The conventional wisdom is if you are a non­-technical person who wants to build an app, you need to a.) learn how to code, b.) find a technical cofounder, and/or c.) pay an outside agency tens of thousands of dollars to develop it for you. Now, mobile expert Drew Gorham demonstrates why each of these assumptions is misguided, and shows how you can tap into a global pool of top-notch developers as a non-technical founder. By leveraging your domain expertise and existing skill sets, including your soft skills, your ability to manage people, etc... ­ you can learn to translate your vision in a way that can be easily understood and executed by expert developers around the world -- getting quick and affordable development work without sacrificing quality.

1. Product Management Courses in SF
www.productschool.com
/productschool @ProdSchool /productschoolSF

2. Drew Gorham
Founder, App Factory
Author of forthcoming
book “No Coding
Necessary: How you
can develop your app
without learning to
code and without a
technical co-founder.”
How to outsource app development

3. How to Outsource
App Development
Drew Gorham
drew@appfactorysf.com

4. First Principles

5. Ideas are a Multiplier of
Execution

6. Before you launch, all you have are opinions.

8. ⌛
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9. ⌛💸
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10. How to Build a Product as a
Non-Technical Founder…
Learn to Code Find a Technical Co-Founder
Hire an Agency Hire a Freelancer

11. How to Build a Product as a
Non-Technical Founder…
Learn to Code Find a Technical Co-Founder
Hire an Agency Hire a Freelancer

12. How to Build a Product as a
Non-Technical Founder…
Learn to Code Find a Technical Co-Founder
Hire an Agency Hire a Freelancer

13. How to Build a Product as a
Non-Technical Founder…
Learn to Code Find a Technical Co-Founder
Hire an Agency Hire a Freelancer

14. How to Build a Product as a
Non-Technical Founder…
Learn to Code Find a Technical Co-Founder
Hire an Agency Hire a Freelancer

15. Learn to Code
⌛
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6 months - 1 year

16. Find a Technical Co-founder

17. Hire an Agency
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$6k-20k/week

18. Hire a Freelancer
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$1k-2k/week
⌛

19. Advantages of a Freelancer
• Affordable
• Abundant
• Pay as you go
• Hire immediately
• Experienced in solving your problem

20. Bay Area
8.6M Population

21. Globe
7.4B Population

22. How to Win at Outsourcing
1.
2.

23. How to Win at Outsourcing
1. Have a plan

24. How to Win at Outsourcing
1. Have a plan
2. Hire a rockstar

25. How to Win at Outsourcing
1. Have a plan
2. Hire a rockstar

26. Why Have a Plan?
• Save tens of thousands of dollars
• Entice good developers
• Maximize speed
• Clarify your vision

27. Start with Why

28. • (2 hours) Value Proposition
Canvas
• (5 days) GV Design Sprint
• (2 weeks) Udacity - Product
Design
Start with Why

29. Elevator Pitch

30. Elevator Pitch
• Pitch to 3 people
• Ask them to pitch back to you

31. Sketch It Out
• Start with a User Story
• Sketch wireframes with pen
and paper
• iPhone Stencils:
popapp.in/sketchpad/
• Balsamiq Wireframes

32. Get Inspired

33. Get Inspired

34. Product Spec
• Elevator Pitch
• The purpose of the MVP
• Which platforms (iOS, Android, web)
• Any notifications?
• Explain each screen
• Hide an Easter Egg

39. How to Win at Outsourcing
1. Have a plan
2. Hire a rockstar

40. Hiring a Rockstar Developer
• No Newbies!
• Low hourly rate ≠ Cheaper
• Find someone who’s built similar apps
• Experience trumps Geography

41. Where To Hire
VettedNot Vetted

42. • Vetted Top 3% of Developers
• 2-week Risk-free Trial
• Simple Pricing (weekly, daily, hourly)
• Free Sales Engineer

43. So You Hired a Freelancer,
What’s Next?
• Break project into 1-2 day milestones
• Track milestones in Trello
• Daily Standup Meetings (~5mins/day)
• Demo day 2x/week (Tuesday + Friday)
• Your job is to remove blockers

44. Summary
• Have a Plan
• Understand The Why
• Elevator Pitch
• Sketch It Out
• Product Spec
• Hire a rockstar through Toptal
• Build Anything

46. Drew Gorham
drew@appfactorysf.com