction from the outset **before** beginning your app developer search is key. One way to do this is to create a project specifications document.

### Project specifications document

Whether on your own or with the help of an agency, creating a project specifications document is an important first step. It allows you to reflect on and clarify what is required to bring your app idea to life.

Things to take into account include:

- Your project goals
- The purpose of your app
- Identifying your intended audience
- Market competitors and models
- Product features
- Operating environment
- Programming languages
- User roles and rights
- User documents
- User interface
- Hardware and software interfaces
- Functionality requirements
- Your budget and deadlines
- Your experience and in-house skills
- Scalability and future scope of your startup

Explicitly identifying each of these project requirements gives you a clear idea of where you are headed. It also provides you with a set of requirements and skills your app developer or agency partner needs to bring your idea to life.

Once you know the type of app developer you are looking for, you can begin your search in earnest. Which brings us to our next point: where can you find an app developer you can trust?

## Where to find an app developer you can trust

From professional communities, personal network referrals, agencies, and freelance sites, there are plenty of places to begin your search.

Let&#39;s explore each one in more detail.

### Professional communities

A professional community is just that—a collection of like-minded professionals sharing their knowledge and helping one another improve their trade. Popular professional app developer communities include:

- Women Who Code
- Space
- GitHub Jobs
- Hashnode
- LinkedIn

The beauty of these communities is their interconnectedness and information-sharing standards. Plus, if you opt for an app developer from a professional community, they&#39;ve most likely been vetted by those that run the community, which gives more weight to their presented qualifications.

On its face, hiring an app developer from a professional community is similar to using a freelance site. However, as a member of an international organisation, app developers from professional communities tend to bring more accountability to the table than your standard freelancer.

Accountability is a rare quality among freelance app developers. While app development agencies offer the highest level of accountability possible, you may find a dependable app developer by asking your professional network for reliable recommendations.

### Personal network

If you&#39;re a startup looking for an app developer, chances are you&#39;re familiar with someone who has successfully used an app developer for a similar project.

Reaching out to your network for recommendations and reviews is a great way to find an app developer who meets your requirements.

But remember, simply because an app developer worked for _them,_ doesn&#39;t necessarily mean they&#39;ll be the right fit for _you._

Be sure to take any recommendations at face value and do your own research before making any hiring decisions. Digging into testimonials, looking for validated social proof, and even talking to past clients are excellent ideas before you commit to somebody.

This is where reputable app development agencies stand out from other hiring options. Any agency worth working with will have an extensive client portfolio and testimonial evidence to back up their work.

### High-quality agency partners

As an early-stage app startup, there are several crucial elements you should look for in your app developer:

- Professionalism
- Reliability
- Accountability
- Affordability

Working with a reputable app development agency ticks each of these boxes.

> Knowing the app development industry inside-out, and being able to prove this with a verified client track record, is what makes hiring an agency to develop your app the safest and most cost-effective option. But having said this, you still need to make sure the agency you choose is up to scratch.

Agencies like [Work In Progress](https://wearewip.com/) understand every step of the app development process, from ideation to building to iteration and beyond.

Great agencies also understand the need to embed themselves into your team. This way, they can take the necessary time to strategise with you on important deliverables, such as:

- **App branding.** For example, do you want to create branding assets on your own, or are you happy to have an agency design illustrations on your behalf? While some agencies are limited to code, many can also create mouth-watering illustrations ([like what we at Work in Progress created for Sticker YO!](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sticker-yo/id1152448530)).
- **Technology preferences.** There&#39;s often a debate among developers that centres on affordability, database support, and infrastructure. You need somebody to explain the core technology differences to you and offer data-driven insights into why they believe one is best suited for your needs over another.
- **User experience (UX) goals.** Many app founders want a product that will not only provide a beautiful experience, but improve the lives of consumers. In order to do that, an agency will work with you to uncover your audience&#39;s needs and make UX recommendations based on industry standards and development expertise.
- **Minimum viable product (MVP) expectations.** What are your main considerations? Is it to validate and measure user acquisition in order to raise capital? Or do you care more about proof of concept and worrying about user retention down the line? An agency can work through these needs with you and come up with an aligned plan.
- **Future version needs.** Oftentimes, getting a first version to market is only the beginning of your app development process. The next steps are figuring out what is and isn&#39;t working, building out new features, and consistently optimising the UX and UI. Agencies often offer long-term partnerships for those who need it. This helps to simplify your growth plan and adds a layer of security to your development needs.

If need be, agencies can also reverse engineer other successful apps in your niche and identify user behaviour to emulate for maximum user engagement.

Most importantly, agencies have the staff and know-how to offer these services to you in a one-shop solution. While there are many highly skilled freelancers out there, no single individual has the capacity for all of these skills, which is one of the main downfalls of using a freelance app developer.

Here are some considerations to help you assess potential app developers and agencies.

## How to evaluate potential app developers and agencies

Once you&#39;ve found potential app developers, it&#39;s time to evaluate your options.

Start with their client portfolio. Download the apps they&#39;ve built and play with them. Get an idea of the quality and complexity of their final product to gauge their expertise.

Ask yourself:

- Is this app built well (e.g. are there any bugs, inconsistencies, etc.)?
- Is the branding consistent with the business&#39;s other publicly available assets, if available (e.g. website, social media pages, etc.)?
- What&#39;s the user experience like? When navigating from tab to tab, is it smooth or counter-intuitive?
- Does it match, exceed, or fall below the industry standard for similar apps in the space?
- Is it built in a way that will add value to a user&#39;s life on a daily basis? Or does it seem like you&#39;d only want or need to use it sparingly?

Now that you have a good idea of the kind of apps they&#39;ve built in the past, you can then take a long hard look at specific skills. Freelancers will likely include their certifications and skills in their profiles, and agencies will have a page on their website devoted to their [past projects](https://wearewip.com/projects).

Refer back to your project specification document and cross-check the skills you need with the expertise on offer.

Some key skills to look out for include:

- Cross-platform capabilities
- Cloud infrastructure
- Modern coding languages (HTML5, Objective-C, Swift, C++, C#, Java)
- Quality assurance and control
- UI/UX

Finally, as you get closer to making your decision, it&#39;s a great idea to cross-check testimonials. You can substantiate them by reaching out to past customers through LinkedIn or their website, and ask them directly what their experience was like working with that app developer.

<Image layout="intrinsic" width="730px" height="365px" src='/blog/assets/blog/how-to-find-an-app-developer/3.png' alt="Building an user oriented APP" class="size-medium"/>

### How we helped an app startup build their ideal product

Integration, rapid communication, transparency, and the ability to form long-term partnerships are excellent characteristics to look out for in an app developer. Incidentally, that&#39;s precisely how past clients have described working with Work in Progress.

For example, one of our clients had a complex project scope that involved building out their first offline version. Our team took the time to understand their project needs by meeting with their top mathematician on board. Because we devoted the time to truly dig into their needs and complexities from the outset, we were able to quickly come up with a workable solution.

Now, that same client is on version 5 of the app and is still working with us. We&#39;ve happily embedded ourselves into their team and are consistently there to meet their app development needs.

If you&#39;re happy with your potential app developer&#39;s work and testimonials, arrange a no-obligation discovery call to learn more about their process and offer.

## Wrapping up

Finding the right app developer is vital to bringing your app to life. For app startup founders, entrusting the app development process to a capable professional is a daunting task.

Don&#39;t rush into anything. Take the time to clarify your project needs, consider viable options, create a shortlist, and research your potential app developers.

To learn how we at Work in Progress can help bring your app to market, book a call with a member of our highly-experienced team.


As an app startup, your success depends on finding the right app developer to bring your idea to life. Discover how to find your perfect app developer in our detailed guide.

How to Find The Right App Developer For Your Startup