We ditched building an app, instead choosing Facebook Messenger
By: Peter Esho
Tags: Facebook Messenger, Software Development, Startup, Facebook, Proptech

Everybody’s building an app for something. To me it makes no sense. Why would anybody be so compelled to visit the app store and download your application? Wake up and get real.

You either need to provide an excellent, immediate and compelling utility, an unrivalled piece of entertainment or a form of escapism beyond any other available on social media. Good luck.

When we planned CRIBZ (an online personal property assistant), our main focus was to provide a solid, functional real estate utility. Full stop.

We’re focused on making the home search process easier. Our process, methodology, selection criteria and everything else might be great, but it’s bothersome and bloody annoying to ask (or beg) a new user to visit the app store and download our app.

Dumb to build an app

From a business perspective, it makes no sense to invest time. Then there’s the marketing, fighting and competing against every other app that’s marketing for attention. I’ve seen so many start-ups ask for investment so they can spend it on marketing their app. A complete waste of money.

So we decided to stand back, listen to the user base and see how we can best deliver the utility to their screens using the easiest method possible. Our target market is millenials — smart, savvy, agile, time-poor, attention-poor, research driven etc. Zillow estimates millenials represent around 50% of the home buying market in the US alone.

Building a utility in Facebook Messenger makes perfect sense. From a business perspective, our value is in our process and intellectual property. The technology is a means to reach people. Messenger has 1.2 billion monthly users, the audience is there.

Personal assistants the new frontier

Facebook is investing aggressively in Messenger as a stand-alone asset. We’re willing to back Facebook’s investment, knowledge and technology. My experience has taught me something fundamentally important. Back the winner and re-evaluate later.

The Facebook ecosystem also allows us to reach users through various channels, including Instagram, where we will build relationships with the real estate industry.

We originally planned to build CRIBZ as a Google Assistant application, but we found the technology is a little too early. We opted to go Facebook first, Google second and maybe Siri in the future (when Apple allows us to).

This means we can focus on our core value. Building the utility, guiding our users, learning from them, fine tuning our suggestions. Providing value, advice and intellect throughout the home search process.

A process, which for many, is among the most important decision they’ll make in their life — where to live.

The result means we don’t own our own app, but we’re spending more time and money on what’s important. Less time and money on obsolete technology. We’re a business who wants to live in the Facebook ecosystem, not just use Facebook as a means to drive users away.

Not all businesses can function on Facebook Messenger, but that should be a sign to change rather than an excuse not to engage. If you’re process isn’t friendly to a virtual assistant, you might be at the risk of becoming insignificant in the new business environment.