While creating a business application called C-learn to enable secure, asynchronous coaching for businesses, I was thinking about the inter-relationship between writing a novel and writing a business application. This leads me to my main point, which is that asking for feedback about my business application idea (without building it simultaneously) is a lot like asking for feedback on a novel idea without writing the novel.

To expand, I am hard-pressed to understand how meaningful the feedback will be without writing the novel itself. This is because there are quite a few different components that go into a good novel, just like there are a number of different components that go into a good business application. For instance, a successful novel launch requires getting readership (book-market fit), distribution, time to write the novel, and a worthy idea for a specific target audience (relatable enough but not so relatable it's commonplace / cliche / boring).

On the other hand, writing a book and a business application are quite different. For example, a novel is most often created for a particular POV and "burning" nature of getting something out there. Business applications, on the other hand--at least, I imagine, the successful ones--are designed and built to solve a very purposeful business problem. They are less for "pleasure". I have never, for instance, heard of a "pleasure" business application.

Apps & Novels

Let's circle back a bit on the things that make a good novel, and apply the same to what makes a good business application, to evaluate the overlap:

• Instead of getting readership, business apps get sufficient users / user base.
• Instead of book distribution, business apps have distribution of the app (although most apps now are delivered over the cloud / internet, and I would be hard-pressed to think about what kinds of business applications are delivered via local installation without some kind of internet connectivity / upgrading / patching outside specific applications).
• Instead of sufficient readership / book-market fit, business applications should achieve product-market fit -- the definition I like (from the creator of the term Andy Rechleff, product-market fit is the point where the sales of your product exceed the cost of your sales force.
• Now, instead of having a worthy idea for a specific target audience ... well, never-mind, a business application is almost exactly aligned. Except, rather than just being relatively novel for a specific target audience, it has to get over the hump of being useful and having a positive return on investment.

Additionally, business applications have other requirements like achieving sufficient compliance and security features, extensibility (my definition is the ability to be augmented and changed over time fairly rapidly / smoothly), performance (things like uptime and the speed for users to use), positive user adoption (users actually use the damn thing, and in short order).

But the main point remains, if I ask someone for feedback on my business application without actually writing the business application, I think it would have to be suspect of my intention of asking for the feedback, the quality of the feedback given, and whether it is really serving me to ask for feedback on something other than a beta / real-live proof-of-concept / minimal-viable-product business application.

In conclusion, circling back on my main point, asking for feedback on an unfinished business application is like asking for feedback on an unfinished novel, I think that I have to be very wary of either, and make sure that I spend about as much time doing the building as doing the asking.

Now, I'll go forth and build my application, or ask users if they actually care about my application, once I have an MVP I can put in their hands!