Do We Really Need an App?
The trap of falling in love with a solution instead of the market
A few months ago, I was at a Faithtech gathering in Denver where people were pitching hyper-local problems they wanted to solve. After a few rounds, Justin Hein, the Denver chapter leader, paused and asked a deceptively simple question:
“Do we really need an app for that? Or is there a different model?”
That question stuck with me. Because if I’m honest, it cuts straight to one of the biggest traps founders, ministries, and creators fall into: we fall in love with the idea of building an app.
My 7-Year Relationship with Mobile Apps (and Its Scars)
I’m Amar, and I’ve been building apps for the last 7 years. Some I coded myself (poorly, in Swift), some I product-managed for clients, and a few grew to thousands of daily active users. Most ended up in the graveyard sadly.
I’ve been on every side of the equation:
The guy pitching the mobile app.
The builder chasing the "one big hit”
The agency owner helping orgs doing the same.
Here’s the hard truth I’ve learned: most of us jump to build an app with minimal validation.
Why? Because building feels good. It’s tangible. It’s something to post about on LinkedIn and show your mom/cousin lol. But building is not the same as validating and it’s even worse when you build something people don’t want.
My co-founder Darren once described a $150k mistake tied to fundraising when we built Salt & Light. We could have used that money afterward to validate a bit better and not scale the team as largely. Thankfully God’s grace and some persistence we were able to pivot to what’s now Seedling. Its been a wild journey!
Even the best app founders fail repeatedly. Nikita Bier, creator of TBH and Gas acquired by Meta & Discord, failed 15 times before hitting it big and being crowned the viral app hit-maker. Most of us aren’t willing to fail once or find ways to refine our concept testing so we can ship things that people love to use.
Why Apps Are a Brutal First Step
Here’s the thing about most consumer mobile apps:
You’re competing for screen real estate. Users download an app, open it once, and forget about it. Retention is a mountain to climb.
It’s expensive in ways you don’t see upfront. Building a v1 is the cheap part. Maintaining it (bug fixes, app store submissions, iOS/Android parity) will drain you.
Luck plays a bigger role than you think. App store placement, viral loops, timing demand, it’s often outside your control.
Technical polish is non-negotiable. Users are spoiled by Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and Uber. A laggy, clunky app will die instantly.
And here’s the kicker: launching the app is just the beginning.
The Post-Launch Reality Check
When you ship an app, you’ve signed up to manage a living, breathing product. It’s relentless and its not just passive income.
Analytics: You need tools like Amplitude or PostHog to understand user behavior. Without them, you’re flying blind.
User Support: People will DM you at 11 PM because their login didn’t work. You need a reliable support layer—Intercom, Zendesk, or something similar.
Platform Device Issues: Samsung devices are so varied around the world you’ll find certain bugs on them that don’t even exist on other Androids. Sorry Samsung.
Push Notifications: You have to design, schedule, and measure notifications that drive engagement without spamming users. It’s its own discipline.
Release Management: Every fix or feature requires app store submissions and coordination across iOS and Android. Even with React Native and Expo’s over-the-air updates, it’s a juggling act.
Retention, Monetization, Growth: Now you’re figuring out why users churn, your north star metric, paywall design, and how to keep people coming back.
Bugs Forever: No matter how polished your MVP, you’ll live in an endless cycle of patching bugs while trying to build new features.
Managing all of this is a full-time job. The “just build an app” mindset ignores the reality that an app isn’t a one-time project, it's an ongoing marathon.
The Ego Problem
So why do we default to building apps? Ego.
Apps feel like the “real” thing. They make us feel like founders.
We conflate building with progress. But validation is what moves ideas forward.
We chase the dopamine hit of launching instead of the awkward work of talking to customers.
We fall into sunk-cost fallacy: “We’ve already spent months on this; we have to continue to build it.” Amy Jo Kim really helped our team face this painful lie.
It requires more discipline and isn’t as glamorous to test your idea the manual way with 10 people in a WhatsApp group than it is to spin up a shiny product. But that manual work is what gives you the insight to know if the idea deserves to scale.
Cheap and Effective Ways to Validate Your Idea
Here’s the good news: you don’t need to gamble $100k and a year of your life to see if your idea has legs.
Test it for under $200. Most of these you’ve heard just haven’t done:
1. Use lightweight tools:
Build a version using Airtable, Sheety, or Softr.
Hack together automations with Zapier or Make.
Try a Notion database most apps are just CRUD with a prettier UI anyway and some elementary matching algorithm
2. Leverage communities and superfans:
Create a small, high-signal cohort and test with them first. (Amy Jo Kim’s Game Thinking and Storyboarding framework is gold here.)
Use existing platforms like Skool, Circle, Discord, or even Slack to test your community’s core behaviors. Easy way to stand on the shoulders of giants!
Start with a WhatsApp or Telegram group small, fast, and personal.
3. Fake the backend:
Run a manual concierge version, do the work yourself behind the scenes before automating it.
Build a simple landing page with a waitlist to measure interest. Tools like Framer or Lovable.dev make this easy.
4. Gauge signal in the wild:
Share the concept on Twitter or niche Subreddits and watch for engagement.
Offer a lightweight paid product first like a PDF, physical guide, or workshop to test if people will actually pay.
Deciding Features
That’s the whole topic. I’ll cover that another time around prioritization, but I’ll put it this way.
One feature is unlikely to solve your demand problem. Look at your whole concept and ask the question legendary Zynga founder Mark Pincus uses:
Is it Proven? Is it Better? Or is it New?
Most ideas fail because they try to be “new” instead of making a proven solution 10% better.
Ask Yourself
Next time you find yourself saying, "We should build an app!" please.. pause.
Ask:
Am I ready for the reality of running a live product?
If you can’t prove people want the solution without an app, the app won’t save you.
Apps amplify demand; they don’t create it.
Before you sink months and money into development, validate in the simplest way possible. It’ll hurt less, cost less, and teach you more than you expect.
Final Thought and Some Encouragement
Justin Hein’s question is the one I now ask myself and others constantly:
“Do we really need an app for that? Or is there a better model?”
Because the truth is, building an app might be the right move but it’s almost never the first one.
And here’s the other thing I want you to hear: knowing when to quit or pivot is a sign of maturity, not failure.
It’s okay to shut something down that isn’t working.
It’s okay to pivot when you discover a better way forward.
It’s okay to “waste” time and money learning. That’s how wisdom is built.
The only thing you probably should not do? Quit.
So test. Iterate. Pivot if you need to. But don’t let ego, sunk costs, or the allure of “the perfect app” hold you hostage.
Your mission matters more than the medium. And if you keep showing up, who you become along the way will be an incredible story to tell.
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9
Quick note: I’ve been pretty quiet on here and more active on Instagram and LinkedIn lately (@wheresismar). But I’m finally getting back into writing and soon video.
If I haven’t talked to you in a while I’d love too! Or if you’re working on a redemptive project and looking for feedback! I’d love to support you in any way I can.