AppJoy Insights
The AppJoy Principle
Under the AppJoy Principle, one person owns your project from the first call to the release, for a fixed price. It sits between the two usual options for app development, the hourly freelancer and the big agency.
· By Tobias Wimmer, AppJoy
The principle
One person per project
One person owns your project end to end, from the first conversation to the release and the updates after it. You talk to the person who builds your app. A second person is always set up as emergency contact and takes over if the main person is unavailable.
A fixed price
Scope and price are agreed before work starts. An MVP costs €12,000 and is delivered in 10 business days.
Commitment to the result
You pay the agreed price for a working app. If something takes longer than planned, AppJoy carries the extra time.
AppJoy vs. the hourly freelancer
A budget you can plan with
With hourly billing, the final price is unknown until the work is done. A fixed price tells you the cost before you start.
Aligned incentives
An hourly rate pays for time spent, so a slower project earns more. A fixed price pays for the result, so the provider has every reason to finish quickly.
Commitment to deliver
A freelancer without commitment can pause or leave when a better job comes along. AppJoy commits to deliver the agreed scope.
Responsibility for the whole product
With hourly work you assign tasks and track the hours yourself. AppJoy takes responsibility for the finished app, from requirements to store release.
Capacity you can count on
One person per project means your project does not compete with a dozen others for the same people.
AppJoy vs. the big agency
No hand-overs
In my experience, requirements in a larger setup travel from sales to project management to development, and each hand-over loses detail. With one owner, the person who listens to you writes the code.
Decisions take hours
Nobody has to pass a ticket on, wait for approval or wait for the next sync meeting, so quotes, changes and fixes can often happen on the same day.
Your budget goes into the product
A project that runs through sales, account management and project management has to pay for all of them. With one person per project, nobody needs to bill extra hours to stay utilised.
The person who estimates is the person who builds
In my experience, agencies often let one person estimate and another implement. When the same person does both, the estimate reflects how that person actually works, so a fixed price is easier to keep.
Knowledge stays in one place
The next release a year later is built by the person who knows the code.
Simple contracts, flexible scope
Contracts stay short and there is no change-request process. Scope can be adjusted along the way while costs stay transparent.
When another model is the better choice
- Very large programmes that need many developers working in parallel.
- Tenders or procurement rules that require a specific company size, certification or legal form.
- Round-the-clock operations that need guaranteed on-call coverage by a whole team.
- Projects that need several specialist disciplines at once, such as hardware, security audits and large-scale design, under one roof.
- You need extra hands inside your own team and want to steer the work hour by hour, for example during an open-ended exploration.
What if the one person is unavailable?
Every AppJoy project has one assigned person and a second person as emergency contact, who knows the project and takes over if the main person is unavailable. Beyond that, ask every provider, big or small, for the same things: access to the source code from day one, store and cloud accounts in your own name, documentation, and professional liability insurance.
One person per project, also as AppJoy grows
AppJoy's rule is one assigned person per project, plus a second person as emergency contact. If the team grows, it grows with more people who each own their projects end to end. No layers get added between you and the code.
Frequently asked questions
What does a fixed price mean at AppJoy?
Scope and price are agreed before work starts. An AppJoy MVP costs €12,000 and is delivered in 10 business days. If you want more later, we agree on the extra scope and price first.
Why not hire a freelancer by the hour?
Hourly work fits open-ended exploration or extra hands in your own team. For a defined product, a fixed price gives you budget certainty and puts the risk of delays on the provider.
Is a big agency better for app development?
Not by default. Big agencies fit very large programmes and strict procurement requirements. For most MVPs and business apps, direct communication with the person building it is faster, because fewer layers are involved.
Who will I talk to at AppJoy?
With the person who builds your app. There is no account manager or project manager in between.
What happens if the developer gets sick or leaves?
At AppJoy, a second person is always set up as emergency contact and takes over your project if the main person is unavailable. Beyond that, insist on source code access, accounts in your own name, documentation and professional liability insurance. With these, another developer or agency can take over at any time.
Is a small team cheaper than a big agency?
Often, because you do not pay for sales, project management and idle time. Compare what is included, because a lower price can cover less.
Related: How much does app development cost in Austria? · See our case studies
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