Latest / App Minded / 6 Common Questions About Building Apps With AI
Transcript
- Nina Kolari: Hi everyone. As you can see, we are doing something a little different today. So instead of having a guest, this is going to be a solo episode of me talking. I have questions from my audience about building apps. So I'm going to tackle those questions today. And if you have questions about building and shipping and marketing your app, then you can submit your questions for the next one. the first question is should I build a mobile app or web app? it depends what you are building. If you are doing a SaaS product, software as a service, it most likely is best to do it as a web app. But if your app is like, let's say, calorie tracking or something that people want to be able to use while they're on their mobile, then probably A mobile app is better. That doesn't mean that you could do the total opposite and it would work beautifully. It's more of what do you think the audience will be using more? And if you're absolutely not sure, look at the competition. is it more of a mobile app that people are building or selling, or is it a web app? There's no right or wrong answer. Many start with one. And when they actually proven the model, build the second. pick one and start building. That is the most important thing that you start building ASAP, even if you're building so-called wrong platform. If you start building a web app, but then realize that this should have been a mobile app, that is by far better. than waiting and sitting and thinking which one it should be. Start building, start learning, because you only learn what the app should actually be once you start building the second question is quite related. Should I build iPhone, Android, or both? Just like the previous answer, there's no right answer except in a way that if you are building iPhone, you should probably have Mac and an iPhone. If you're building for Android, you probably should have an Android device for you to use. This is if you're building solo. If you have multiple people, obviously you have multiple devices and it becomes easier. But as a solo builder, I would first choose based on what kind of devices you have and What ecosystem you're already using. For me, it was kind of easy. I have a Mac, I have an iPhone, but that wasn't the deciding factor. There was one particular deciding factor, and that was monetization. Which platform makes more money in the app space? Start with one, build the other one when you actually proven the model. Which one you start with doesn't matter. As long as you get the app out and get get it to the hands of users, you you're good to go. And the third question kind of follows to actually the first two is which platform should I use to build? in a way, the platform doesn't matter. The most important thing is finding one platform that works with your end goal, you or you assume it will work for your end goal. Learn it and build it and get good at it. And do not move around and change because Claude is the flavor of the month. And the next month is Codex. And then everybody's talking about base 44. And now Cursor is the hit. If you go on that bandwagon of changing your tool, you will get absolutely nowhere. These tools are fairly similar in the output quality. So whatever you choose, as long as it matches with your end goal, in terms of what kind of app you're building, it doesn't matter. All the tools are more or less the same price range, roughly 20-ish dollars per month or 20 euros. So it's not even a pricing question, it is really what you're comfortable with, what have you maybe learned. I'm using Cursor for two reasons. One, that was the first platform I learned how to vibe code an app because I took a course that showed me how to use cursor. And second, because I want a cursor hackathon, so I got lots of free credits, so I can use it for free. Of course, I'm gonna use it plus. Over these months, I've created such an amazing setup for building iPhone apps that I can literally one-shot an app if I really want to. I have such a strict rules and skills and plugins, and it's just amazing. so I have no reason to change. Although I have tested both Codex and Cloud Code, which are phenomenal as well. So it's whatever you kind of used to. But to sum it up, if you are thinking about building a web app or SaaS or something like that, go with tools that are best for that, like Lovable. You can build SaaS with cursor, Claude code, Codex and all that. but if you're gonna use these vibe coding tools, pick one that actually is kind of designed for what you're looking for. Then one of the biggest questions I get is do I need to know how to code before I start? And my answer is no, but. You can one-shot an app with these vibe coding tools and get it out live into the world pretty, pretty quickly. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn something. I'm not quite sure you should learn to code, but there's things definitely you should be learning. One is the architecture. So not like a line of code or a couple of lines of code, what are the building structures of that app. So you actually build scalable app that works in the future and it's built on proper architecture. And whether it's a web or mobile or iPhone or Android, it's it can be a little bit different. But if you ask for proper architecture from your vibe coding tool, you're already halfway there. And another thing I think every app builder should learn is database and security. And that depends on what kind of app you have or if you are capturing user data. This means if you have any kind of login, you hold user data in an external database like a Supabase or Firebase or something else. Then it becomes your responsibility to have that database being secure and safe so that user data is never exposed. So above learning to code, I recommend spending time learning to set up a proper database for your user and app data and how to secure it effectively. this is one of the key things I tell everybody I talk to is to take database and security really, really seriously. Because if you are exposed and you're hacked, it's really hard to come back from that. Learn the architecture, how to build a good product and product thinking, and then database and security over lines of code. Let's go to the next question. something I get quite often is if I were building my first app again today, what I would do differently. And it makes me laugh because I probably do everything differently. I mean, my first app is not going to win any categories or any kind of hackathons anytime soon, but it did its purpose of allowing me to build a product that I never thought I could ever do. It opened my eyes to the possibility of what I can achieve if I put my mind and thought into it. earlier we talked about architecture. My first app had none. I was following a tutorial, so there was kind of different files, but it wasn't really a proper architecture because it was such a small app, it didn't even need one. So I would do quite a few things differently. Would I change any of my first few apps? Absolutely not. I think it doesn't matter what your first app is, is just build it. Just get it out in the world, even if nobody downsloads, nobody ever knows that you built this app, but put it out and in the world because something shifts in your in your brain when you ship that first app and it actually works, and this is something you created. It's in the in the world for others to download and You actually realize because you've done it once, you can do it another time. and the whole process, especially if you are doing mobile apps. So it goes to the app store or Android Play Store, I guess it is. that whole process of first building the app and then getting into the app stores is a whole nother job itself. Going through that painstaking process the first time, it is confusing. It is overwhelming. And you get so many terms that you have absolutely no clue what it means. And you suddenly become also a graphic designer because you gotta do some screenshots and you become search engine optimization expert because you have to come up with keywords. And you know it's super, super overwhelming experience. But if you actually get to the other end and get it to the App Store, the feeling is phenomenal. There's no other feeling I've ever had. I've been in business for 17 years and that I've never been that excited about something I've done in my business ever before, If you listen to any of my previous episodes, You will hear this. and you just look at yourself differently from that point on. One of the first apps was to do app, which everybody said, do not do to-do apps. There's millions of them. I did it anyways, and it's actually doing quite nice because it's a little different. So you never know. You just have to build and put it down in the world and see what happens. And once you've done once, you can always do it the second time, the third time. And the last question is why am I shipping multiple apps versus sticking with one? There's a couple of reasons for that. One is when I decided to go into this space, I decided this is gonna be a long-term thing. I had a couple of milestones in the first year of decision points that I was kind of allowed to stop if I wanted. I'm still here, so I I guess this is for long term now. And I decided to learn properly. I've gone through Swift courses, I know how to code, I learned databases, I learned security, I put a lot of effort in the last year into. And every app that I've built has taught me something new. And the more I've learned, I've also gone back to my first apps to fix what I learned in the month seven versus month one. So One one of the reasons why I have so many apps is because I've always learned something with the other app that I created. Some of my apps were based purely on trend and I have no passion or interest in it, so they're not doing well. I really have forgotten those apps and I actually removed a few of them from the app store, but But the apps that I actually go back and update, they're either making money, I have personal interest. I actually use those apps myself. And it just allows me to go back and build, you know, improve them now that I know more about building apps and building products. The other thing why I went into multiple apps is financial. If I have one app, I have one chance of making it and making money out of it. If I have ten apps, I have ten possibilities of making it and making money out of those ten apps. Neither is easy option. If you have one app, you're marketing, you're focused on that one app and you are hammering that every day to get customers. You basically become a marketer after you ship the app and then you do updates as needed. The other version is portfolio of apps where there's multiple apps And that suited my personality. I love the building aspects. I love the branding aspects of this. And I also like to put many bets out and see what actually works. By building multiple apps in different spaces, it also allowed me to learn how to build better apps because I've been exposed to so many niches and industries. Not just through my own apps, but also when I mentor other app builders, is like I might be walking into a completely different niche that I never knew anything about before, but it doesn't matter because All the learnings and all the rows can be applied to any kind of niche or any type of APP And lastly, I've been in business for 17 years working online. I've sold services, I sold consulting. I s have like over 5,000 students that I taught various things online. I've still run affiliate business. I have multiple websites. Like I have 17 years of experience running multiple things online. So for me, having 12 apps that I did in the 12 months was not overwhelming. My one of my apps was just one of my products, and that was fine. As a beginner, it might be super overwhelming going this route, but you can always add up once you're kind of in steady ground with the previous apps. And building these 12 apps, what has it really taught me more than tutorials? Like when I started this looking into becoming a developer, one of the key things I heard over and over and over again is stop watching tutorials, start building, start actually building something of your own. I'm gonna join the choir. Stop watching tutorials and start building. And going back to this podcast, had I not built all these apps and that becoming my story, kind of what people know me, I probably wouldn't have never started this podcast. So here we close to circle and come back to the podcast where I'm actually connecting with tens of app founders that started from similar spots than me. My guests are both technical and non-technical. There's gonna be more technical coming up and more marketing specific as well. And By taking an absolutely completely insane chance of going from marketing to iOS development last year, I have completely changed my life. It's absolutely insane to think about. Now in year year has passed, it's September 2026, and I started last year in September. And how much things have changed. I've taught hundreds, if not thousands, on how to build their apps. I have my mentees that are building and shipping their apps I started a podcast with this amazing community of builders and this was just the first 12 months. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 12. this has been absolutely an amazing journey. And I highly recommend if you're even tinkering with the idea, like, should I build an app? It's like, yes, you do. So, with that, that was the QA solo session for today. If you have any questions about app building or app marketing, please submit those. I'll leave a link in the show notes where you can do that. And I'll record another one once I have a good chunk of questions and we'll go through them. if you want to be a guest here, let me know. I'll leave a link to that as well. as I say always, until next time, keep on building and shipping and marketing.