Most ordinary people who set out to build an app mistakenly believe that development is the hardest and most critical part. The vast majority assume coding, feature building and technical development are the biggest hurdles to creating an app. But after navigating the entire development lifecycle firsthand, I’ve come to realize: development is far from the most vital piece of the puzzle. Three key stages, spanning before and after development, ultimately determine whether an app succeeds or fails.
Stage One: Demand Validation
You must distinguish between genuine user needs and self-indulgent, imaginary demands you’ve conjured out of thin air. If your product is built around flawed requirements that users don’t actually have, no matter how polished your features are, almost no one will use your app once it launches.
Stage Two: Compliance and Full App Store Launch Workflow During Development
This covers a full spectrum of tasks: applying for individual developer accounts, registering domain names, configuring servers, completing ICP filing and cybersecurity filing, and finally packaging, uploading and submitting your product for review in line with official rules for iOS and Android platforms. None of these individual steps are inherently difficult, yet the process is extremely fragmented and tedious, with every step interconnected. A single roadblock or error at any stage will stop your app from launching normally.
Stage Three — The Most Critical Link: Marketing and User Acquisition
Even after your app successfully goes live, the fact that it solves real user pain points does not guarantee users will find you organically. Where do your target users reside? What makes users trust your brand and choose your app? Can you articulate the core problem your product solves in one concise sentence? All of these questions carry immense weight.
This has led me to an unshakable conclusion: for everyday creators building an app, technical coding and development skills are not the real competitive battlefield.
What truly separates winners from losers is the ability to execute the full end-to-end project chain: the capacity to uncover authentic user demands, navigate the complete compliance and app store launch pipeline, and execute effective product marketing and user outreach.
These three pillars are the core determinants of whether an app survives and scales. Development, by contrast, is merely one small component within the entire workflow.