How To Build A Billion Dollar App is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read.
Written by George Berkowski, co-founder of Hailo (a precursor to Uber), this a guide to building big, mainstream businesses.
You learn how to take an idea and scale it up, hopefully to the billion dollar level.
The book covers everything from acquiring customers, to raising capital, to growing your business internationally. Plus, there are tons of valuable insights into marketing, customer retention, testing features, and managing a team. Much of which is applicable to every type of business.
In this article, I’ll explain why I liked the book, and what you’ll learn from it.
Three Lessons From How To Build A Billion Dollar App
How To Build A Billion Dollar App is about 500 pages long, so there’s a lot of information here.
However, I’m going to tell you three of the best lessons I got from reading it. This are things anyone can implement, and they’re all useful tips if you’re already running a business.
Here we go.
1. How To Get Your Business Featured In Major News Outlets
Do you ever visit a Forbes or Business Insider and see an article like “18 Year-Old BitCoin Genius Launches New Crypto Consulting Firm?” That’s a press release. And it’s basically an advertisement masquerading as “big news.”
(Here’s One Example Of A Press Release I Found On Forbes.com)
Most companies put these out, and you’ll find them for almost every industry: from Hollywood movie studios to one-person start-ups.
How To Build A Billion Dollar App detail the steps for writing and sending your own press releases.
What surprised me the most about this, was how cheap PR actually is. For $200, you’re able to reach a ton of major news outlets.
Plus, it’s even cheaper if do all the work yourself.
If you do any copywriting or marketing, this is incredibly useful. I’ve written a couple of these for clients now, but press releases are also useful if you’re selling your own product or running a company.
2. SEO For App Stores And Marketplaces
Putting a product on the marketplace is only half the battle.
If you’ve ever sold eBooks or have an Amazon Merch account, you know that it’s pretty difficult to get good rankings naturally.
You need to understand how a marketplace’s algorithms work in order to maximize your results.
One of the best pieces of SEO advice from How To Build A Billion Dollar App is this:
“Include both what your app does (as well as keywords) and branding [in the app’s title].”
For example:
- “WhatsApp Messenger” – Brand name (WhatsApp) and what it is (Messenger).
- “Grab” – Cras, Bikes, And Taxi Booking App” – Brand name (Grab), plus a detailed description what it offers.
- “TextNow: Free Calls + Texting” – Simple brand name, straightforward description of what it does.
In branding, there are three types of names:
- Descriptive (tells you what to expect, like “Shredded Wheat”).
- Suggestive (hints at what the product does, the name “Twitter” implies a communication service).
- Empty Vessel (there’s no connection between the name and service, think “Starbucks” or “Zappos”).
By including what your product does in the title you’re able to capitalize off SEO algorithms, even if you’re brand name is suggestive or an empty vessel.
3. “The Sun Rises In The East”
If you run an Internet business, target China.
Why?
Because there are over 618 million Internet users and a booming economy. Disposable income tripled between 2005 and 2013, and the county has 122 billionaires.
On top of this, many services which are “old news” in the West are still novelties there.
Mobile gaming, big budget action movies, social media, online shopping, fast food, and luxury clothing are all huge.
On top of this, many “big players” (like Google and Facebook) are banned by the government.
Personally, I started doing more business-to-business work in China last year, and it’s pretty amazing. There’s a big market for English language content, and basic sales skills (like knowing which words trigger customers to buy) go a long way there.
How To Build A Billion Dollar App illuminated why this is an important market, and one that a lot of Westerners overlook.
Closing Thoughts
(Line, A Texting App, Has Built A Massive Brand Off Their Emojis)
If you’re interested in app development or what it takes to grow a large-scale business, this is a terrific book. There’s a lot of high-quality information on building a brand and reaching as many potential buyers as possible.