Social Application for Organizing Meetings - also known as Spontan

I'd like to share my journey of creating a social application, from idea to implementation and promotion - my "One Man Army Project".

Beginnings

From the very start of my career in the IT industry, I dreamed of creating my own "one million dollar project". After several years of professional work and completing additional projects, I was getting closer to realizing this dream.

Being involved in automotive circles, I finally found a potentially good topic for an application to organize automotive and social meetings. It was around 2015, and Facebook was not yet as popular in the circles I was targeting.

With the necessary skills and knowledge, I decided to start working on the project without much hesitation (mistake number 1). Having experience in creating Android applications and working daily with ERP systems, I got to work.

First Steps

The project included:

creating a mobile application for Android (mistake number 2),
creating an API using PHP and the Symfony framework (version 2.8),
preparing a landing page,
promoting on automotive forums,
preparing the application for iOS.

Application functionalities:

the ability to organize into private/public groups,
creating events with the option to send invitations,
group chat,
chat with a selected user,
weather forecast for the meeting location,
user profile,
notifications,
etc.

Working with a graphic designer who prepared the first interface design, I started implementation. Initially, the API was created, followed by the Android application.

Promising Beginnings

After about a year of working after hours, I managed to bring the project to a state where I could finally present it. The application initially enjoyed interest, and I did my best to let as many people as possible know about it.

At the same time, I started learning Objective-C and working on the iOS version. Unfortunately, the lack of a ready iOS version began to bother me more and more. I often heard questions like "Is it available for iPhone?" or "When will it be available for iPhone?"

At that time, there was no reasonable hybrid technology, so I decided on native applications. Unfortunately, as a "one-man army," it was too much. Developing the application required writing code in three technologies simultaneously, and the lack of time for family life meant that the iOS version never saw the light of day.

Where's the Money?

Unfortunately, in the heat of the battle and euphoria, I completely forgot about the key aspect of business - monetization (mistake number 3). The desire to create something new outweighed common sense.

Over time, Facebook and its groups, pages, and events became so popular that users began to migrate to this platform. Internet forums started to fade away, and with them, Spontan.

Failure or Not?

I didn't make a million ;), but I gained a lot of experience and knowledge from the Spontan project:

it's very hard to run a large social project alone,
before you start working, think about how to make money from it,
define your product's target group and their needs,
decide who you want to work with - freelancers or a software house.

I use this knowledge in subsequent projects, both my own and those of my clients. Thanks to Spontan, I established cooperation with WeAreBikers in 2020, with whom we develop a social application for motorcyclists. Since we took over the project, the application finally started working.

Finally, I'd like to mention a great group of friends brought together by Spontan, with whom we still meet. If you're reading this - greetings!

Thank you for reading. If you ever come up with a brilliant idea, feel free to contact ByteCode Software House :).

Maciej Frankowski