Why your small business probably doesn’t need a custom app (yet) — A Mobile software engineer’s Perspective

A phone call, a chai shop, and the conversation that changed how I think about “just build an app”

“Mukesh is finally doing it,” Aakash said, his voice crackling through my phone speaker. I was standing in our usual chai shop — the same corner where we’ve wasted half our teenage years arguing about cricket and code.

“Doing what?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Expanding the family business. Going into manufacturing. Selling online. The whole thing.”

I felt a surge of happiness. Mukesh — our friend who’d quietly run his family’s shopping bag business for years — was taking the leap. In a tier-2 city like Lucknow, where most people stick to what their parents did, this felt like a win.

Then Aakash added, almost casually: “He wants to spend a good chunk of money building a mobile app.”

My chai suddenly tasted different.

The moment everything shifted

“Wait, what? A mobile app?” I set my cup down, probably too hard.

“Yeah,” Aakash continued. “I already told him it might not be the best move right now, but he’s really set on it. Says he’s done his research.”

That word — research — hung in the air. I knew exactly what it meant. YouTube videos with flashy thumbnails. Instagram reels of 20-somethings in coffee shops calling themselves CEOs. LinkedIn posts about “10X growth” and “digital transformation.”

I’d seen this movie before. As software engineers(Mobile App Specialist) who freelance on the side, Aakash and I have built products for clients who were convinced they needed an app.

Some succeeded. Some didn’t.

Not because the code was bad, but because the app was never the answer to begin with.

“Let me call him,” I said.

The phone call that wouldn’t end

Mukesh picked up on the second ring, and I could hear the excitement in his voice immediately. He told me everything — the expansion plans, the manufacturing deals he was exploring, the vision of customers ordering bags from anywhere in India.

“That’s amazing, Mukesh,” I said, meaning it. “But tell me about this app. Why mobile specifically?”

“Bhai, you should see what’s happening online,” he said, his words tumbling out fast. “These guys are making crores selling products through apps. I’ve been watching them, reading about them. That’s the future, no? Everyone has a phone now.”

He wasn’t wrong about smartphones. But he also wasn’t seeing the full picture.

“Which businesses did you see?” I asked carefully.

He rattled off names — some I recognized, most I didn’t. Fashion brands, lifestyle products, gadget stores. All of them had one thing in common: they were at least 5–7 years into their journey. They had brand recognition. They had repeat customers. They had marketing budgets that could make a small-town business owner’s head spin.

“Mukesh,” I said, choosing my words carefully, “those businesses didn’t start with an app. That came much, much later.”

What social media doesn’t show you

Here’s the thing about online success stories: they’re edited for inspiration, not instruction.

You see the founder smiling in a sleek office. You don’t see the three years they spent selling on WhatsApp and marketplaces first. You see the app with millions of downloads. You don’t see the ₹50 lakhs they burned on ads before their first profitable month. You see the hockey-stick growth chart. You don’t see the pivots, the failed experiments, the nights wondering if they should shut down.

Mukesh had fallen into the same trap I’ve seen a dozen times: he’d confused the final form with the first step.

The hard math that nobody wants to hear

Aakash and I spent the next thirty minutes walking Mukesh through the reality of app-based businesses. Not to discourage him — we genuinely wanted him to succeed — but to save him from an expensive detour.

The app itself isn’t cheap. A basic e-commerce app would cost him anywhere from ₹2–5 lakhs. That’s just development. Maintenance, updates, bug fixes — add another ₹30–40k annually.

But here’s the real killer: nobody will download it.

Think about your own phone. How many shopping apps do you have? Amazon, Flipkart, maybe Myntra or Ajio if you buy clothes. Now ask yourself: when was the last time you downloaded an app from a brand you’d never heard of?

Right.

For Mukesh to get downloads, he’d need to spend heavily on marketing. Google ads, Facebook ads, influencer partnerships. We’re talking ₹50k-1 lakh monthly, minimum, to see any traction. And even then, there’s no guarantee anyone actually buys.

Then there’s the product reality. Mukesh sells shopping bags. It’s a simple product with a small catalogue. How often does someone buy shopping bags? Once a year? Maybe twice? Apps thrive on repeat purchases — think food delivery, groceries, subscriptions. For occasional purchases, customers are perfectly happy using marketplaces.

“But I want to build my own brand,” Mukesh countered. I could hear the determination, and honestly, I respected it.

“You absolutely should,” I said. “But brand building doesn’t start with an app. It starts with reaching customers where they already are.”

What we told him instead (and why he didn’t buy it)

Aakash and I laid out an alternative approach:

Start with marketplaces. List on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho. These platforms have millions of active shoppers. No infrastructure costs, no app development, no marketing to drive downloads. Just product, pricing, and packaging.

Build a simple website. Not for selling — not yet. But for credibility and SEO. When someone Googles “shopping bags Lucknow” or “eco-friendly bags manufacturer,” your website shows up. It’s your digital storefront, your brand home. Cost? ₹15–20k, one-time.

Test before you scale. Spend small amounts on targeted ads. Try different product photos, descriptions, packaging. Track two numbers obsessively: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV). If you’re spending ₹200 to acquire a customer who buys for ₹150 once and never returns, no app will save you.

Then — and only then — consider custom tech. Once you have consistent sales, repeat customers, and data proving people want more than marketplaces offer, build your app. You’ll know exactly what features matter because your customers will tell you.

We thought we’d convinced him. We really did.

But Mukesh was quiet for a moment, then said: “I hear you both. But I’ve made up my mind. I’ve seen how these businesses work. I think an app is the way.”

My heart sank a little.

The one-month ultimatum (to himself)

“Mukesh,” Aakash said gently, “just give us one month. Don’t commit to anything yet. Think deeply about what we discussed. Talk to other business owners. Run the numbers yourself.”

Mukesh agreed, though I’m not sure how much of it was genuine consideration versus just wanting to end a conversation that had gone in circles.

As I hung up, I stared at my chai — now cold, now undrinkable.

Why I’m writing this (and why it matters to you)

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Mukesh isn’t alone.

I’ve watched this pattern repeat across tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India. Smart, hardworking people who’ve built solid offline businesses suddenly believe they need to “go digital” without understanding what that actually means.

Social media has created a dangerous illusion: that technology is the shortcut to scale. That if you just build an app, customers will magically appear. That the rules of business — understand your market, test your assumptions, manage your costs — somehow don’t apply in the digital world.

They apply even more.

The online space is brutally competitive. It’s expensive. And it’s filled with the corpses of apps nobody downloaded, websites nobody visited, and marketing campaigns that burned through savings without returning a single sale.

What I wish Mukesh understood (and what I hope you will)

If you’re a business owner reading this — especially if you’re in a traditional industry looking to expand online — please hear me out:

Technology is a tool, not a strategy. An app won’t save a weak business model. A website won’t create demand that doesn’t exist. Digital marketing won’t convince people to buy something they don’t want.

Start where the customers are. If you’re selling products, customers are already on Amazon and Flipkart. Meet them there first. Prove your product sells. Then think about building your own channel.

Brand comes before tech. People install apps from brands they trust. Nike has an app because millions already buy Nike. You need to become the Nike of your category first — even if it’s a small, local category.

Test cheaply, learn quickly. Every rupee you spend on building custom software is a rupee you’re not spending on understanding your customers. In the early stages, understanding matters more than infrastructure.

The ending I’m hoping for

I don’t know what Mukesh will decide. Maybe he’ll take our advice and start small. Maybe he’ll build the app anyway and prove us wrong — and honestly, I’d love to be wrong here.

But I do know this: the most dangerous part of social media isn’t the algorithm or the influencers or the curated success stories. It’s that it makes the exceptional look ordinary. It makes the final chapter look like the first page.

Mukesh deserves to succeed. His instinct to grow, to expand, to build something bigger — that’s exactly right. What worries me is that he’s been sold a map that starts halfway up the mountain, and he doesn’t realize how much ground he needs to cover first.

If you’re in Mukesh’s position — or if you know someone who is — do me one favor: before you hire a developer, before you sign a contract, before you commit your savings to building an app or platform, ask yourself one question:

“Am I building this because my customers need it, or because social media convinced me I do?”

The answer might save you a lot of money, a lot of heartbreak, and a lot of time you could spend actually growing your business.

I’m a software engineer-app development specialist; who builds things — sometimes for clients, sometimes for myself, sometimes just to see if I can. I write about tech, business, and the messy intersection between the two. If this resonated with you, I’d love to hear your story.

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