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Starting a new web app from scratch

If you have an idea for a web app and nothing built yet, I like to be in from the first brainstorm. I love being part of the concept phase, brand identity / copywriting and other creative elements as well; this is what I am good at. This is the stage of the crucial decisions where most of the money is saved or lost.

The most energizing projects are the ones where there’s nothing yet, just some people excited about an idea.

Brainstorm and concept

Crucial hard decisions are made during the initial period, before any code is written; what the thing actually has to do, what it doesn’t need in the first version, and what already exists that we shouldn’t build ourselves. And it’s best to do long brainstorms in person.

Is it going to work?

  1. Who is going to use this product or service?
  2. Have you talked to them?
  3. Is there a Squarespace, Shopify, a spreadsheet or other off the shelf tool that does most of it today? (Don’t reinvent the wheel)

…And more such questions must be asked

Most new products don’t make it, and a well-built app doesn’t change that. Things that matter are how much you’ve spent by the time you find out and the validity of your business model

So I’d rather build a small first version that real people use, and grow it from what they do with it (shorter cycles), than the whole plan at once.

What it costs

A project with a clear scope gets a fixed price, or rather a range I’ll land inside of, with my hourly rate behind it. Continuous work is hourly, with rough estimates of the hours up front. A custom web app can be costly and takes time.

…And requires budget for after the launch. The first version is never the last one, and an app nobody looks after for a year is the kind of project that I get asked to take over.

Selected work

  • Kwantor: employee participation, funding rounds

    I led development of Kwantor’s participation platform from 2022. Now it runs funding rounds, and my part is the money: held until a round is funded, then released or refunded.

  • Guidesty: group travel planner

    Guidesty is a cooperative travel planner where a group of travellers can build an itinerary, vote on ideas and split the bill. I founded it with my longtime friend Mohamed and it's under active development.

  • Multihaarden: fireplace webshop

    I built Multihaarden’s storefront, API and editorial tools from scratch: a media-rich fireplace shop that scores 100 on Lighthouse, ahead of all its competitors.

  • Naampie: using Tinder UX to find the best baby name

    Us and two friends built a baby-name app while we were expecting children. Each partner swiped through a huge collection of names; names they both liked appeared on a shared match list. It reached about 500 downloads before we retired it.

Working together

I work from Zaandam, next to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Tell me what you want to build, what already exists and where you are getting stuck. How I work.

Email me at m [at] hacktis.ch.