TAGP515 Louise Doherty : Lesson Learned Working As A Solopreneur Accepted Into Techstars

plansnap founder

Louise Doherty CEO & founder - PlanSnap talks about how to give a great elevator pitch, what it's like working for an accelerator like Techstars and how to cope in the startup world working for yourself as an app solopreneur.

Resources: Website / Twitter  / Linkedin 

Here are the 3 things I learned from Louise:

  • Techstars look for startups that demonstrate Team, Team, Team, Market, Traction, Idea
  • If you're working as a Solopreneur, it's best to find a good co-working space to surround yourself with other entrepreneurs
  • Really focus on the problem you are trying to solve. In this case, it's the problem of using multiple apps and websites to plan an event with your friends

TAGP514 Jo Overline : The Press Fabricated Fake News About This #1 App

Jo Overline Ugly Mug Founder

Jo Overline has been a successful iOS app creator for over ten years.  He’s built over 30 apps in various categories, and over 30 million downloads under his belt holding the #1 spot in 94 countries.

The “Ugly Meter” app was one of his most successful. He created the controversial app and it propelled him into app stardom where everyone on the planet seemed to be downloading the app. It reached #1 instantly.

Nevertheless, it wasn't all plain sailing because the main stream media made up fake news about Ugly Meter to stir up the controversy and Jo had to deal with the good and the 'ugly' side of the press. 

Get inspired how Jo turned all the press attention into a viable business which meant he now follows his passion for app development with the unique SwingDev.io

Resources: Website / Twitter  / Linkedin / IMDB page / Ugly Meter: The iPhone app that rates your attractiveness” / 

Overline gives Wii owners “The Shaft”

By the way, Ugly Meter appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Daily Mail UK, Huffington Post, Tonight Show w/Jay Leno, NY Post, NY Times
and Hundreds of morning radio/news shows

Here are the 3 things I learned from Jo Overline

  • The easiest way to get free press is to give them a story
  • We often read about app entrepreneurs getting millions of downloads. Maybe we think we can copy the successful formula. Despite our best efforts, sometimes these success stories are just down to good old fashioned luck which cannot be repeated
  • Successful people can be genuinely motivated to help others succeed which is so wonderful about the startup and entrepreneurial world

TAGP513 From Corporate Cubicle Friends To Co-Founders Representing 100 Billion App Launches Per Month

Andrew Levy, Co-Founder & CSO and Rob Kwok, Co-Founder and CTO at Apteligent. 

Apteligent helps monitor performance issues in mobile apps that impact customer experience. Delivering real-time insights across popular devices, OS's, and networks, Apteligent's data spans the entire app lifecycle. Today Apteligent is baked into over 23,000 apps resulting in 100B app launches per month for users across 120 countries, spanning multiple industries and use cases. We’re trusted by 3 of the top 5 credit card issuers, 3 of the top 5 media companies, 3 of the top 5 retailers, and 2 of the top 3 hotel chains with the success of their strategic mobile app initiatives."

Resources: Website / Twitter Rob + Andrew  / Linkedin Rob + Andrew

Here are the 3 things I learned from Robert and Andrew...

  • Even though you are stuck in a Corporate cubicle farm, you could be working alongside your future co-founder
  • You can use a tool from Apteligent to discover more about your users experience such as when the user gets frustrated by the app, when the app is draining battery or killing their data plan
  • Interesting benchmarks from https://data.apteligent.com such as under 4% crash rate for the latest iOS yet Android has over 7%

TAGP512 Prabhjot Singh : Solves The Biggest Problem App Developers Face

Prabhjot Singh Co-Founder and President Of Pyze. Prabhjot helps mobile app publishers solve their biggest challenge - engaging and retaining users.

 

 

Find Prabhjot: Website  / Linkedin / Twitter

Here are the 3 things I learned from Prabhjot

    •    The biggest problem app entrepreneurs face is that people download a lot of apps to their device, but end up using only a handful of apps
    •    The deck is stacked against the Indie App Developer. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the corporatization of the App Store by the big players. It’s very hard now for the indie developer to break in. The big issue is data. The big companies can build these data platforms that track all kinds of information to personalise the app experience for the average person. Indie developers don’t have the same capabilities
    •    Nevertheless, App Stores are still the best way to get distribution of product. You get access to billions of devices with just a couple of places to upload.

TAGP511 Scott Barstow : Leading Without Coding : A How-To Guide for Non-Technical Co-Founders

Scott Barstow, CEO of Rocket Hangar, Advisor at Telestax, Venture Partner, Host of The Scott Barstow Show and Creator of https://scottbarstow.com . If you are, like me, a non-technical entrepreneur without a deep knowledge of coding - then learn about the hacks you can do to work successfully with a technical co-founder. 

Resources: Website / Twitter  / Linkedin 

Here are the 3 things I learned from Scott...

  1. It really is possible to start a tech product without a technical co-founder

  2. Finding and working with a technical co-founder is a little like getting married. It's a good idea to work alongside each other on a project before making such a big commitment 

  3. The ideal startup is comprised of at least 2 founders, but ideally no more than three

TAGP510 Christian Rouffaert : Why Are People Still Putting Ads In Their Apps?

Christian Rouffaert is a Digital Entrepreneur, London, working in Information Technology and Services. Discover a viable alternative to putting rubbish ads in your beautiful apps. Get paid to provide valuable data to the large telco companies. It's GENIUS and a must listen to episode for all small teams of developers or solo Appreneurs.

 

Resources: Website / Twitter  / Linkedin 

Here are 3 Things I learned From Christian Rouffaert:

  1. Ad networks are cumbersome for app developers because of the time intensity to manage them, the SDK integration, the ad blockers and the lack of guarantees over getting paid
  2. You can make money from your app selling user data to big telecoms corporations (instead of frustrating ads)
  3. The life of a 9-5 corporate employee can be equated to a lab hamster (trended #1 on Reddit) 

TAGP509 Alex Austin : Scaling From Nothing To 4 Billion Requests Per Day Has Been A Monumental Task

Alex Austin CEO/Software engineer at Branch Metrics. Alex takes us through his journey. It starts from building lots of apps and desperately seeking downloads, such as a photo printing app, and ends in building an internal product to cope with deep linking challenges which ultimately has led to the extremely successful Branch. It wasn't an easy journey, with lots of 3 am alerts to cope with server issues.

Resources: Website  / Linkedin 

Subscribe [for free] to the show via most major podcasting apps.....

Here are the 3 things I learned from Alex Austin

  1. Starting a startup is a case of 'showing up' every day and figuring it out
  2. Success is finding an interesting problem - yet to be solved
  3. If you are lucky enough to get traction, expect the biggest challenges to be hiring and scaling 

TAGP508 Benjamin Yee: Up Yours University And Corporations Because I'm My Own Boss

Benjamin Yee, Founder of EMERGE App has followed a different path, but one which I think is truly inspirational. If only I heard stories like this before leaving myself for University and then following the standard corporate path.

Ben has:

  • never worked in a corporate 9-5
  • never been to University
  • never had a boss

However, he's running his own successful startup focussing on helping small business owners and solo entrepreneurs like us.

 

 

Click below to subscribe for new episodes

Resources: Website  / Linkedin + Wechat

Here are the 3 things I learned from Ben:

  1. You don't need a University Degree or past Corporate Career to succeed with a tech startup
  2. Living in an expensive city is possible as a startup founder - you simply need to be very mindful of your outgoings and make sacrifices (where possible)
  3. Find a second income, if possible, to subsidize everything else, so you can continue to work on your dream. 

TAGP507 Gret Glyer - Live A Life Of Purpose And Don't Fall Into The Corporate 9-5 Trap

An app that is changing the way we give money. Listen to what it's like to have an appreneur life filled with a purpose to help change the world for the better. 

 

Resources: Website / Twitter  / Linkedin 

Here are the 3 things I learned from Gret...

  1. Going to a private school and being privileged doesn’t mean you have to follow the standard path into a well paid career. You can still live a purpose driven life doing something completely unexpected by your parents and peers
  2. If you live in a First World country (US, UK), you typically have no idea what extreme poverty looks like. It's just like a completely different planet
  3. Start with a real passion to turn your app into something that’ll make a real impact. Gret's app provides funding to people in need living overseas and also changes the way people in the first world see how they are making an impact

TAGP506 Ted Fifelski : Deconstructing The Opportunity In Fintech

Ted Fifelski Founder of Gane.io talks us through the opportunity in financial services. At Gane.io, Ted's built a brilliant team of experts in both fintech and mobile which has resulted in a unique mobile wallet solution.

 

Resources: Gane Website / Twitter  

Here are the 3 things I learned from Ted...

  1. If you are going to be a tech entrepreneur, you really need to know yourself, know your strengths and know what makes you tick
  2. To achieve the results you desire, it's essential to add real value to the consumer experience
  3. The biggest challenge in your startup could be YOU. In everything you do for your startup, the core should be built around the authentic YOU.