I created a Matching App for Roommates and NEED advice for next steps

[sayitstraight]

my story

TL;DR I made a roommate matching app I need help figuring out next steps to get the thing going. I am working on a SaaS that can make money but it wont bring me users and I feel like I've reached a stage where I would love to be able to afford more professional help. What would you do in my position ?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ruumme/id6446409858

Here is some slides might be easier to understand

https://docs.google.com/presentatio...ouid=106845211007737035290&rtpof=true&sd=true

I knew nothing about coding or development or anything but had the idea and believed in the concept. I searched for a while to see what would allow me to create an MVP with little to no money as well as entry level technical skill. I created the entire app in Glide Apps and published it as a PWA all with only a few YouTube videos. Then found some more videos and ChatGPT on how to create iOS and Android wrappers with Xcode and Android studio so I can publish in the app stores. Again I am new to all of this my job is a data analyst not software dev so this took me a few months of trial and error. Apple is also very defensive of letting more matching apps into the app store and even more defensive of letting PWAs into the app store. It took me 7 or 8 attempts and a lot of reworking to the app for me to finally get my app approved. Some changes implemented were very good they have strong requirements for user safety and since its technically a social media platform I had to generate user agreements and get those approved too. Now I have a published fully functioning app that can scale without issues.

Main reason for making the app

My personal experience during covid I had just finished a move from a place I did not like to a place I did like and was able to spend my time working from home. This had a strong impact on my quality of life and I truly wanted to create a way for others move into there ideal apartments.

Other reasons

- Increased time spent at home due to COVID, remote work, online school, etc. I think people will see increased value in liking the place they live

- Rising cost of living and rent being the most significant expense for people in most cases

- National Association of Realtors: Average age of homebuyers increased to 47 from 31 in 1981 the lifespan of a renter is increasing

- Not only does where you live matter but who you live can have a profound impact on overall quality of life

- Being able to find an ideal roommate, an ideal apartment, and save on your monthly rent all via an app I think would serve an overall benefit for people 18-30

- I see many other use cases for this app one filter I created is whether or not a user cares if there roommate match has kids I see this being potentially being a helpful tool for single parents

I was very interested in the data side of the things my wife was a real estate agent and worked as an apartment locator in Dallas there is definitely money for locators, but I was so shocked to learn there is really only 1 flagship product that the vast majority of locators use called smart apartment data and IMO its basically just apartments.com with a few extra buttons. I would see her using it and after I started working on my app in glide I realized I could easily clone this product in Glide and probably offer it for a cheaper monthly rate then 40$/month subscription they charge. Then I thought if combine roommate matches the apartment locator app that could be a huge value add to my apartment locator tool as appose to others to have some type of way to connect actual leads to agents and it would also be a big value add to my matching platform.

I started working on the framework for the apartment locator SaaS and rather than going through another major learning exercise and teaching myself python I paid a worker on fiver 30$ to scrape all the apartment data from apartemnts.com so I could plug it into my SaaS product. I am still working on the SaaS product now but probably only a few months from an MVP then I realized the step I would like to take next with company assuming the app and SaaS are successful. Apartments.com is the main name in the game for apartment search engines and for good reason as far as I can see Zillow is the only close competitor no one else seems to be differentiating themselves enough to draw users away. I had the idea to make a CarGurus.com meets Apartmetns.com search engine so a search engine that is basically a clone of apartments.com but with the added benefit of CarGurus "deal" thermometer so my platform will be able to tell users based on the neighborhood/sqft/built in year/last remodel/amenities etc. is this apartment a good deal or a bad deal for the price. To me this would be an incredibly tool for looking for an apartment. This is actually already a software that exists but is a very expensive tool that is private to property management companies they pay data real estate data companies to generate these types of analysis so they can make sure they are pricing their units at a competitive rate the only catch is the public does not have access to this type of analysis and I want to change that.

I see this in 3 phases

1. Tinder for roommates
2. Apartment Locator Saas
3. Apartments.com X CarGurus.com

I am halfway through with phase 2 but I have like no viable users and in an ideal world I would love to be able to contract some help building the SaaS product out and even more so Id love to be able to afford some social media help

I know typically startups look for investors to help them get to the next stage I am looking for some pure honest feedback. Should I be going about things differently or what would you do in if you were my shoes? Is this even a good idea or should I be trying to take a different approach?

All feedback is greatly appreciated

 

[phongtranh142]

@sayitstraight I'd start by looking for an accelerator that has similar portfolio companies (SaaS, Mobile app marketplaces, etc.). I think what you'll run into with investors (angel or otherwise) is business model vetting/validation. Without a solidified start to your userbase you'll have some "hmmmm" comments in this fundraising environment. Accelerators are there to help you build out, vet, and verify your business model while (sometimes) providing non-dilutive seed funding.

I'd also immediately start market validation - call all of your friends and family and ask them leading questions. Something like:

1. Have you ever had trouble finding a reliable roommate?
2. What marketplaces have you used to find said roommate?
3. Would you use a mobile application that provides that service?

Record ALL of your answers in a spreadsheet and make sure you have them sign up, ask for referrals, and go from there.

Sauce: I build a MaM for outdoor recreation last fall. It's now got around 4500 active users and growing monthly.

 

[sayitstraight]

@phongtranh142 Wow that's incredible (I'm assuming MaM is for Media Asset Management) after you created your product how did you find users ?

 

[phongtranh142]

@sayitstraight Mobile application marketplace. I did the market validation steps i mentioned above. Start with friends/family, ask for referrals outside of that initial group, and talk to EVERYONE. Do that for a solid 6-8 months and record all answers, use it for feature development - try to figure out what the market NEEDS, not what you want to give them.

After I had a solid dataset I started social media stuff, generated a following, and continued moving.

 

[dddblueyes]

@sayitstraight Where do you see the market for such an app? It wouldn't work here. Finding a room mate is like a casting show here. How do you want to prevent user from using it as a dating app?

 

[sayitstraight]

@dddblueyes If you read my full post and/or check the slides I attached I go in detail on potential markets/use cases for the app but primarily I am targeting younger people 18-30 who could be looking at their first apartment or have there first job and cant afford to live on there own. Basically the app would be for people who having a roommate is not just for fun but is a financial requirement in order to afford rent. The app would be help maximize the roommate search experience.

I cant 100% guarantee that no one uses the app for something outside its purpose but I created block/report buttons so that if a user ever does have a negative experience on the app they can easily remove all contact with the other user

another idea Im really thinking of implementing is not allowing names to be publicly visible and having the app assign all users a randomly generated username. That way you never have to give your personal info to a match like your First and Last name unless you choose to into the chat.

 

[loveneverfails777]

@sayitstraight the easiest way would be simply. to allow both genders to have a preference for roomate. vetting their profile heavily before.

 

[sayitstraight]

@loveneverfails777 I have that functionality built in to allow that for users

 

[hmd]

@sayitstraight Tinder for roommates may be tough because of the cold start problem. Without people in the network, people don't have a good experience. And if people don't have a good experience, they won't stay / tell other people. Also, how are you thinking about monetizing this?

 

[sayitstraight]

@hmd I totally agree when I posted it and shared it to my friends everyone was super excited and tried to help share it but I have a very social reach lol and yeah I got some users even outside of the state I lived in but basically everyone who came on looking for a roommate ran into the issue of not being able to actually find someone to match with this is probably the main issue I need help with right now

monetizing is pretty simple for me main method will be the SaaS Product for apartment locators basically in the app I will offer matches the ability to connect with apartment locators who offer their services for free they are always looking for viable leads and if I create a SaaS tool that connects them to exclusive viable leads I think that's a no brainer what's also nice is the locator space is so new there is only 2 flagship products on the market right now and from my perspective they are both severely lacking but everyone uses them because their is no other alternatives

later down the line I want to roll out under the same brand an apartment search engine like cargurus x apartments.com basically users get the same search results but it will tell you if the apartment is priced fairly or not and also provide historic data like market trends similar to zillow I will monetize that one as well by charging the listers

 

[joellemarie197]

@sayitstraight By the look of what you've laid out, it seems like you've already made a great start! Congrats on the work finished so far, particularly in navigating through the entire process by yourself from just an idea to a functioning app, let alone being approved by Apple.

For your next steps, I'd suggest focusing more on acquiring users and improving the SaaS part of your service. It may help to start by identifying your target audience and creating marketing strategies tailored to them. Partnering with businesses that cater toward your ideal user demographic could also help drive traffic to your app.

I've been in a similar situation when I was developing a tech solution, and I recall how tough that stage was too. Once the development work was done, I was left pretty clueless about the next steps. A turning point for me was partnering with Buildmystartupidea.com. They are a tech incubator group consisting of highly successful tech exfounders who bring a lot of valuable playbooks, strategies and handholding to the table. They were incredibly useful and saved me from making a lot of costly mistakes that I wouldn't have even been aware to avoid, and their services cost way less than hiring freelancers or a dev agency.

So, for your situation, it may be helpful to reach out to tech incubators like them to help refine your marketing tactics, or to successfully roll out the next set of features in your app's roadmap.

Hope this helps, and best of luck with your app's journey!

 

[sayitstraight]

@joellemarie197 Yeah! that helps a ton I will definitely check them out

Whats the name of tech solution you developed ?

 

[linalou68]

@sayitstraight I think there have been a few startups attempting to do something similar. Something to consider is who are the customers? I personally love roommates, but i can imagine most people's goal is to live by themselves or with a partner as soon as they can, so the life time value of the customer can be quite short compared to other products. Also, something worth looking into is Adam Neuman's new venture Flow, i believe that's part of the pillars he is trying to implement.

 

[sayitstraight]

@linalou68 App Users I think will always be coming in for short windows of time when they need a roommate and then likely deleting the app or not using it after which is completely fine for me because the goal of the app in my mind isn't retention of users because I'm not going to charge them for me I want the app to be known as "The place to find a roommate" Apartment locators which are real estate agents make really good money off of finding and capitalizing off of renters that need to find an apartment usually a referral is worth 1-2 months rent for most apartment complexes and a typical apartment locator will hope get 1-4 viable leads a month

I want my brand to be known as the lead gen hub for locators

Lifetime value in this space I see as something that is going to evolve. It is a matching app for now but with adoption and time I want it to become a brand thats trusted for Apartment searching if you check my slides

phase 1 is the matching app - Provide value to renters for free

phase 2 is an apartment locator SaaS product - provide the same value as competitor SaaS products at a reduced rate and with something the other products dont have - built in leads from the app which will also provide value to users of the app

phase 3 create a free to use public apartment search tool with all of the metrics that are usually reserved for a private paid subscription real estate data tool but make it free for the public for example I want apartments.com to tell the user if the apartment they are looking at is priced good - fairly - or poorly think cargurus

 

[sayitstraight]

@linalou68 Also if you check my slides I actually signed up and tried every app on the market I could find (in the US) offering a similar concept and produced a magic quadrant chart for comparison