Mobile App Exit Strategies

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We make our apps in order to achieve some kind of a goal, right? Some people want their apps to be the tools by which they become millionaires or billionaires. Other people just want to earn a comfortable living and generate passive income, and yet others simply want to achieve a career boost and some kind of technology-world notoriety. When you plan your app, you must set your goals for it. Sometimes these goals can be synonymous with the term exit strategy. In general, there are three kinds of exit strategies (common outcomes) for an app that can be considered successful. Let’s cover them in some detail.

Getting Bought Out For Lots Of Money

The first and most appealing exit strategy to most people is to sell their apps for a large sum of money to some larger company. I personally, would be very happy if a larger company contacted me, and wanted to buy my apps for millions of dollars. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy.

To achieve million dollar buyouts and notoriety, an app must generate tremendous scale. Tremendous scale here means millions or tens of millions of downloads. With those kinds of numbers your app will stand out in the app stores, you will be able to get publicity, and potential larger companies who may eventually buy your app will learn about your app from your publicity and prominence in the app stores. The challenge is that to achieve that kind of scale, an app must be truly extraordinary, have a significant marketing budget, or do something very unique to grow.

Apps that eventually get bought, and have lucrative exits tend to have one thing in common. They catch on with the general public, and often become household names. This is a level of cultural penetration that is far beyond just dominating search or getting publicity. To achieve this, the app must be so life altering or that the word of mouth and social invites of the app must be absolutely through the roof. Without an extremely wide adoption, regular use, and incredible engagement, it is nearly impossible to achieve such a status.

Sell The App For Just A Few Thousand Dollars

If you launched your app, and are having a hard time growing it to incredible scale, you can sell the app to another mobile app entrepreneur.

A website like flippa.com is a marketplace for apps that are currently for sale. You can either sell your apps, or buy existing apps for a very affordable price.

Don’t Sell Your App. Continue To Generate Revenue

If you find it impossible to generate tens of millions of downloads, and you don’t like the price that you can get for your app on flippa.com, you can simply keep the app and have it generate revenue for you. How much revenue is up to the kind of app you have, the number of downloads you can generate, and other nuances specific to your app. For most apps, revenue isn’t too big because as we covered before, mobile app users don’t
like to pay, and ads don’t generate much revenue at all. But the good news is that you can have a steady income from an app for a long time without putting more effort into it.

More Mobile App Help: Full Mobile App Business Book And Course

This article is a small excerpt from my book on how to start and grow a successful mobile app business. Check out my mobile app business book on Amazon, or read more about the mobile app marketing book on this site.

How To Become A Great Entrepreneur

Here is a tutorial I made on how to become a very good entrepreneur.

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