While structuring my recent start-up, I ran into a snag. I want to have a key feature of my company provided heavily through an app. Would providing an online and mobile application increase my start-up costs?
The short answer is yes: Providing apps will increase your start-up costs.
If you build a simple app yourself, using a free program such as AppMakr, from PointAbout Inc., you'll end up paying developer fees at app stores, among other costs. For a highly customized app on the scale of Foursquare, the service through which users share their location with friends, "you'll need to hire people," says Naval Ravikant, a San Francisco-based entrepreneur and angel investor.
A less sophisticated iPhone app that only displays information about your company could run about $25,000 in fees to developers. Something more complex, such as a sports app that features live broadcasts along with real-time interactive features, could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. What's more, building one app is often not enough, says William Carleton, a lawyer for McNaul Ebel Nawrot & Helgren PLLC in Seattle who advises start-ups. An iPhone app, for example, won't work on Android devices and vice versa, he says.
