From Ideas to Reality: Building "Invo", a Tool for Small Businesses

Intro 👋🏽

Hi, I'm Benson Daniel Nkemdilim (pronounced, “In-kem-dee-lim” ), a software developer fresh out of college. With a strong foundation in visual design and a passion for crafting beautiful solutions, I have a knack for taking raw ideas and tinkering with them until they blossom into something meaningful. Throughout my journey, I’ve come to love the intersection of technology and creativity, constantly pushing boundaries to bring ideas to life.

Introducing “Invo.” 👓

As a young developer, I’ve seen the struggles small businesses and freelancers face with managing their finances. Keeping track of invoices, ensuring timely payments, and staying organized can be overwhelming. That’s why I decided to create Invo—an invoicing application designed specifically to enhance productivity, accountability, and transparency for small business owners and freelancers.

Invo is more than just a tool; it’s about simplifying work processes and giving users control over their financial landscape. My goal is to help businesses track their invoices with ease and empower them to focus on what truly matters: growing their business.

Sharing My Process 🏋🏽‍♀️

I believe the journey is as important as the destination, and that’s why I’m excited to take you along for the ride. Over the next few weeks, I will share the research, creative process, and development journey of Invo. I’ll be documenting the highs and lows of building this product—from ideation to final deployment. Each stage will offer insights into what it takes to transform a simple idea into a functional product. By the way, I have never embarked on a journey like this before 🤪, but we keep rolling…

The Technology Stack ⚙

In building Invo, I’m using a solid set of tools that combine design and technical power to bring this project to life:

• Figma for UI design and prototyping, ensuring every screen is intuitive and user-friendly.

• FigJam for brainstorming, whiteboarding, and creating flowcharts to map out the business logic and structure of the code.

• React along with Tailwind CSS for the frontend, ensuring fast, dynamic, and responsive user experiences.

• .NET for the backend, ensuring a robust architecture that supports the scalability of the app.

• SQL for managing the database, providing efficient and reliable data storage for invoices and business information.

While I'm confident in my design and development choices, I’m currently undergoing in-depth study and research to fully understand all the aspects required for deploying Invo effectively. This includes weighing options like containerization, serverless architecture, and other deployment strategies.

Finally…

Building Invo is more than just solving a problem; it’s about believing that small ideas can create lasting impacts. This process is a testament to pushing past doubt, embracing creativity, and trusting that each step forward brings you closer to something remarkable.

I hope that sharing my journey inspires you to pursue your ideas, no matter where you are in your career. Whether you’re a budding developer, designer, or entrepreneur, there’s always space to turn dreams into reality. Let’s build together and create tools that help others grow.