HotTake: Building a Viral Sports Debate App in Just 3 Weeks

At Optiblack, we understand the power of collaboration, consistency, and rapid innovation. Over the past year, we’ve had the privilege of working with a client to develop multiple apps, gaining valuable insights and expertise along the way. Through this year-long collaboration, we were able to streamline workflows, fine-tune our processes, and become more efficient in delivering quality products in less time.Our latest project, HotTake — a sports debate platform — was no different. HotTake allows users to post bold sports opinions, share their takes, and engage in friendly competition with others. The app went live on both iOS and Android in just three weeks, with an MVP version that included a website and an admin panel. This fast-paced development was made possible by the team's extensive experience with the client and the knowledge we gained through previous projects.

Week-by-Week Breakdown of the HotTake App Development

Week 1: Performance, Onboarding & Profile

The first week was all about laying the groundwork for a smooth user experience, ensuring that users could quickly jump into the app and start engaging.

Key Developments:

• Performance & Polish: We optimized asset loading and reduced cold start time, making sure the app performed smoothly on both iOS and Android devices.
• Onboarding: We created a seamless onboarding experience, where users could quickly select their favorite sports teams and get started with the app.
• Profile: The profile section allowed users to edit their information, select favorite teams, and share their HotTakes with ease. We also included features like "My Takes" for users to view and track their own posts.

Week 2: Private Takes, Web & Referrals

By the second week, we shifted our focus to enhancing the app’s social features, creating opportunities for users to share and invite others.

Key Developments:

• Private Takes: Users could now post private HotTakes and share them via a link, allowing others to view the takes even if they didn’t have the app installed.
• Web Messaging: The addition of web messaging allowed users to interact with each other, creating a more dynamic experience.
• Phone OTP Verification: To enhance security and ensure a smooth registration process, we added OTP verification.
• Referral Flow: A referral system was implemented to encourage users to invite their friends to join the app, with rewards for successful referrals.

Week 3: Competition & Daily Content

In week three, we focused on incorporating gamification elements to increase user engagement and retention.

Key Developments:

• Competition: We added a scoring system and daily/weekly leaderboards to encourage friendly competition among users.
• Daily Content: We configured the admin panel to post daily HotTakes, keeping the app fresh and engaging.
• Challenge Engine: A daily challenge feature was introduced, allowing users to participate in new, fun challenges each day, keeping the content dynamic.

Week 4: Moderation, Creator Economy & Stabilization

The final week was all about ensuring stability, adding necessary moderation tools, and refining the app for launch.

Key Developments:

• Moderation: We set up a robust moderation system that allowed administrators to review and approve user-generated content.
• Creator Economy: The HotTake Cam feature allowed users to submit video responses, creating an opportunity for content creators to engage with the app in a more dynamic way.
• Stabilization: We conducted bug fixes, analytics validation, and quality assurance testing to ensure the app was ready for launch.

How Our Year-Long Work on Building Apps Led to Faster Delivery

Working with the multiple clients for over a year with the same team gave us a unique advantage. By repeatedly refining our processes and deepening our understanding of the client’s needs, we were able to streamline our workflows and achieve higher levels of efficiency.

Here's how this helped:

• Team Familiarity: Over the course of the year, our team became highly familiar with the client’s expectations, design preferences, and technical requirements, which allowed us to hit the ground running when it came to the HotTake project.
• Code Repurposing: We were able to leverage the code we developed for previous apps, significantly reducing the development time for new features.
• Optimized Workflows: Continuous collaboration with the client meant we could fine-tune our workflows, making the process more agile and responsive. We already had the right tools and frameworks in place, which reduced friction in the development cycle.
• Building Team Speed: As we scaled the team and got more familiar with the project, we were able to work faster and more efficiently, hitting key milestones faster than ever before.

Conclusion: Building Momentum for Future Success

The success of the HotTake MVP launch in just three weeks is a testament to the power of collaboration and experience. Over the past year, we’ve built a strong, optimized workflow with our client that allowed us to quickly develop and deploy a product that not only meets expectations but is poised for future growth. By continuously improving our processes and leveraging the lessons learned from previous projects, we were able to create an engaging and viral sports debate platform in record time. As we continue to iterate and expand HotTake’s features, we’re excited to see how the app evolves and grows into a global community of sports fans.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to enhance HotTake and deliver innovative products to our clients.