When you build and bring a consumer product to market that has a monthly and annual subscription, people will think it’s an app. There’s almost no way around this.
Since before CHUMP launched, this is a conversation I have almost daily.
Them: “Where can I download CHUMP? Is it in the App Store? What if people have Android?”
Me: It’s not an app. It lives in your texts. It doesn’t matter if you have a Samsung or iPhone.
Them: Wait? What?
From here, I normally show them CHUMP in my texts, because seeing is believing. And, once they see the product in action, the questions around whether it’s an app or not dissolve.
I could and will likely write about how I need to address this “It’s not an app” hurdle in marketing and content, but for today I’d like to share 3 reasons on why I didn’t build CHUMP to be an app.
One: I didn’t want to house CHUMP in a monopoly.
The App Store and the Google Play Store are monopolies for apps.
Example: If you run a subscription through them, they take a cut of up to 30% right off the top. So, for a $9.99 monthly product like CHUMP, that's roughly $3 of every $10 in revenue that’s gone just for the privilege of being listed in their marketplaces.
Beyond the money, they can change the rules, or remove you entirely, whenever they feel like it. You could spend years building your whole business empire on their platform(s), and from one day to the next they could just remove you. They’re the judge, jury and executioner.
I’ve also heard enough other horror stories over the years from other app entrepreneurs that when it came time to really ideate the vehicle for which people would engage with CHUMP, I knew I needed to find a path outside of the App Store and Google Play Store.
Two: I wanted CHUMP to be different.
Since the launch of the App Store, everybody builds ‘apps’ and I didn’t want CHUMP to just be another icon on your third homescreen that needs updating or that takes up space on your smartphone. I wanted to build something unique. Something different.
You see, I think text is a genuinely exciting frontier right now, especially for solo builders like myself. Whether it's on WhatsApp, Telegram, or iMessage, the future of text-based tools like CHUMP is being built and launched today where the conversation already happens and I wanted to be early to that party.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I had absolutely considered building CHUMP as an app, but if you want to be different, you actually have to build differently, so I did.
Finally, there’s actually a pettier, more human reason why CHUMP isn’t an app:
I'm tired of apps.
I'm tired of managing them, updating them, and watching my phone beg me for storage I don't have. And, if I don’t want to add one more icon to my life, how could I possibly ask anyone to do what I wouldn’t do?
Three: I wanted CHUMP to feel personal.
I want CHUMP to be a friend or someone you actually talk to, not software you open.
Think about a normal hour in your messages. You're texting your landlord about rent. Then your work colleague about some office drama. Then your best friend. Then your sister. And, right there, in that same rhythm of life, you text CHUMP: "What'd I spend yesterday? How much do I owe on my Bank of America card?"
No context switch. No app to launch. CHUMP lives in the exact place you already live all day. The idea was not to pull you somewhere new, but rather build where you already are.
From a 30,000 foot level, this is the whole philosophy behind CHUMP:
Meet people where they are
Take a cut of nothing that isn't yours
Make money feel like a conversation instead of a chore
Now that CHUMP is live, I’m relieved to have not built an app but rather opt to build in an entirely new frontier where consumer products are going to thrive tomorrow not just exist today.
The App Store and Goole Play Stores today are now the PCs and text-based tools like CHUMP are now the Macs. Oh, how the tables have turned.
Try CHUMP today with the 7-day FREE trial and let me know what you think of it!
As always – nothing replaces action.
See you next Tuesday.