Initially is it a good idea to validate and launch a new concept via a desktop website or an app?

If I was just starting out, I'd consider learning Meteor (https://www.meteor.com/). It's just entered version 1.0 and after working with it for a little less than a year I do have some issues with it but it still makes for a very solid framework that gets you up and running very fast. You would only need to learn Javascript, and you can slowly work your way towards nodejs from there (which Meteor is based on) if you want to, or you could get the basics down and focus on learning design if you prefer.

Usually Programmers are only slow when they don't know how to solve a particular problem. So they will spend a lot of time researching and a lot of trial & errors to solve a problem. It is important that before you engage a programmer on a project, you break down the entire project into simple, easy to understand modules. Let him give you an estimate of how many hours he will require to complete each of the modules. Example: a typical site will have a login module, registration, My account, profile etc. So let him estimate how much he will require to do the login. You can go even detail here. (e.g. how much extra time if you were to implement Facebook/Twitter Login?). Once he start developing, track his progress closely and make sure he is following his given timeline. If he goes over his budgeted time on a module, talk with him and see what went wrong. It is often seen that they may be wasting their time on something very insignificant that you may have asked him to implement, but you can totally go by without it too. So by understanding what is taking longer time, you will be able to prioritise things better. You definitely need some tools to get this done. Google Spreadsheet or Excel works just fine. But if you don't mind spending a few bucks there are many agile project management tools that you might look into. Here is a list, google them all and sign up for trials: * AgileZen * Agile Bench * Assembla * AssiTrack * Blossom * Basecamp * Breeze * DoneDone * Eidos * Fogbugz * GreenHopper * Jugggla * Kanbanpad * Pivotal Tracker Or the reason why he is slow can be purely non-technical. Sometime your developer may don't share the same level of enthusiasm as you about the idea that you are working on. They often don't often see the "bigger picture" (since you don't share everything with them explicitly). If you can somehow get them excited about what he is a part of, it will work like a drug :) He will work day and night without questioning you. But you need to work equally as hard as him. The moment he sees that you are the boss and he is just the guy doing work for you -- his mentality will shift from being part of something to being the low paid developer. Ultimately its all about motivation and making him a part of your venture. After all he deserves it, if he is really playing a crucial role in the entire development.

Yes Wix supports a mulitude of APIs to used for various fetch calls for your web pages. If you already have to API's in mind you can venture off within you WIX code to integrate within your application's processes. There shouldn't be any complications getting this done. Please see the link below for more information https://www.wix.com/code/home/api

Hi, Jeff Walker is a good guy, but of course he didn't come close to inventing the pre-launch or the launch. Concert goers are very familiar with winning concern tickets by calling into radio stations or winning vip treatment, or back stage passes, lunch with a star, the list goes on. Likewise, if you look at "professional wrestling," the whole fitting before the fight is just a pre-launch. PT Barnum was doing this for circus goers over 100 years earlier. And I can only imagine the pre-launch of the Romans for the Gladiator Fights. In more recent history, every type of business from Retail Stores to Real Estate companies have used multiple pre-launch techniques. Believe me, tourists are bombarded with Condo deals when they visit Disney Land. Okay, more to your pre-launch campaign for SaaS. Simply, come up with a taste of what you have, ask a serious question and answer it. At the end of the end of the first "answer and solution" set the potential client up with another problem that is very familiar to them. Tell them that you have the answer. Follow this technique several time. I believe Jeff does repetition this 2 or 3 times, but a famous golfer has sent me literally dozens of how to videos in order for me to take the bait. You might think that giving the answer to a solution makes your product less valuable and your opinion less valuable. If you think that, you would be wrong. Heck, look at what I have given out in this answer. My experience is if you give you will receive. That is if you know what to give, how much to give, and how to receive. I am not trying to sell you on calling me. Really, I am pretty busy with my businesses and consulting. However, I need more info before I could have a greater impact in helping you. Most solutions involved this: Ask, Ask, Ask, then Ask again. Bonus: Here is $10,000 worth of information for free and in a nutshell. Concentrate on the 3 M's. There are actually 7, but 3 will do for now. These are Market, Message, and Media. They come in that order. Who is your target market (customer, clients, buyers, users, etc.)? Tailor your laser focused message for this target market. What is the best media mix to get your message to that market? Here's what you do...first, make it an offer that is so incredible that they cannot resist. Secondly, do all the work for them. Make it so easy to make the purchase now that they can do it virtually without effort. Thirdly, give them an incentive to act right now. Fourthly, offer an almost unbelievable guarantee. Fifth, offer a bonus for acting now. There are many other incredible steps, but these steps should help the novice to the professional sell anything. Whether you are selling B2B or B2C, you have to focus on selling to only one person. You can actually sell to one person at a time while selling to millions at a time. They are one and the same. Don't get off track, what we call digital marketing selling is just selling in print. And that has not changed since Cluade Hopkins wrote "Scientific Advertising." Really long before he wrote the book. The secret to success: I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with some of the biggest names in business, celebrities, actors, entrepreneurs, business people, and companies from startup to billion dollar operations. The number one reason for their success is doing what they know and love while doing it in new, creative, and innovative ways. Ask, Ask, Ask. Have thick skin and learn from each "mistake." In a short while, the market will tell you what you need to do and who and what you need to ask. But get started now even if that just means asking a contact on LinkedIn. While you are thinking, think big and think of something at least 1% better, newer, or different. And being cheaper is not a winning strategy. Make decisions quickly and change decisions slowly..unless you are actually going off a cliff. Remember these two 11 letter words...persistence and consistency. They are two of the most important tools ever invented. Even better yet, remember my 411 Rule of Achievement – It consists of (4) eleven letter words for super achievement (also an 11 letter word). Here it is, my 411 Rule of Super Achievement: Persistence and Consistency can change even the smallest Possibility into a big time Probability Persistence + Consistency = Possibility  Probability By the way, I get a lot of people asking me if I can take phone calls for free (a free sample). Sorry, I can’t. I respect Clarity.fm and what they are trying to accomplish. Treat everybody you talk to and everybody you meet (including yourself) like each is your number one million dollar customer. Remember this for most people who really want to achieve a dream: First: Your dreams are important and those who don’t support and believe in your dreams either don’t understand your desire and ambition or they have some other reason (many times reasons they themselves don’t understand) for not wanting you to spend the time and effort necessary to achieve your dreams. Secondly: If you haven’t achieved your dreams and goals so far, it is not your fault. I know that this goes against what you usually hear, but it is true. Stop blaming yourself. You have a whole world of obstacles that are truly the blame. You only need to figure out how to go over, go under, go through, go around, or go with these obstacles in the direction of your dreams. Thirdly: Fear is normal, but don’t give into it. Use it to motivate you and guide you. Fourth: You are right; there are probably some people who don’t want you to succeed. Fifth: Keep this in mind, there are people competing to get their first, do more, have more, invent what you are considering inventing, or simply trying to win. Believing in yourself and what you are doing is part of a strong recipe for winning over your competition. Best of luck, Take massive action and never give up. Michael Michael Irvin, MBA, RN PS – Many people have “Upvoted” my answers. Thanks to those who do this. I really appreciate it.

Having gone through this multiple times either in new startups or for side projects, here is how I would approach turning your idea into an app. 1. Defining the Minimum Viable Product Your first goal with any new idea should be about proving the idea and finding a market that wants the app you want to build. Achieving that quickly is probably one of the most important thing. To achieve that, you will need to write the specifications that will constitute your MVP. The MVP is basically the simplest expression of your idea to prove it. This step should not cost you much as you can do this on your own. 2. Design the app Before starting any development work, I would suggest you work with a good UX/UI designer to create wireframes and mockups of the app based on the specifications you came up with in step 1. You can find good designers in meetups & hackathons or on website like Dribbble or 99designs. If you want to reduce your costs, you can give shares in the project to the designer. Otherwise, it really depend on the size of the MVP but I would say it will probably cost between $5K-$10K. 3. Develop the app Once you have the specifications and the design of the app, you now need to find a good developer that will build it. Again, you can find good developers in meetups & hackathons or on sites like Github. If you want to reduce your costs, you can give shares in the project to the developer. Otherwise, it really depend on the size of the MVP but I would say it will probably cost between $10K-$25K. For this part however, I would recommend the developer becomes part of the project as his engagement will most likely be higher. 4. Test the app This step is not only about making sure the app is bug free, it's also making sure the app does what was intended in the specifications. To test the app, you can use platforms like BrowserStack or SauceLabs which gives you access to multiple devices/browsers. You can do this step on your own so the cost will be for the subscription to the test platform which would be around $100/month. Hope this helps and good luck with your project.