Working Out The Features

Now that I had the idea, I started writing it on a document. We were basically going to create a buyer’s companion app, i.e. an app where buyers could post their requirements and sellers/service providers could come and connect with the buyers if they were offering what was required.

Features of the Idea were listed as follows:

Posting by Buyers – Halllp is going to be a buyer side classifieds app, an app where buyers would post their requirements. The idea behind this was that today, it is a buyers’ market and sellers need to make the effort of getting a sale. So why not in classifieds as well. Buyers should post their requirement and sellers should come, browse listings, find the ones which are relevant and make contact.

Limited Duration for Posts (72 Hours) – This was something which was partly based on intuition and partly on the interaction I had with 15-20 of my colleagues. A person requiring a service is generally very interested in getting the same within a short period, say around 72 hours (assumption). Most requirements (except certain requirements like finding a house, finding a partner for marriage etc.) are fulfilled within a period of 3 days and hence we decided to limit the duration of any post to 72 hours, after which it does not show on the app. One major advantage of doing this was to also target some major drawbacks of classifieds sites,  clutter and old and outdated postings. Sellers will be aware and assured that if any post is there on Halllp, it must most probably be live and urgent.

Students Only – I decided to make this app for students only. Since I was shifting to Tilburg to do a course, being a student myself, I feel, will make it easier for me to market to other students. Besides students are more active online and would be willing to offer and avail services through the app.

Now that I had the features ready, the next step was to build a prototype.