Digital Jenko

Jonathan Kay, Apptopia - Short & Sweet.

Hey guys, hope everyone has had a fantastic christmas and beginning preparations for a great new year celebration. I mentioned some time ago that I would be sitting down with Jonathan Kay founder and COO of Apptopia to get a short and sweet overview of what it does. If you are unfamiliar with Apptopia it is a really, and I mean really cool platform that allows people to just simply - buy and sell apps. Its ‘ebay’ type feel is attracting repeat custome and is starting to make some really great movements. 

Apptopia’s journey, short and sweet.

The beginning of our journey was all about proving out the model (I.E was the market ready for a second market?  Was there a need for this?  Was there demand on both sides?).  We have overwhelmingly done that.  The current leg of our journey is all about providing better, more powerful data.  Buyers make decisions with thousands of their dollars based on the data we provide, so the more we can show them, and the better analysis we can do on it – the more valuable our service becomes.

We quit our jobs in November 2011, launched the product live in April 2012, and now that it is the end of the year we have brokered 165 mobile app acquisitions (total value around $450,000).

What’s next?

Outside of the above, you will slowly start to notice Apptopia becoming a little bit more of a platform.  One thing we didn’t realize when we started this was that by being a “market maker” - people would really look to us as experts in the space.  With the same technology that powers Apptopia today we can help facilitate a handful of other very valuable (and relevant) services.  You should start seeing this within the next 2 months.

Whats the value for developers trying to sell their apps?

Today we are the only liquid marketplace for this.  We are the only real exit strategy for app developers.  Most app developers today can only monetize about 10% of their users (and that is high), we help them monetize 100% of them.

Whats the value for people acquiring these apps?

We allow buyers to get involved in mobile much quicker, and less expensive than building it from scratch.  More importantly, we allow them to enter the mobile space with way more market knowledge and insights.  They get to acquire an app where they have already seen how the market has reacted to it.  Versus spending $50-$100k to build something that they really only have an “educated guess” people want.

In short, we lower the barrier to entry to mobile.  For small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike.

There must have been a few of those ‘big cheese’ apps that have really caught your attention in terms of the deal, can you name a few?

I would say either 1. Draw Chat selling at $15k or 2. 9Gag selling at $25k.  They were the most successful as they were both apps that had a solid user base, but an “owner” who simply wasn’t in a place to maximize the apps potential.  We put a great app in even better hands.  What could be better than that?

If you could offer some words of advice to developers who are thinking about getting involved, what would it be?

You need to use an analytics platform.  As an “independent developer” its borderline crazy not to, as all of the big players (Flurry / Localytics) will actually provide you their service for free.  Nobody cares about your “Total Download” number as at this point almost everyone knows that is bullshit.  Its about how many users use your app today, and about how many downloads you have had in the last 30/60 days.  By having good in app analytics any and all buyers will feel more comfortable with your asset and be more likely to make an offer on it.

Jonathan Kays Journey 

I would say 2 simple things:

1. Starting a business (and hence Apptopia)…is not a business decision, its a life decision.  And its awesome.  I would not change a thing…but be very clear that its a life decision and will affect each and every part of your life…not just your “9am-9pm” and not just your bank account.
2. Don’t be too proud..ever.  One of the best things I ever did was work for an entrepreneur before I worked for myself.  My time at Grasshopper and working with David Hauser directly for 3 years, is infinitely a part of my small successes thus far.  Many people think starting a company is cool, and trendy, and they are ready to do it right away.  You probably aren’t.  Make mistakes on someone else’s dollar first.  Always.

Most inspirational qoute?

Not sure its famous but I deeply believe:

“Traditional methods yield traditional results”

Some wise advice to entrepreneurs?

Just shut up and do it.  Seriously.  Ideas are worthless.  If you talk to any smart or successful people they have more ideas than they literally no what to do with.  They all have $0 value (if even that much).  Its all about execution.  Be the person who shuts up and just handles business.

Giving people the accesibility to explore their own visions with existing apps is really unique, I really like it. That feeling of ‘I know exactly how I can make that app better’  is what attracts developers from all skill levels. Considering this as not just a marketplace but an educational tool - Apptopia offers amateur developers the chance to get a feel of what a fully developed app looks like and offers scope for exploration & creativity. But we must not forget the other side - selling apps that may have lost direction and ambition allows other people who may have identified and constructed a clearer vision is where Apptopia makes it easy for them to jump right in and get them moving. I have high hopes for Apptopia and look forward to seeing how the platform grows in the future.