A
Q ALAYNA HOLKESVIG
ADVICE
JAKE JORAANSTAD
and LYDIA GILBERTSON are co-founders of Outside The Grid, a mobile app still in development. Outside The Grid is a travel app that allows its users to display and share locations that aren't found on traditional or Google maps. The idea originated at 2015 Women’s Startup Weekend, and Holkesvig and Gilbertson are currently enrolled in the Innovate North Dakota program.
Question L&A: Our whole business model is a mobile app. We were wondering how difficult you think it will be to compete in a market as big and competitive as the mobile app market?
L&A: What about travel apps
in particular?
L&A: We’ve received a lot of criticism for and debated a lot about the price of our app. Do you think $1.99 is too much?
Jake Joraanstad is the co-founder and CEO of Myriad Mobile. Jake and his team of developers, designers and strategists have worked on more than 300 projects and have developed mobile solutions for industries including banking, agriculture and more. He cofounded Emerging Prairie, serves as a coach and participant at Startup Weekend Fargo, and helped launch 1 Million Cups Fargo.
Answer
Jake: That’s a good question. It really comes down to what you’re doing.
Because there are successful apps – often – that come out of nowhere. And then there are way more failed apps than we even know about. Because it can be really easy to get to the top if you have a market or if it’s different enough that companies like Apple want to cover it or if Google wants to write a story about it.
Jake: There’s not a thousand different travel apps, necessarily. Obviously, the big ones are Kayak and others that are just helping you book. The travel market’s not as crazy as, say games or trying to do a notepad app or a to-do app. Those are way more difficult to get into. So I’d say it’s a decent market for an app.
Jake: Tell me about what you’re bringing to the table for that price. (Continues on next page)
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