Why Most Apps Are Failing in 2026: 7 Mistakes Killing Your App Success

Coming up, I'm going to share with you seven deadly tips that can kill your app journey before you even get started. Stay tuned. >> [music]

>> What is up App Nation? It is Steve P. Young, founder of appmasters.com, the place you go when you want action-back content related to helping you grow your app business and more importantly, app business. Yes, related to growing your app business in terms of downloads and sales. And today, I've got my friend Jaime from B7 Dev, the app development firm that I know and trust. I've been working with Jaime for over what, 13 years now, and he's going to come on and really talk about all the mistakes that he's seen people make in early in their app journey. So, without further ado, Jaime, welcome to the show.

>> Hi Steve, thank you for having me. Okay, so basically, what we want to share today is seven common mistakes that the the entrepreneurs they do before they actually start developing or after they start developing. Because this, I mean, when you develop an app, you have a race against the clock, okay? It's your budget against the clock, right? I mean, if you have a budget earmarked for this and over the time that you need to get more users and more revenues before you start maybe getting even and then reinvesting your revenues on the on the on the app, on the startup, if you make some classical mistakes, maybe the the the odds will be against you.

Okay, so, the first one that we identify

very easily is trying to make something that is super complex, super big, a multi-tool, and not the classical app I mean, advice that we give to to first-time uh entrepreneurs, that is try to solve one single problem and not try for the app to solve a lot of things, to have a lot of whistle and bells. What you need is basically something that fixes a common problem. Okay? Remember the big companies, they started fixing one single problem, and then eventually, after you get revenue so you get feedback, you can start adding more stuff and more stuff because adding more stuff is more time, is more developing time. Okay? Is I mean and you are running against the clock on the run on the long run. Okay? So, solve one problem and focus on that. You need focus on the solution and not something that is super fancy.

>> I like it. Do you have an example of a client that might have came to you Heim and said, "Hey, I want to do the everything of everything before?" >> Yeah, uh I mean, it's not just one example, it's uh most of first time entrepreneurs, they feel and and it's understandable. They say, "Look at Facebook. Look at Instagram. They have all these multi-layered tiers of services and all those features that they are super polished and perfect." Well, I will explain you something. This is the fruit of years and years of stacking up filters, snap I mean, like Instagram, of features, of social network features, and add-ons, and not just they release everything at once. The first version is very much stripped down to solving this problem, and then they added more stuff, they got investment, they I mean, when you see on the news that someone is getting invested, you need to think that it's like an iceberg. Okay? You won't

see all the years of hard work that you have below the surface. >> Yeah. >> In the last time with the artificial intelligence development, what we call agentic development, the times has been shortened. Okay, you have more companies that they are getting funded earlier because all this hard work is done with agents. We do it also, but you need to be at the conceptual level, just focus focus on solving something simple and do it well. Then everything else will be flowing, but you have an limited amount of energy.

Focus it on solving this thing. >> I love it. And Jaime, now, you know, as somebody you've been doing app development for years now, but your second tip is, hey, stop doing development manually.

>> Yeah. Up to I mean, the up to the end of 2025, the most common thing, the classical way was to do development by hand. I mean, the developers or a group of developers will type line by line, or maybe use some kind of a library structure to accelerate this. That was the common use. Now, with the birth of agentic development, I mean, tools with artificial intelligence that today help us to reduce the time to develop because they do most of the coding. Of course, that we know, we as developers, we know how to tell them what needs to be done, the right architecture, all the small little nuts and bolts that they need to take in account, okay?

But they will do the the the hard work. And that will help us to save weeks, not I mean, just the classical project, six months of hand work for the first version, okay? First of all, you need to do the design, and then the design should be approved, and then you start developing. Today, we are developing projects in two months, okay? Designing one week, all the rest up to the the first version two months. So, that is really different, okay? And the cost is different, too, because it's not the same to pay several developers for 6 months against paying several I mean limited number of developers with artificial intelligence for 1 or 2 months. It's totally different. The cost is totally different. So, because of this we understand that this is the best time to start your startup if you have I mean you always had this idea that you wanted to develop. And this is the right time because the cost is the the cost to

develop is really lower respected to several months ago. >> I mean, do you have a favorite tool that you've been using? >> Yeah, we personally we use several. We use a set of tools. But mostly in my role of planning and etc. architecturing, we use Claude. Okay, Claude code. And then some of our developers, they understand that for example uh OpenAI Codex is best for It works lower, but it's more detailist with the code code per se. But for planning, you cannot beat Claude. Okay, some developers that we work with they they understand that maybe Gemini from Google is a good option. But in my understanding, nothing beats but I mean today, right? Because you know every week this is different. But today even even the latest news about this Mytho's library from Claude that they refused to release because it's kind of too much clever and too much dangerous for cyber security.

>> Yeah, I know. I just I was just hearing about this, too. All right, let's move on third point and it is about hosting,

okay? Now, I know I'm not a technical guy. I'm So, tell me about this hosting stuff. >> You are not technical, but you for sure you understand about numbers. >> Yeah, sure. >> Classical project, if you want to go with the cloud the the cloud, not cloudy. I mean, the the the artificial intelligence, the cloud, Google Cloud, Amazon, etc. It's a excellent option after you already have a positive cash flow. A lot of customers that we are moving back from the cloud to dedicated hosts. For example, a classical classical cost for some small app could be running between 7 600 700 $800 per month. And then just for the hosting. And then with dedicated hosting, you can be running from, I don't know, 100 or really good setup with the same characteristics in $150 per month. So, it's a lot of money that you don't have, and you need to keep it for the long run. Okay, so >> Mhm.

>> it's more convenient at this stage not to go for the cloud. In the past, you were afraid of what happens if you have a sudden growth, and then you will need a kind of the cloud to scale really fast. You can do it in today with this, and then we are offering a lot of our customers to come back to dedicated servers as it was in the past because of course that today you need to be very aware of that. >> Is that something that you guys host on your end or like do you guys have some tools that you guys use?

>> No, we use No, no, we use we use dedicated companies mostly at the US. You have a Namecheap, really good options, GoDaddy, I don't know. You name it. I mean, known providers for this kind of options, and they have all kind of I mean, you can tweak your platform and I mean time versus time with the cloud is a very good option. We prefer to recommend that. >> I like that, Jaime. And what are the types like what are some apps for the a newbie out there? What are some apps that actually need server-side or something a server in the cloud?

>> I mean, again, the cloud is about the same that dedicated server. The only thing that the cloud has is like you have like since it's kind of elastic, you know, elastic cloud, the name of of a of Amazon, is like you can replicate your server and and multiply it by without having to purchase separately another dedicated server and another dedicated server. You have a special configuration for scaling this like this. I mean, in in in a click. But again, this is in the case that you have a very high levels of sex. Uh and then, if you need time to make the idea mature and you get users and etc., that could be overkill for your finances.

>> I like it. And then, last one, I really like this next tip, Jaime, and that is

not checking for any discounts. >> Correct. I mean, today they have a war between them. Let's suppose that yet you want to go with the cloud, okay? Amazon is offering you programs. I mean, if you register to sorry, Azure from Microsoft, if you register with your email, you get $1,000 for credits for for like 6 months. Then, if you have your startup and you send what you are planning to do, they scale up to $5,000. This is for free, right? Credits.

And then, if you talk with them, like we talk with some customers, they can scale up if you have a startup that you can explain and you can justify and you can show up to 1,000 100,000 and up, okay? Of free credits. So, you need to check that. Cloudflare is offering for a startup programs. Uh You have a Stripe. Stripe is giving you up to $20,000 for a startup of credits, okay? All kind of stuff that you can check other than the classic Firebase for a free usage up to if you have a high volume.

I don't know. You need to check with your developer, your trusted developer. You need to check for all these kind of promotions before starting to spend money on infrastructure. >> I love it, I'm. We actually we partner up with a company called Join Secret and for all our community members through appfounders.co, they have access to over 500 SaaS products like thousands, tens of thousands in savings and these are just some of the things we have in ElevenLabs, Google Drive, Lovable, you know, Zoom, Typeform. Like they're they've got a lot of things that people use a lot of.

And you can check out, you know, like we have our partnership so we've already paid for you guys, but you can also check out Join Secret if you want to just pay and not join our community, but as part of our community we give access to all the deals that we see as well. And so you get Look at this, 12 months of ElevenLabs and that's what I'm means. So that's why I love that tip, I'm, cuz I think it's little known for most people.

>> Yeah, I mean, you need to check before you start the hiring services because it's a lot of money. If you if you I mean, you make the estimation on the year or several months, it's a lot of money. Okay. >> And I like the next tip because I think, you know, you kind of talked about it with number one cuz you had too many solutions, you're trying to solve too many problems, might help, might hurt with, you know, distribution. I know we got number seven so I'm going to do a little tease right there. But let's talk

about the next one and the UI/UX not being optimized for and I'm what I always say is, you know, we're going to help you increase downloads and sales cuz that's really the two numbers that we really care about. And so number five is really not optimizing for conversions. >> Yeah, this is something that we used to work or we work a lot there with common customers. When you come with your recommendations, that is uh if you design your UI not having in mind optimizations, conversions, and revenues, uh you are wasting time on and money on design because you will have eventually to redo it. Okay? So, basically have having this in mind because this is important to work with someone with the right experience. Uh we work on that. Steve, of course, that they is a specialist on that. They will I mean, Steve usually checks the design and in 5 minutes, even less, they will tell you, "You need to fix this and this

and this." And then everything will change. Okay? So, it's very important to have this in mind when you start the process. Okay? You eventually you will have to make more users more or users that pay. Okay? Revenues, conversion, etc. >> I I love it. I'm What I always say is, you know, one of our clients came up to us and said, "Hey, you know, Steve, should I give away everything for free and or should I remove the paywall during the onboarding?" I'm like, "No, don't do that because we don't have enough downloads. Like, it's a download problem right now. It's not a sales problem. We just don't have enough download. We're gaining like five a day. Like, if we were getting 50 to 100 a day, nobody was buying, like, "Okay, maybe there's something wrong here." But that's to your point of we solve one problem, show a paywall, and you can do a hard paywall where there's no ads, and let's see if people

are willing to buy. And you know, sometimes I'll even start off apps that way where we will just build one little feature, go after that keyword cuz we're solving that one problem. As long as that keyword has search volume, we're going to put a really aggressive paywall, and that's how we're able to just see if there you know, people are willing to pay for it. And then we'll try to build a top of it once we'll build more features, we'll build more things once we're getting some traction and some revenues. And so, I love it.

Like I don't think the best practice is to put the paywall during onboarding. Don't take it down just because you're feeling like, "Oh, people don't not seeing the value." Like, "No, no, no. We're just not getting enough downloads." >> Okay. >> Anything you want to add on that, Jaime? >> Sorry? >> Anything you want to add on that one? >> No, no. I mean, I leave it that to you. You are the expert on these. Just to tell new entrepreneurs, always always always have everything in account before you start the idea. Today with the with this thing that we are talking about, authentic development, develop developing is easier, way easier. The complicated part is what the artificial intelligence is not giving you, that is all the right experience for what you need to do. Okay? You need real people to to advise you on what to do.

Getting this kind of design is really really, trust me, really important. Otherwise, you will be treading water for a lot of time up to you realize what the problem is. >> Well, going off that and Jaime said it best, development's easy now. And so, really now the next point

is number six is like UI/UX is the your main differentiator. >> I mean, if you if you app look cheap, if if if if you are not showing yourself, your quality of work is like you're wasting your money on design. Today, you have really I mean, again, you have really great tools to do it, to prepare it. Uh you can work with a lot of accelerators for this kind of design, working with professional designers, but always earmark money for design. Okay?

Again, I know that maybe someone that is not too much technical or too much skilled on design will have a questions and I don't know if this is good enough, etc. Okay, consult with people. You can you can I mean contact us, you can contact some the designers. I mean, always check that the designer has a background on mobile design on UI/UX experience. Okay, this is really important. So, you can check with with with us or with any any known designer and trust me, it will change I mean, is your is your business card. Is the way that you show the world the way that you are working. If the app is serious enough, if the app at least looks like something professional.

>> Agreed. Now that anybody can really build their own SaaS product and if you're going to sell that SaaS product, your main differentiator is going to be that UI/UX design because ultimately underneath the hood, everything looks pretty much the same. All right, and the last one and one of my favorite topics is not having enough for marketing.

>> Yeah, not earmarking the budget for marketing. This is I mean, again, we always say it to potential customers or customers that they already work with us. We can do the best technical job, the best design, the best development, the best of everything. Everything will be work as a clock, but if you don't make the people know that you have this really nice app, really well designed, well done, well developed in this problem that you are solving, you will have a very expensive piece of software for yourself. So, what you need to do is contact someone like Steve, contact some known marketer. My personal take is always a Steve, okay. So, go go to people that knows the trade, okay. This is not as easy as as it seems, the marketing thing, okay.

Requires a lot of experience and then earmark part of your budget. Today, again, you want to spend that much money on development, so save your money or part of your money for marketing. Make the people know your idea, your app, okay? This is the total difference is day and night between success and not, okay? We saw also products that they are not so much good, but they have a good marketing. So, a good marketing is like 90% of success.

>> Absolutely. Hey, that's why I always say here on top of the show, we're here to help you increase your downloads and sales. And downloads is first because once you have that, I'm like everything else is solvable and we really don't even invest in building out an app even more if we can't get distribution for it. And so for us, we always start with ASO, which is organic downloads and ranking for certain keywords or Apple Ads because it's one of the best ROI channels and one of the easiest ones to set up and start going. And so I always recommend that. If you understand social media, we've heard from other people in the space that have found success going viral on social media, but you need a lot of views to get the downloads. You hear those that say, "I got 7 million views and you know, a million downloads." You hardly hear from those and I've seen them, they'll email me, "I'm I got 2 million views. I got like

20 downloads." And I have heard those stories, too. And so, you know, like if you don't know anything about marketing, start with the ASO and ASA. If you know a little about social media and social media marketing, you can start off with what you know best as well, but I we've all seen apps that have that are awesome. Like we really believe in the idea. We work with a lot of clients, too, and we want all our clients to succeed. And so we're like, "I love this app. I want this to grow, too." And trying to find that channel to make it grow is one of the hardest parts.

>> Yeah, correct. I mean, again, if no one knows about your idea, zero chance of success. They won't They won't I mean, it basically because it's like, you know, you go to dance, if you don't go to the, you know, to to dance in front of everyone, forget about dancing with with anyone. Okay, so that's the thing. >> it. I like it. I'm great analogy. Well, Jaime, anything else you want to cover

that you might have missed? >> No, basically we are offering to anyone that they want to validate the idea or to know basically how much could cost to develop it with those new tools and new opportunities to contact us us. And my email is Jaime, c h a i m at b7dev. The letter b as in banana, the number seven, dev as in development.com. >> Yeah. >> Okay, or Steve can print the email here below, or you can go to b7dev.com and you have a contact form.

>> Yeah, all it is is right there. And Jaime and I have literally been working together since 2013 when I first started this entire journey. And so collectively, Jaime, we've probably seen thousands upon thousands, maybe tens of thousands of apps at this point being launched. And Jaime wants to give you these He's telling you the tools that he uses personally to help you grow so you don't make that mistake and you're actually spending your time, more importantly, money and time on things that are most important. And he solved it He said He said it best. One main problem.

Don't spend a lot on all your technology and then make sure your UI UX stands out. And lastly, make sure you have a distribution channel. So once again, it is the letter b, the number seven, dev.com, b7dev.com. All that info is linked up into your favorite podcast app. Or if you like looking at videos, the YouTube description as well. Jaime, thank you so much for coming on and doing this. >> No, thank you, Steve, as usual.

>> Thank you guys for watching and I'll see you on the next video.