How To Create a Digital Wallet? E-wallet Full Guide

Are you interested in creating your own digital wallet? Perhaps you have a unique idea something like a digital wallet for P2P transactions, digital wallet for crypto manipulations, digital wallet as the white label for other companies or a wallet for a QR code payments in retail and restaurants or maybe just a clone of an existing app? Well, stay with me because I’ll give you a step-by-step guide on how to do that, how to run this software business, how to use AI advantage and how to create an MVP with a tiny budget.

I'm Dennis Babych, the Director of a software development company, my team and I created more than 200+ mobile and web apps. My goal today is to guide you through the framework of how to test your idea, outperform your competitors, hire the greatest team, and save money along the way. All of this knowledge comes from my agency's expertise, successful businesses, and top-tier practices combined into one ultimate system.

Let's get started! Now, I'd like to be 100% transparent here. This video is not about how to code a digital wallet app within 5 or 10 hours, many YouTubers is doing that but it’s just a huge fake.

If so many companies out there hiring software engineers paying them huge salaries to create an app with a 6 month period then why do you think yet another YouTuber will give a silver bullet on how to do that in 5 hours? Also, I’m not gonna share a marketing nonsense regarding no-code tools. Yes, from a marketing point of view its a great clickbait but in reality it’s just a tool for super simple and super basic apps.

Ok, let's start by identifying the core components of your digital wallet. Depending on your business goals it might include the mobile apps for iOS and Android and the web super admin zone. The mobile apps for users will have the basic functionality such as registration, card management, P2P or any other transfers, security, notifications and so on.

The web-based admin zone will offers features like users management, verification processes, analytics, financial management and more. Now, let’s discuss the price of your digital wallet mobile app. Also, there are several things you have to keep in mind such as: quality assurance, bug fixing, project management, maintenance and risks.

Estimating the cost of developing unique features, I mean your core and unique idea, at this stage, can be quite challenging. But don't worry, I'm here to provide you with pricing for the basic MVP functionality. Here's a pro tip for you: if an investor contract requires an in-house development team, you'll need to allocate a budget based on US or EU rates.

However, you always have the option to outsource your software development expenditures to Ukraine, which can be a significant game-changer when you are seeking value for money. Ukraine is an absolute hidden gem in the software development world. Many successful startups such as GitLab, Grammarly, and Jooble have already recognized the huge value of hiring Ukrainian developers to build top-notch software.

Ukrainian developers have excellent English skills, extensive experience in outsourcing development, strong math background, they have innovative thinking which help them always think outside of the box, on top of that they are hard workers. So, when you start your app development journey, many beginners fall into these standard traps. First, they often put all their energy into coding the product, especially if they come from a software development background, so at the end of the day, they have a software diamond but they do not know how run a business, how to do sales and marketing, how to manage finance, how to do a market research, how to build a team from scratch, how to fund the project and how to adapt product to a rapid market changes.

Or they get caught up in an endless cycle of adding features, chasing an illusion of a perfect product. One of my previous clients was so obsessed with adding more and more features that he has been trying to run and improve his food delivery service for the past 8 years. He is still dreaming about adding one more thing. 

He never launched his product live. The next trap is when people jump into creating simple clones of existing products, which have lack of real value and industry knowledge which don't address the real needs of their audience. It’s those Uber clones with subscriptions, TikTok clones for clothes, AI SaaS nonsense with ChatGPT on the background.

This approach is driven more by the founder’s vision than by market demand, which leads to a quick failure: no clients, financial loss, and bankruptcy. Now, before you start your digital wallet app development, there are two crucial things. First, shift your focus from creating a digital wallet to creating a business that solves real problems for your audience.

This means understanding their needs, pains, and desires, and then creating your digital wallet app as the solution. Second, remember that your resources – time, money, and motivation – are limited. Business is a war according to Sun Tzu.

And here is another twist, you have to make one quick strike to break the reality and market defence and win the war quickly. It's not about just doing more; it's about doing what's right and effective. Utilize the proper frameworks, tools, and strategies to achieve your goals with laser-focused and efficient actions that we will discuss right now.

Also, do you know why investors are right now investing mostly only in startups that already have paying customers? Because this means that their founders managed to pass the reality check and use minimum resources to create a business from scratch. So, they managed to do this war strike properly.

When your business model is viable, then it’s reasonable to scale it and invest in innovative services that can be a real game changer in the market. So, what is the first step to achieve that? Create the MVP.

Minimum Viable Product. MVP is not just a buzzword. It's a philosophy of each and every process in your business, which means that you have to put all your focus and attention on things that are really important and get rid of all the unimportant nonsense.

Picture this, you're aiming to build a digital wallet app. You're looking at user mobile apps, web app for users, maybe connections to banks, fiat to crypto transfers, rewards and so on. But hold on a minute.

Do you truly need a fiat to crypto right now? Could you, perhaps, use just a standard P2P at the early stage? And that rewards and loyalty system – is it urgent?

Maybe it's one of those things that can wait until your version 2. 0 Take one of my digital wallet clients; at the beginning, we managed to create a simple digital wallet app where users can add their credit cards and send money via QR code. In 6 months when the product got tractions and user engagement we added P2P payments, crypto integrations and so on.

So, features are not solving the problem of your audience and feature obsession, as I said earlier, can kill your startup. Let’s be honest, no one expects that you will create the best product from day one, but people are always looking for a tool that will solve their specific problem, even if this tool is not perfect. But here is the tricky thing, if you are creating a clone of an existing solution then you have to find a different angle on how you will present your solution to the market.

Because if you are creating a 15th standard digital wallet without any unique advantages then you will be a commodity in your customers' eyes and they will find just the cheapest or just most popular solution. Hidden gem: you can check negative comments of your competitors audience to find out what real problems users are trying to solve and where you have to put your focus to create a successful clone. Alright, each and every business starts with the business plan.

But I’m sure you already getting bored when you hear these words, that’s why you should use the MVP approach even in the business plan creation process and for this Lean Canvas modified tool is the best tool. It's like a business plan on a napkin that uncovers all hidden aspects that you need to focus on. This knowledge comes from 3 different sources, Lean Startup Eric Ries, Ash Maurya and his basic lean canvas and the experience of my 1000+ Lean Canvas workshops with my clients.

By the way, if you want learn more about Lean Canvas, watch this video. Link in the description. So, it starts with understanding your user groups and their main pain points.

What are their struggles? What issues can your service address and make their lives easier? Next, explore your competitors and the solutions they offer.

Identify their advantages, disadvantages, and their strategies that you can adapt. Your goal is to find the space where you can outshine your competitors by creating a unique solution for your specific niche without reinventing the wheel. On top of that, look at the industry giants for inspiration.

They've mastered the game, and you can learn from them by studying their user flows and proven methodologies. However, don't limit your research only to the big players! Expand your scope and explore startups in smaller niches and different countries.

You never know what you might discover - there could be a hidden gem that gives you a competitive edge in the market. Trust me, this exploration could be the most beneficial factor in your startup's success. On top of that, you can learn which startup ideas was successful and which one fails.

Next, your unique unfair advantage. This is the most powerful factor that sets you apart from your rivals. It could be your personal charisma, networking, secret and unfair knowledge, AI advantage and so on.

For example, my friend Carl when he was working in the corporate sector he found out that many employees order food from different restaurants in their office and he had access to these corporate companies' contact databases which become his unfair advantage when he decided to create his own food delivery service for a corporate sector only, and he received $25M in funding at the end of the day. Ok, once you've identified your unique edge, it's time to target your early adopters. These individuals will be the pioneers who will test your service and give you the most valuable feedback at the early stage.

Discover where they spend their time online and create a cool marketing hook to engage them. Give them something truly unique and powerful. Broadcast your unique offer via social media, Discord, Telegram, Influencers or just regular ads.

By keeping a close eye on how your app's doing and really diving into the feedback from your users, you can shed light on what needs to be changed or improved and so on. By the way, if the info that I’m sharing now resonate with you, please hit that like button and subscribe to stay updated and gain more business insights. Thanks!

But how to save money during the software development process? Well, you have to identify your product market fit which is basically a simple features list that will solve your users' problems. When you have this list then you can develop only these features and cut all other nonsense.

Which lead us that you have to offer innovative and disruptive solutions that address the pains and gains of your target audience. Thus completing your Value Proposition table is the key to achieving that. Picture this you have an exciting idea for your digital wallet app.

Before starting the software development phase, it's important to identify pains and gains of your users. It could be something like: how to make international payments, multi currency payments, P2P for crypto, lack of integration with popular investment services and so on. Once you have identified all these issues, it's the perfect time to leverage your platform to tackle them.

You can provide solutions such as: bridge that will allow international transactions for your customer no matter where they are, adding possibility via 3rd party bank of using multi currency, adding P2P for crypto transactions via complex bank scheme transactions on the background and of course integration with popular or new and highly profitable investment services. Look, when you prioritize the platform value for your audience on front and keep that at the core of everything you do, you're setting up your business to become a money-making machine from day one. Remember, small companies and startups can easily outperform industry leaders by being agile, flexible, and focusing on unique problems and local niches.

You don't have to compete with everyone in the market. Instead, concentrate on a specific audience and provide them with the best possible value. And always keep in mind that it's crucial to fall in love with your customers' problems and not just your solutions.

When we are talking about love, one of the most fundamental things that you have to keep in mind it’s your personal care and love for your customers. Your customer it’s your God and you have to serve them, solve their issues and find a way on how you can disrupt old fashion market by adding small things but what makes all the difference. Let me illustrate this with an example.

One crypto company funded two software development teams simultaneously to develop two different crypto wallets. At the end of the day, they had two different but similar products. Both functioned, but only one gained a huge fan base while the other was really unsuccessful.

What made the difference? One team, during the design and programming stage, fully missed or ignored an issue in one crypto network where a transaction often required 5 to 10 attempts due to network glitches. Their solution was just a simple popup with an error notification.

It was not the part of their job description, so they just ignored that. The other team, however, came up with a system solution where all these repeated attempts happen in the background, showing the user only a beautiful progress bar. Once a transaction was completed after 5 or 10 attempts, a congratulatory popup appeared.

Can you guess which approach brought user engagement and satisfaction? Look, the love and assistance that your app provides should always aid your customers in addressing their problems. Offer them unique care; that can truly make a world of difference.

Okay, once you've done a deep dive into your customers' needs, pinpointed all your customers' problems, finished competitors' research and come up with a bunch of software solutions, it's a perfect time to properly prioritize your software features to create your MVP. You have to figure out which features are must-haves, should have, could have, and won't be developed. This savvy approach not only gives you a solid game plan for the essential features your app needs without busting the budget, but it also lets you pivot as necessary without burning through all your resources.

Plus, it helps you with finding the path to your app's core idea and crystallize your project's main objectives, translating them into the software features that should be on your development list. Hidden gem: you would have to pivot a few times until you find a really perfect solution that will suit all your users' needs, that’s why limiting yourself with the amount of features for the MVP is so important. And that's where a story map comes into play.

With a well-crafted story map, you can break down the user requirements and map out the essential features that need to be developed and launched quickly. But hold on, there's more! To ensure maximum user engagement and satisfaction, it's important to develop separate story maps for each user type.

Think of it as providing each user group with their own treasure map, guiding them directly to the features that are most important to them. By doing this, you can identify the specific needs of each group and prioritize the features accordingly. This way, your MVP will meet their crucial needs and provide the best possible value at this stage.

Thus, the real power of a story map lies in its capacity to help you save funds on one side, while simultaneously enabling you to concentrate on providing the most value to your audience at the right stage on the other side. Alright, let's talk about the business logic of your app and the UX design. Please, please keep in mind that this is the most important part of the design stage.

Trust me UI is worth nothing if the UX is bad. Picture this, a few years ago many of my clients came to me with the existing UI design of their services, it was a diamond from a UI point of view but it was a mess from a business logic and UX point of view. Chats that do not explain how they work.

Can I upload an image or not? What about chatting one-to-one or many-to-many and so on and so on? It was an endless list of issues.

So my clients have 2 options. Option number one, re-do everything from scratch: business logic and UX of their app and then re-do UI once again or option number two start the software development and ignore these issues and pay an arm and a leg during the software development phase when it comes to clarification process of the business logic of these blocks and modules. Hidden gem: Never ever use those fancy UI agencies or freelancers that will produce problems and issues for your MVP and business logic, but yes, it will definitely look nice and cool.

So, the UI it’s like a skin and the UX it’s like a skeleton. UX design is the blueprint of your app business logic, where you create every possible user case and scenario. It helps you uncover all the hidden or unexpected user flows.

For example, let's say you're in the process of creating your digital wallet app clone. You've covered the basic functions like login, online payments, security and so on. But what about situations where the regulatory services would need your users passport information?

Have you incorporated a feature or a functionality where your users can securly upload their passport?  These are the types of issues where mockups and UX design business logic will help you identify potential gaps. Look, once again, the UX design serves as the foundation for your app's functionality and user experience, and it's crucial to make this foundation rock solid.

Next, let's discuss UI Design, where two key aspects are crucial. In the early stages of your journey, UI design might not be a top priority, unless you are targeting a specific niche or community. For an MVP, the UI design should be accessible to users of all age groups.

This means the UI should be modern but not too fancy. Also, your UI design should facilitate users in solving their problems with the fewest clicks possible. Because each additional click will cost you a user and their engagement.

So, your job here is to incorporate well-known icons, design intuitive elements, their locations, and a simple color scheme that will help your users swiftly and effectively navigate your app. Forget about branding, fancy logos, animations and other visual design nonsense. At the early stage, this won't bring value neither to you nor to your customers.

Center your design around your users' problems, minimizing clicks, accelerating user goal paths, and simple but modern design esthetics. Consider the example of my friends Tim and Brian, who successfully created a tax SaaS system using just a basic bootstrap design. Within a few years, they managed to achieve a successful exit by selling their SaaS to HappyTax.

However, branding, logos, and animations become valuable assets only when your app is operational and you're planning to attract investors and raise funds. This is precisely what happened with my friend James and his food delivery app, Foodstuff. Initially, the logo was just simple text and the UI design was basic.

Later, we transformed it into a unique design with branding colors and more, in order to secure funding via crowdfunding. Here's a helpful pro tip for you - to generate really cool UI design style and ideas, explore portfolios on websites like Behance or Drbble. Search for web and mobile apps, and incorporate design elements that catch your attention.

And remember what Picasso said, "good artists copy, great artists steal. " If you found value in these tips, please show your support by hitting that like button and subscribing to my channel. Your support will boost this video visibility in the YouTube algorithm and you don't miss any valuable business videos from me.

Thank you! One of the most fundamental concepts in marketing is the framework of 'selling dollars with a discount. ' It’s a powerful strategy that you have to master and apply to all your offers.

Imagine this scenario: if someone was able to create a legit smart contract offering you to buy only one Bitcoin for $500 price, I will repeat legit smart contract, would you have any doubts or concerns, or would you immediately inform all your friends and family to buy as much as possible? So, your marketing offer must have the same compelling power, which leads us back to a fundamental thing I want to emphasize again: your web or app service must solve a real problem of your audience. How does this work in real life?

Take 11Labs, a startup that can emulate your voice. You just upload a 5-minute audio file, and then their AI can replicate your voice from the text you type. Initially, this innovation was their unfair advantage.

But they are advancing now, offering their audience the ability to transform their YouTube video's audio track from English to Spanish, German, French, and many other languages. For just a few hundred dollars, you can do what Mr Beast does when he adds different languages to his videos, thereby gaining more views, subscribers, advertisements, and promotions. This is a prime example of how simple text-to-audio conversion can be leveraged into a 'dollars with discount' framework.

So, when creating your standout marketing offer, it's essential to explore different angles and ideas for presenting it. Test these offers using platforms like Facebook or Google Ads, and then proceed with the most effective one. Remember, always make data-driven decisions.

Also, consider that it's generally easier to sell 100 subscriptions at a $10 price point than 10 subscriptions at $100. People are more likely subscribe to your service if it's priced like a cup of coffee. However, this doesn’t mean you should be cheaper than your competitors.

No no no, you should be more expensive, and to achieve this, two simultaneous actions are required. First, increase the value of your services and effectively communicate this using the 'dollar with discounts' methodology. Second, provide options for your users to purchase additional services within your software, similar to what AWS or SemRush do, where customers can buy subscriptions within their existing subscription.

So, are you interested in delving deeper into the world of startups, AI and businesses? Do you want to connect with business-minded founders and entrepreneurs where I share tons of insights and host live chats? If so, click the link in the video description and join me on my Telegram channel right now.

Now, let's delve into the tech stack. This is one of the most critical aspects when creating your digital wallet. Therefore, choosing the right tech stack is vital to avoid challenges such as slow user interfaces, non-scalable and non-maintainable cloud infrastructure, high costs, payment and subscription issues, and the risk of your app going offline during traffic spikes.

So, if you're planning to create a basic web or mobile app, it's essential to select the appropriate tech stack that enables rapid development of your minimum viable product. Flutter or React Native are excellent choices for the mobile app. For back-end development, Python, Django, Node.

js plus Amazon Web Services are perfect options. Web app can be created using frameworks like Angular, React or Vue. js.

But if your app will require many different functions such as integration with many different 3rd party investment providers, P2P payments, crypto payments and so on then it’s reasonable use native languages and frameworks such as Swift and Kotlin for iOS and Android. Also, keep in mind that you will need to scale your app after you launch your MVP so choosing the right tech stack is like receiving an accurate diagnosis after a blood test. Ok, when you already jumped into this journey you have to choose the right framework to follow.

I recommend you utilize for your MVP the Agile process, one of the most powerful methodologies out there that can significantly speed up your development process. However, did you know that in some situations, it can actually slow down your project by up to 30%? Picture this: you have a team of 5 developers who understand their roles, communicate effectively, and have made significant progress in coding the product, they could use simple tools like Trello, Notion, Miro, Asana, Monday, Google Docs, and quick Zoom meetings.

However, as your team expands to 15 or more people, you may face some challenges such as: losing your key developers, complex and time-consuming onboarding processes, reduced team productivity, communication issues, missed deadlines, and a decline in code quality and architecture. To avoid these problems, it's important to: * Hire a tech lead to oversee the team and code architecture. * Find a project manager with a tech background * Implement SCRUM, Sprints, Backlog, and Retrospective processes.

* Conduct daily standups to keep everyone updated on pending tasks. * Utilize advanced tools like Jira to manage tasks and track your team's velocity. Choosing the right tools at the appropriate stage can accelerate your progress toward achieving your Minimum Viable Product.

However, keep in mind that even the best tools can lead to failure without the necessary knowledge or expertise. Ok, when your project is up and running you have to collect valuable data. So, collecting user analytics is a crucial practice in the tech industry, allowing you to uncover essential metrics like unique visitors, user behavior, and session frequency.

Using powerful tools such as Google Analytics, Sessionstack, Firebase, and Mixpanel will enable you to gather valuable data. I remember, around 7 or 8 years ago, we created an app for an Austrian multimillionaire that focused on online courses about real estate. The app included features like a forum, video courses, events, map, and more.

Imagine our surprise when, after integrating analytics, we discovered that 95% of the time, users were only using the video and audio listening functions. We then moved his unique webinar offers to this page, and as a result, his revenue increased from $1. 5 million to $3 million in just 4 months.

This experience underscores the importance of creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and making data-driven decisions. By consistently tracking your app's performance and analyzing your users' feedback, churn rate and conversion rate you can pinpoint areas that require improvements to ensure your users' engagement, satisfaction and your app's profits. Now, let's talk about a real game-changer that you must leverage in your business: the Uberization philosophy and framework.

Consider this: 10 years ago, Uber revolutionized traditional taxi services. Similarly, Airbnb and Booking. com transformed the hotel and booking industries.

Your goal is to identify a real problem and apply this framework in the classic Uberization manner. However, if your niche is highly competitive, you should consider the new wave of Uberization, which involves AI and called AI-isation. Utilizing the power of AI can be a real game changer.

But please, please, do not be charmed with these “genius” ideas about AI utilization with ChatGPT API in the background or yet another Chrome extension using only OpenAI API or any other AI API as the main source. Let’s be honest, it’s not a business it’s a parasite that will die during the next year or so. When I mention AI, I'm referring to tools like LangChain, Hugging Face, Agents and other tools, which can be utilized to develop, for example, your app for the corporate sector.

Imagine a SaaS platform that enables companies to upload their support guidelines into your database. Then, their support staff can use your chatbot assistant to ask questions about their job or client-related issues. This is a true game-changer that can help companies reduce spending on staff and training.

This means you can create a powerful, unique offer, and not just yet another useless MidJourney clone. Alright, if you wanna build your digital wallet app and you need my support just shoot me a message via Calendly, and we can have a 30-minute call about your problem and how we can transform it into a money-making machine. Yes, my software development services will cost you a dollar, but at the end of the day, you will have your mobile or a web app with the right set of features to disrupt the market and maybe even utilize the power of AI opportunity before it's too late.

So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a meeting; let's make it happen. See you!