Naked. | Design Program FAQ

We may be fast since we’re an in-house, US-based team… but that is not why we call our program an Accelerator. 

Accelerators are tech term used to describe organizations that provide consultancy, coaching, and support to growing startups by leveraging their experience of launching other successful startups. They help startups refine their strategy over time and avoid common pitfalls that lead to failure (regardless of how good the idea is).

This is the same philosophy we have when partnering with our Founders. We provide coaching, product strategy, GTM strategy, monetization strategy, investor strategy, and marketing strategy, all under one roof in order to give our cleints the best odds of success possible.

Simply put, this is the exciting first step to building an app.

At Naked - it's a holistic process. This is where we focus your big vision, the problem you’re solving, your preferred aesthetics, your ideal user, and potential roadblocks. We then combine all of those factors into a lean, beautiful app design with frictionless usability - all perfectly tailored to your market - so you go to market with the highest odds of success.

Your Design screens and other assets are created in the industry-standard design platform called Figma - and will be shared with you at the end of the Design process.

These screens are what we use to create your Figma “prototype”.

Lastly, we'll provide you with an  ~80 page app "blueprint" called a Development Scope Document - which is detailed documentation of the architecture of your app, the integrations needed, the scope the project, and the key technical assumptions.

No. The Design phase is the first of two phases before launching your app to the app stores.

Design gives you your blueprint to creating your app, so all of the screens, user flows, and overall User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) of the platform.

Development is the next phase, which involves coding your app and launching it into both iOS and Android stores.

A clickable, interactive prototype (composed of your Design screens) that looks and feels like an app. However, this is not a fully launched app.

These screens are created throughout the design process in both mid and high-fidelity to test that the user flows created are navigable and that the app is easy to use.

While there is no code behind these yet, buttons can appear to be clickable, pages can be swiped through, and pop-ups can appear. Clickable prototypes are invaluable to testing UX before committing to full development.  They are also great for presenting to investors to get funding, as it shows the full vision and the value it will provide to users.

Figma Prototype files Naked provides you can be viewed on either your desktop or mobile device. If your app idea requires a web version and a mobile version, you will receive a Figma Prototypes for both versions.

Yes. Unless a client has very specific needs - we build apps using a modern, industry-standard language called React Native - which is cross-platform compatible with both iOS and Android. This means you only need to build and manage one codebase - saving on startup costs as well as reducing complexity when supporting the app after launch.

No. You retain 100% ownership in everything regarding your app. Naked will never ask for equity or ownership of your company. 

That said, it’s not uncommon for Founders to offer equity to us at some point when they want us as part of their strategic team for the long haul. We have a sister company, Naked Ventures, that facilitates these arrangements, however it’s always completely voluntary, and only after several engagements.

After Design comes the Development phase. Development is the phase where our developers turn your Design into actual code, and then submit your app to iOS and Android.

Part of the Naked philosophy is building lean, and getting to market fast. This means we consult clients on building the smallest, most impactful Minimum Viable Product (MVP) possible.

That said, it is impossible to know how much an app will cost without thorough discovery and consultation during our Design process.

That said, we understand ball park estimates are important. Our average MVP cost in 2023 was ~$147,500, within an average range of $120k - $180k. 

That said, we work hard to align the product with our Founder's current funding level or fundraising goals.

After we align with your vision and start to sketch out the product during Discovery Day, we will set up a Scope Alignment meeting with you and our Co-Founder, Jason Martinez, to ensure we are building in a direction that you can ultimately move forward with.

This meeting will be scheduled with you after Discovery Day, and before your Week 1 Design meeting.

The purpose of this meeting is to be proactive about the scope of the project, and give you a rough estimation range of what your app will cost.

If the product is outside of your funding level, then it gives a great opportunity to consult on trimming down minor features during the Design process and ensure we're creating a lean product you can afford to get to market (which is the whole point).

It really comes down to a) number of features and b) time it takes to build all of the features of an app.

What might seem complex can actually be simple, what seems simple might actually be complex.

To the non-technical, first-time Founder, these things are often counterintuitive compared to actually coding the product.

Creating custom software from scratch is never a cookie cutter approach, and requires thorough scoping and design iteration in order to come to a fixed-cost.

Pretty much anything a growing startup needs.

Marketing / long-term technical Support / Sales Consulting / Product Demo Videos / Download Funnels / Commercials / Logo / Naming / Brand Books / Incubation / etc. 

You name it - we probably have the best in the biz doing it.

We will know the fixed-cost and estimated timeline of Development for your app after the Design phase - within 5 weeks after Discovery Day.

After Design, we provide your app "blueprint" which is an ~80pg Development Scope Document showing all of the details, risks, and assumptions - so there are no question marks for you before entering into a Development engagement.

The dynamic is similar to hiring an architect to blueprint your home. Without knowing what we’re building, and working closely with you on the design, location, materials, etc., it’s impossible to know how much it will cost beforehand.

Also, ideas tend to evolve throughout the 5-week Design process. Through consultative guidance on software best practices, we tend to scope ideas to a smaller state than the original idea our Founder’s had.

No. You are by no means beholden to choose Naked as your developer partner after Design. With your Figma Prototype, wireframes, and Development Scope Documentation, any reputable developer will be able to build your app. 


Therefore, Naked is incentivized to give you competitive Development costs.

Another reason we separate Design and Development engagements - is because it’s the right thing to do when there’s so much on the line. We know building an app company is a huge investment, and choosing a developer partner long term is a huge commitment. Breaking Design and Development out into separate engagement allows customers to “try before you 100% buy” so to speak.

Of course, this goes both ways. We also want to ensure we have a great working relationship with clients before heading into a 4-6 month Development engagement, so we can ensure we keep our timelines and resource promises to all of our clients.

Many reasons. Building small to start is the cornerstone of software best practices for a reason. It keeps:

1. Costs lower
2. User data cleaner / easier to analyze
3. Time to market shorter
4. Risk of false assumptions lower
5. Ability to pivot and iterate higher

To boil the reasons down - it keeps overall risks lower and increases your odds of building a successful app company. 

We encourage you to research your favorite apps and review their product roadmap from inception to what you see today - and check out the funding they needed to get to where they are now. You’ll see starting small, and building step by step is the playbook of successful tech startups.

Make sure to watch John’s video on this topic here as well.

The conservative estimation for an MVP is 4-6 months. Proof of Concepts (POCs) can be a shorter time frame (3 months). Keep in mind the development timeframe does not include the Design timeframe (which is 4-5 weeks). This means a conservative total timeline from start to finish is = 5-7 months.

We want you to have expectations and numbers that are reliable. We will provide a Proposal with 100% fixed-cost scope and timeline that has been thoroughly researched by our team beforehand, so you can move forward into a Development engagement with confidence (and no surprises later on).

Yes. We start by giving you our recommended MVP scope - however we discuss areas of opportunity to scale the scope up or down depending on your funding level. This way our Founders feel they are ultimately in control of the cost of the product they move forward with.

100%. At Naked we call these agreements Incubation, which is a Time & Materials contract.

This is especially useful when growing quickly, and you need feature updates rapidly to keep up with demand.

We can isolate and price features out on a case-by-case basis after launch, so this way you can keep costs in check as you work on growing your user base.

The other option is signing an Incubation agreement, which gives you continuous access to a Lead Developer on our team to work on your app.

Yes. We provide 30 days of Support free for all of our development clients!

Although we have a thorough Quality Assurance process, this free Support period also acts as a extra reassurance to ensure the app works as intended once in the hands of your users.

If you would like to continue with peace of mind as you scale your app company, Naked can offer you fixed-cost 12-month Support agreement after Development. Costs vary depending on the size (amount of code) of your app.

Note: Support is invoiced monthly, and you can cancel the Support agreement at any time!

Maintenance costs vary from app to app - as the third-party integrations needed for each app are completely unique.

That said, a great rule of thumb would be between $300-$500 per month until about monthly active 5000 users.

Keep in mind these costs are not dictated by Naked, and are set by third-party services your app needs.

Additionally, we will help you set up these third-party accounts so you are ultimately in control of these services!

Absolutely. Our business model relies on long term relationships with clients who create successful app companies. This inevitably means clients need a Marketing Strategy and a Download Funnel. It’s key to begin strategizing for user growth before your app launches - so we usually have a Marketing Strategy Session with clients soon after they start Development.

The benefit here is that you will be working with a team that specializes in mobile app “growth hacking”, as well as a team that is already intimately familiar with your product, your target audience, and the dream outcome you offer to your users.

A clickable, interactive prototype (composed of your Design screens) that looks and feels like an app. However, this is not a fully launched app.

These screens are created throughout the design process in both mid and high-fidelity to test that the user flows created are navigable and that the app is easy to use.

While there is no code behind these yet, buttons can appear to be clickable, pages can be swiped through, and pop-ups can appear. Clickable prototypes are invaluable to testing UX before committing to full development.  They are also great for presenting to investors to get funding, as it shows the full vision and the value it will provide to users.

Figma Prototype files Naked provides you can be viewed on either your desktop or mobile device. If your app idea requires a web version and a mobile version, you will receive a Figma Prototypes for both versions.

Minimum Viable Product. This is an app that can stand on its own as a product and can start earning revenue.

However, most new Founder’s idea of “minimum viable” tends to be far bigger than seasoned Founders. Part of Naked’s job is to take on the consultative role of helping you narrow down the scope of your app into the smallest, most impactful version possible.

This is an app that is very stripped down in features- one that typically won’t be able to function as a standalone app company long term. 

That said, the benefit of starting with a Proof of Concept (POC) is having the ability to get to market, gather customer data, and begin to prove a product-market fit. This enables Founders to make a compelling pitch to investors as they stand out from the other 99% who only have an idea, nothing launched, and no customer data.

It’s a screen that looks like the fully polished, finished product (aka any of the screens you’re used to seeing on your favorite app.

We will build 5 of these high-fidelity screens during our Design program. However, we also build all of your UI/UX using mid-fidelity screens for wireframes (typically 40+).

It’s a screen that has all the elements of a fully functional screen but does not have the final graphics/animations/colors/images on top of it yet.

It’s a cost-effective way for you to get through Design and wireframe all of your user journeys, user stories, UI/UX for a Figma Prototype as well as effectively scope Development.

No. We include Designing all of your high-fidelity screens for free once you sign a Development Proposal!

A visual guide for the layout of all of the screens on an app or website, in addition to the structure of all the elements on each individual screen. 

Think of all of your app screens laid out on a desk in front of you. How do they interact? What is the user's journey between each feature? What should they see, and what's the easiest, most frictionless way for the user to navigate your app?

These are the questions that wireframing answers, by drawing the connections between your screens.

It allows you to see all of your UI/UX laid out right in front of you, easy to visualize, and ready for Development.

UI: “Look and feel” of the app aesthetically (we want it to scream high quality)

UX: how the user experiences navigating the app (we want illicit feelings like enjoyable, easy, intuitive, intelligent, etc)

A great chart by Coursera is below: