“If you could invent any app in the world, what would it be?” A quick vox pop of would-be young digital pioneers discovers that their life-changing ideas involve takeaway deliveries and tech to blag their coursework. Teenagers today, eh?
In Radio 1’s How to Make a Million-Pound App, perky host Dev dangles the digital carrot of becoming as rich as Facebook entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg or Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel before the age of 30. It’s a big promise, but his boundless enthusiasm should surely be enough to inspire teenagers to get off WhatsApp and create their own technology.
Coding is the educational buzzword of the moment for wide-eyed primary school-goers and Dev is in awe of what children as young as seven are being taught. “When I was at school, computing was clip art, Minesweeper and Solitaire. Oh, and that annoying paper clip that keeps popping up …” he marvels, like an 80-year-old who’s seen his local pub turned into a Nando’s. It’s an effective illustration of how quickly technology moves on and Dev’s glee is infectious as he learns to code. “It’s like Lego!” he says. “Not to sound, like, really cheesy, but it does feel like the only limits would be your own imagination.”
As far as a how-to goes, there’s enough advice to get started: ask “What’s the killer feature of your app?”, solve a problem, be cautious with investors, and stick together as a company. Oh, and don’t take no for an answer. The downsides are touched on, too, with 24-year-old “app millionaire” Ted Nash showing the importance of resilience in the face of a backlash. “You can fail 49 times, but you only need to succeed once,” he says, with the wisdom gained by years of making an app in his bedroom.
The tech talk is punctuated by loosely app-building related songs such as Ariana Grande’s Problem and Jme’s Don’t @ Me, while app creation is portrayed as a glamorous job involving sexy things like touting your MVP (Minimum Viable Product) at techies meet-up Silicon Drinkabout. It’s part of the BBC’s Make it Digital season, which manages to be motivational without coming across as worthy. In a world where kids are exposed to Kardashians, X Factorists and Geordie Shores-dwellers, it also ticks the parent-pleasing box when it comes to fuelling ambition.
