Part 1 - Your origin story
Your first task is to write the story of how the idea for your app came to be.
Pay special attention to your state of mind, to where you worked, who you were working with and for, what you were frustrated about, what you were trying to achieve, and how much time you put into researching or trying alternatives before building your thing. The more details
I'm assuming here that you built something you’ve had personal experience needing (also known as a “scratch your own itch” project).
If instead you built it to scratch someone else's itch, you're a few steps ahead as you already have at least one user, but this exercise is still very valuable. Instead of describing your own situation and need, describe theirs.
I suggest you do this in as much details as possible because sometimes the clue to who your ideal customers may be, where they hang out, how to find them and how to reach out to them might be in the small details.
Here is an example of an origin story (my own):
When I started working on Wuju (wuju.app) I’ve been doing personal development of different kinds for over a decade. I was 38 (now 43), married (still am), had a kid (now have two), was an avid reader (and implementer) of self-help literature, and worked at a company that was actively helping people get on the path to self-improvement as well (the wonderful retreat.guru). On a more personal note I was struggling with anger outbursts, felt a deep disconnect from my then 4-year-old son, was still navigating the intricacies of the Canadian immigration law to secure our permanent residence here and was generally a Pka’at Atsabim (Hebrew for “bundle of nerves”). To work through some issues, I took a couple of days off from work and family and closed myself off at a tiny hotel in a remote village. There, surrounded by deep snow and even deeper silence, I started reading The Sedona Method, a book widely recognized as total horseshit along with everything else mentioned in The Secret. The effect that book had on me couldn’t be understated. The simple process of working through difficult emotions was exactly what I needed, but it was slow. I started thinking of how I could make it easier and quicker eventually built Wuju as a way for me to manage my own very intense emotions.
PS. If you’re curious and feel like you need to procrastinate on tackling your own project for a little while longer, there’s a longer version of this story on my blog here and here.
If you find it hard to write prose, you can fill out the template: