Without a doubt, your competitors are doing all they can to outshine you. This, as it turns out, is a beautiful thing. Your competitors will do all they can to stay up with the latest trends, discover new and innovate methods to stand out, and attempt to copy any of your ideas. So why is this such a great thing?
First off your competitors all have a team of talented individuals who are doing all they can to succeed. Once they implement their strategies, you will be able to refine them and add your own twist to it. This is what is known as a reactive approach to growth. You wait for your competitors to act and then take their idea and morph to be your own. If you are doing this type of strategy you will, for the most part, always be able to catch up to your competitors by replicating their work
By diving deep into the strategies your competitors are using, you can begin to break them down into components and reverse engineer your own masterpiece. Remember that the end goal here is not to copy all your competitors are doing, we are instead suggesting you use their strategies as a platform to build your own creations. Generating ideas is not always coming up with new concepts or mechanics, many times it is simply bridging the gap others have been unable to close.
Enhance your business, your ideas, and your app by introducing concepts from a variety of unrelated industries. Below are a few suggestions of what to learn from a few industries.
Here are our top ideas you can steal right now
1) Fitness Buddy
Fitness Buddy is here to encourage your personal growth so you can achieve your desired levels of fitness. The app starts by first analysing how fit/active its user is. It then ask its user what “What is your ideal fitness level?”. Fitness Buddy will also ask its user to list any injuries or limitations. After which, Fitness Buddy will ask its users to list how many times a week and for how long during the day they would like to exercise. Once all this information is gathered, Fitness Buddy gives users a recommended list of exercises. Including recommended repetitions to do, for how many hours a day, and for how many days a week. Fitness Buddy will also take into account menstrual cycles for women users and adjust exercises to fit the limited capabilities of their bodies during these cycles. Fitness Buddy has a unique feature allowing it to recommend the amount of daily water and protein. Fitness Buddy is here to protect and promote the user’s well-being. Sources of revenue can be implemented through a “pro service” which gives users access to exercise plans and diet plans.
2) Your Voice Translation
Language will no longer be a barrier. By using the “Your Voice Translation” app, users are able to speak into their phone and immediately have their words translated to their desired language. The app would work by first having two people sitting across from one another with a phone in between them. The users then choose their native language. After which two bubble buttons would appear. One in blue with user A’s language and the other in red with user B’s language. Users then take turns speaking into the app by first pushing their colored button. When they push their colored button, the screen will also change according to that color and say the name of the language being spoken. Users take turns being speaker and listener. Once the speaker is finished and the listener wishes to respond, all the listener has to do is double tap the screen which will instantly switch to the listener’s language. Allowing the listener to now speak. Future updates could include a “subtitle” mode that not only speaks out the language but also creates a live script for people to follow along and look back on. This app would make a great travel tool for any tourist and can easily be leveraged to public speakers, classrooms, politics, meetings, and anyone learning a new language.
3) Order Delivery Aggregator
Tracking your package is never an easy task, especially when you buy from multiple vendors that ship through multiple distributors. If you buy from Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Victoria’s Secret then you will have to separately log onto each account to check the status of your orders. This app aims to give you a space to collectively view all your orders. By giving this app access to your order history, it will automatically update itself on the status of your order. Saving you the time and the stress of having to log onto multiple websites to see where each of your packages are. You can also keep track of packages sent by you and your loved ones by manually inputting the tracking number and the carrier’s name.
4) Recipe Aggregator
Sometimes all you have are a few ingredients and one recipe that you have used way too many times. So if your meals have all been starting to taste oddly familiar then it’s time to spice things up. This app allows you to input a list of all the ingredients you would like to cook with. Then the app will take your ingredients and search online for hundreds of recipes with only these ingredients. Recipes can be filtered based on their ratings and time to cook. When you find the recipe you like, you are then able to follow the step-by-step instructions to help you create your masterpiece. Or if you are too busy to cook, you can click a “find near me” button which will search for restaurants closest to you with this dish.
5) You Are What You Eat
The way it works is that you let your emotions guide your taste buds. The point of this app is to capture your daily emotions and then match you with foods that mirror these emotions. It can easily be done through a simple questionnaire that will give you, as the user, a food recommendation. Followed with the location of a local restaurant with that dish. Human emotions are extremely complex but having the ability to complement people’s current mood with a delicious meal is an avenue worth exploring.
6) You Always Know What To Say
Communication is an integral part of our lives. We interact daily with strangers, acquaintances, friends, and others that we love. For some people, it’s hard enough to make initial contact. The question then becomes “Well, what do I say?”. Thanks to this app, starting a conversation will no longer be an issue. The app begins by asking you an initial question such as “What is your relationship with this person?”. You can choose from the four groups of “stranger, acquaintance, lover, and friend”. The app then ask you “what kind of conversation do you want to have?” You can choose from “casual, flirtatious, friendly, philosophical, supportive, and aggressive/confrontational”. The point of this app is to give people everything they need to start the conversation right by knowing who they are talking to and what type of conversation they hope to have. Not every conversation is conclusive but it can start with a memorable opening.
7) Name That Flower
The world is too beautiful and diverse to not be explored by someone. We daily come across plant life that captures our full attention. Yet the problem then comes when you try to describe that plant without knowing its name. Typing in “plant with red flowers and green leaves” will only get you so far. This app is meant to eliminate that frustration. Ideally customers will be able to take a picture of any plant life which will then match to a picture on your plant life database. The system will then send that person information on the plant such as: its name, origin, edibility, small description, a link to more information, and a link to buy the plant life through a local or online vendor. The app database can either be filled by its users or can be filled through partnering with local and online flower shops. This gives the app creator leverage in choosing who to partner with. This app can be monetized by taking a commission from every plant sold through the app or for first mention in the “buy here” section
8) Your Perfect Garden
A garden can be a safe haven for some, a wise teacher for others, and a source of beauty for many. Gardens express the creative soul of its creator. They each tell their own story and carry in them fragile life. This app gives anyone the tools they need to tell their own story. The app itself starts by giving users a plot of land or flowerpot. Then they are given a diverse list of plant life which they are able to drag and drop into their garden. Giving users a visual representation of their soon to be garden. Users are able to find plants through a search bar or through the various categories in the app. After the user creates their garden, they are able to receive a quote from a local flower shop on the price of their garden. Along with a quote for the price of a local gardener to plant them for you.
9) Up The Ladder
Have you ever looked at someone and thought “Wow, how did they get to be so successful”? This app does just that. It aims to solve that issue by giving users a place to document and share their journey. Users are able to list their education, job experiences, references, skills required, and advice. The app also allows you to search for professionals by their industry and education. This app should be a one stop resources for questions such as “What can I do with this major?”, “What skills will I need for this job?”, “What training, certification, experience will I need to be successful?”.This app can easily be leveraged by school systems as a resource for its students or by companies to develop their employees. Users are also able to promote themselves and charge a fee for training.
10) Similar Book Search
You just read the final words and have concluded the trilogy you had been reading for the past month. Feelings of joy and satisfaction fill you with a certain undescribable peace as you stare off into the distance. You then come to realize that there is no new frontier. This last book was the end to the series you had invested so much of yourself into.This app aims to fill that void by bridging you to your next adventure. You start by typing in a list of your favorite or recently read stories. The app will then offer customized recommendations as to what you should read next. Each recommendation includes a short description along with a rating system, customer reviews, similar stories, and the offer to buy an electronic or paperback version of the book. Users are also able to search for books based on author, genre, language, and setting. By the end of the process, your users should be joyfully satisfied as they immerse themselves into a new world.
11) Battery Optimizer
It’s 6pm, you’re leaving work and you look at your phone only to see it’s out of battery already. The day is only part done and you have to worry about getting your phone charged for the rest of the evening. A very real problem for millions of people around the world. With the shift to more feature rich smart phones, the one thing that has unfortunately stayed the same is the size of the smartphone battery. The Battery Optimizer app would aim to track battery usage across a variety of measures: by application, by services running on the phone and by actions taken. Then the app would be able to make recommendations like shutting off Bluetooth from 9:30am till 4:30pm as it is often left on, but unused. A way to give “smart” suggestions to optimize battery usage, or just allow the app to handle the optimization automatically for the best battery life possible.
12) Gifts For Friends (Base on Data)
Finding the perfect gift for anyone is hard. You’ll often spend hours looking for the perfect gift, buy something and still have disappointment. We put out so much data on the internet about our lives, likes, dislikes and more. This app would make use of the data your friends put on Facebook and the internet to build a profile of who they are, what they like, and what their perfect gift would be. If there is mass adoption, tying in Google’s profiling data would make it even more accurate. The end result is a 3-tap experience from opening the app, to picking a friend and getting recommendations on what to buy for them based on the occasion.
13) Tinder For Recipes
People are often spoilt for choice and without a finite amount of choices, it’s hard for them to make decisions. This app would aim to give each user 5 to 10 recipe recommendations to choose from each day or for each meal, based on their preferences. The premise is that the user would continue to see recommendations until they swipe “yes” on a recommendation. That way it’s a simple choice. An extension of this can be to focus on specific objectives or dietary goals (ie. eating healthier or eating a paleo diet).
14) Smart Video & Content Recommendations
There’s a lot of companies out there aggregating data about each and every one of us. Some have that data openly accessible to understand how they categorize us. The aim of this app would be to capitalize on those profiles, along with further profiling through a series of like/dislike questions, to determine the best content to deliver to that person. Think of it as a simple best of _____ delivery: top 3 videos from the web today, top 3 news articles and so on.
15) Chatroulette For Studying Students
Exam time is rolling around and students are scrambling to form study groups and gain the benefit of shared knowledge. Often times there is a disconnect on this end that results in many students not being able to connect with others to study. The aim of this app is to bridge the gap and make study group creation easy and potentially virtual. A student can open the app, enter in their info of what class and subject they want help with. From there they’re matched with others on the same campus or in different schools who have the same need. They can choose set times to meet online and leverage a framework given by the app to help them study in the most efficient way.
16) Home Cooked Meal On Demand
With the rise in easily accessible food, there’s a large chunk of the population that doesn’t know how to cook, let alone cook healty food. The concept of a “home cooked meal” is extremely foreign to a large majority of the population. The premise of this app is to make home made food available on demand. You’d be able to open the app, find people who are ready to make you a home cooked meal in your area, and order through the app with a set time delivery. A simple marketplace styled app.
17) All In One Dashboard
The average business owner has to check at least half a dozen dashboards on a daily basis to see the status of his or her business. This results in dozens of wasted hours every month checking information that could be more readily available. Most business owners are on the go a lot, even within their own office. The aim of this app is to provide them with an easy solution that connects to where their data is currently, to aggregate that data into one easy to access place on their smartphone or tablet. The end result saves them more than half of the time spent every month by just making their data easier to access. An expansion could include inferences, suggestions or recommendations based on that data to save them even more time in their business.
18) Proximity Based File Sharing
You’re out with friends, taking pictures from your evening together and now each of you has a dozen pictures to share with the other. Your only option is to waste hundreds of megabytes of data (this could be $10+ in data depending on where you live) to transfer the pictures while you’re all still together, or hope everyone remembers and sends around the pictures when they get home later (this rarely happens). This app aims to eliminate the need for data wastage or the possibility of people forgetting by leveraging the multiple data transfer channels available within smartphones. It would allows groups of people to send data through multiple channels (Bluetooth, WiFi, etc) in the same way AirDrop allows proximity based sharing over WiFi. That way data can be sent locally, without the need for costly data transfer. The main element here would be an easier way to have this data transfer occur.
19) Real Time Voice Translation
You go on vacation, things are going smoothly and you decide to hop into a local restaurant to get some food, try things “off the beaten path”. You’re faced with a a giant wall, the language barrier. You are able to get by with Google Translate and the limited text translation it provides, but even then it’s not a smooth interaction. With the shift to a more connected global community, there is also a big uptick in travel. Travel to countries where many expect to “get by” with their common language. While it has become easier with a large chunk of the population speaking some level of English, there is still a big gap in translation tools. Google Translate is one of the most advanced out there, but even Google Translate struggled with languages in the Eastern world and it has yet to move into real time or semi-real time translation. The aim of this mobile app would be to provide semi-real time or even real time language translation in the major business countries of the world. A thorough need for the enterprise sector. The ability to translate English into Mandarin and Mandarin back into English is often done through translators in the enterprise world, and that poses a high cost to businesses that want to enter the Asian markets without a lot of resources.
By build fire
It's all about who can bridge the Gap the fastest
