App Guy:: Recent Episodes
Paul Kemp App Entrepreneur and Founder of TheAppGuy.co
Paul Kemp, host of The App Guy Podcast Creates Inspiring Founder Stories, Growth Hacking, Funding, Getting Beta Testers, Big Data, Lifestyle, Startups
Here are the 3 things I learned from Derik... The pleasure of working on your own app startup comes from the effort you put in Starting an app is all about asking What Is The Problem, Who Is It Solving For, Can You Speak To These People? Core metrics to focus on are revenue, retention rate for 1,3,7 days and conversion to paid subscriptions
Heini Zachariassen, CEO & Founder at Vivino talks through his journey from taking an app idea and touching 26 million people and selling $40 million worth of wine
Rachel Cook, Founder/CEO at Seeds, talks about hr journey into stock trading, comedy, film directing and the inception of her idea during a night in a Kenyan jail.
Anthemos Georgiades CEO at Zumper talks about his courage leaving a well respected early career in consulting because his idea was passionately burning a hole in his soul
Resources: Website / Twitter / Linkedin
Here are the 3 things I learned from Anthemos...* Often the biggest challenge is to remain focussed when running your startup * The first $1 million is often harder to raise then the next $38 million * Early fund raising is best served by having a single story and focussing on one metric
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Listen to feedback to understand the real problems of your users Doing a startup is not something you do because you think you're going to be successful and the next billionaire like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. If you're leaving a large company to do something on your own, it's got to be such a burning passion within you that you absolutely have to do it It's harder to self-promote when you're asking for help or you're asking a question. A founder has to rely on the kindness of strangers for introductions. In order to get these, you need to be willing to help others first
Sandeep Jain, CEO and co-Founder of Leela Labs Inc. We talk through how listening to inspiring content from podcasts can make a dramatic change in your life.
Here are the 3 things I learned from Lennart...
Customers are always better than equity funding. Customers provide a good way of validating an idea A good PR strategy is to get a booth at Mobile World Congress, get access to the press list, schedule interviews with limited time slots and have newsworthy press releases on several topics every few weeks to follow-up Getting very specific about your metrics is essential. e.g. something like we know 10% of an email list will engage and pledge, so what size list do we need to reach our funding goal on IndieGoGo?
Here are the 3 things I learned from Kay...
Get quotes (with keyword data) from several SEO firms to help validate your idea Spend a majority of your time interviewing potential users before touching a line of code Create a 'toothpaste' type app. In othe
Soren Nielsen, Founder & CEO at ERNIT . His mission is to empower children with real bank accounts and help them understand the value of money. Have you ever heard of the term wine entrepreneurs? No - then listen to this episode.
Alicia Roisman Ismach, Serial Fintech Entrepreneur - Focus on Payment & Banking Technology. Alicia left Argentina at the age of 16 years old. She dreamt of changing the world. Listen to her story of how she is living up to her dream.
Here are the 3 things I learned from Vadim Rogovskiy, CEO of Clickky Start with a low cost side project or hobby to avoid early financial risk You'll know when it's time to quit your day job. In Vadim's case, it was when his side project was earning $10,000 per month Starting your own startup means you'll be the leader of your own life
We talk about Bali, entrepreneurs living adventurous lives, quitting a corporate job and much more...
Here are the 3 things I learned from Zahi...
Starting a startup is HARD. Expect the journey to last 5 to 10 years Start with a problem, build a prototype, get paying customers - only then seek funding Understand the users journey through your app. Zahi discovered 70% of his users were not sharing their location when first asked, hence engagement was very low
Notes from recording an episode of The Eventual Millionaire with Jamie Masters [Tardy] this week.
Adam Barker CEO & Co-Founder at MagnaPass. We talk about raising funds for an early stage startup, real life examples of going through a pre-seed Angel syndicate, aiming for a raise of £300,000 and tips for pitching to groups of investors. Listen out for the entertaining story of sleeping in the car during a snow storm to pitch to investors in the morning.
Here are 3 things I learned from creating this best of show: Focus on your strengths, find the vehicle to share your gifts with the world and have a clear sense of the people you want to serve Solve a real world problem, ensure enough people also think it's a problem, confirm people will pay for your solution before investing the time and money to build your solution Build an audience, listen to want they want then deliver a minimum viable product to test, validate and gain valuable feedback. Follow your data and pivot if necessary
Alex Quilici, the CEO of YouMail. YouMail is an intelligent call manager that stops robocalls with its highly accurate caller ID and smart blocking technology. They’ve developed a monthly robocall index that tracks the scale and scope of invasive robocalls nationwide that has been frequently cited in national media. YouMail was recently called a superior alternative to iOS 10’s Visual Voicemail and Google Voice in a PCMag software review.
David Kingsbury is a personal trainer working with A-List actors on films such as Assassins Creed, The Huntsman, The wolverine, X-Men Days Of Future Past and more. Our mutual friend, Andreas Kambanis introduced us after learning that HEALTH is my theme for 2017. This introduction changed my life forever. I am the healthiest and the fittest I can remember being. I hope this episode inspires you to take all necessary steps toward your healthier future.
Josiah Humphrey Co-Founder and co-CEO at Appster started at the young age of 19. He's taken $3,000 and turned it into a global company with over 350 employees. Learn how Josiah built a sustainable business and pick up some genuine tips to succeed yourself.
Resources: Website / Twitter / Linkedin
Here are the 3 things I learned from Josiah...* Your product is the marketing, so make an awesome app * Find a core problem * Seek feedback, validate by being smart, build a prototype and talk to clients
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Rob Caraway is an appreneur who makes apps that sell. He's an indie app developer, growth hacker, entrepreneur & product guy who's worked on over 20 app projects since 2011. Rob has built and sold an app portfolio of 725,000 downloads which has netted him over $240,000 in only 2 years. We can all learn something from Rob's app journey.
David James, Founder of https://TotalCarCheck.co.uk quit his career in Investment banking to build a #2 top grossing app in the utilities section of the iOS app charts. We talk about how David made technology choices, how he engages users, how he optimises for conversions and the psychology of persuading someone to buy an inApp purchase.
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.
Jo Overline created the controversial app called Ugly Mug. It propelled him into app stardom where everyone on the planet seemed to be downloading the app. It reached #1 instantly. However, it wasn't all plain sailing because the main stream media made up fake news about Ugly Mug to stir up the controversy.
Prabhjot Singh Co-Founder and President Of Pyze. Prabhjot helps mobile app publishers solve their biggest challenge - engaging and retaining users.
It really is possible to start a tech product without a technical co-founder. Listen to an in-depth chat about starting a tech startup as a non-technical founder
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.
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.
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 for University and then the usual corporate city life. Ben has never worked in a corporate or been to university, yet he's a successful startup app founder.
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.
Ted Fifelski Founder of Gane.io talks about overcoming the burden of red tape in the Fin Tech space
Martijn de Kuijper Founder of Revue talks to us about his rocket fuelled Product Hunt launch which attracted over 1,100 upvotes on Product Hunt. Martijn shares with us his story of the ups and downs of being a maker.
Chris Savage Founder and CEO of the video marketing platform Wistia. Chris inspires us about his dream come true: having the opportunity to work alongside his friend from University to build a company.
Dmitry Dragilev., founder of JustReachOut.io Dmitry single handedly grew a startup from 0 to 40M+ pageviews through PR and got acquired by Google a few years back. He has published 1300+ articles in press and has written guest articles for most major tech publications. He currently runs a PR SaaS called JustReachOut and PR coaching course PRThatConverts currently used by 3500+ entrepreneurs and startups to find and pitch journalists without the help of PR firms.
James Eder Founder & Chief Collision Creator @ Causr.co . James recently launched his app startup, but he already has a user who has generated over $500,000 in business as a result of using his app CAUSR. James is seeking a tech co-founder. Can you help?
Vivek Chugh, Founder of Listables walks us through his appreneur journey. Leaving a successful career at Zynga, Vivek devotes himself to his app idea. Listables is a collaborative checklist app built on the back of community. Learn from this inspiring entrepreneur as he talks us through the ups and downs over his 18 month app startup.
Jaan Tallinn : Skype Co-Founder talks about artificial intelligence being our biggest existential threat to a humans as a species.
Paul Kemp , the host of The App Guy Podcast answering your questions on app funding, finding beta testers, doing app launches and more
Shem Magnezi Lead Android Developer @ MyRoll (Acquired by AVG Technologies). His Medium post went viral. It's called:
Fk You Startup World**
We spend this episode looking at the backlash to all the online hype about a life in Startups
Resources: Medium Post / Linkedin
Chris Herbert CEO at TrackR talks about his rollercoaster journey to selling 3 1/2 million TrackR devices. If you are struggling to make it as an app entrepreneur, have you considered making hardware for iPhone / Android? This episode will unravel the truth behind starting a startup focussed on hardware.
Mait Muntel, Founder at Lingvist. This is his first startup, but already he has over 1/2 million beta testers (without a single bit of marketing) and he's got the co-founder of Skype as an early investor. He left the team at CERN who discovered the GOD particle to start this startup. It's an inspirational episode.
Logan Estop-Hall Co-Founder and CEO at Rebel Hack Studios. Logan has a great way of leveraging growth by using data and analysing the hell out of your app users journey. He can unlock growth before you plough money into marketing and PR.
Anthony Martin : How I Went From Fixing Phones In My Dorm-Room To Founding A Multi-Million Startup
Anton Ivanov, investor and founder of DealCheckApp.com is behind the most popular app for real estate investing. Are you into startups? You're in for a treat because Anton gives us valuable tips. For example, the importance of building a quick prototype, doing your market research, getting customer feedback and focusing on your first 100 true fans.
Kazuya Nakamura : Life In Startups After 18 Years At Microsoft. He was recruited to work on windows 95
Reinder de Vries, creator of LearnAppMaking.com can proudly say: "I Have Never Had A Job". Learn what it's like to leave education and start on your own from day one.
Brian David Crane founder of CallerSmart is my inspirational guest today. We talk about his early win, selling a company at the age of 24. We talk about his losing streak with a failed project to conquer 25 countries in 25 months and losing in the 2008 credit crunch. In this amazing journey, Brian transforms his life by building a successful company whilst living as a digital nomad.
Stories from travelling through Asia working as a digital appreneur nomad. In this episode, I give travel tips for Malaysia and Cambodia. Also, I met really awesome people including a Canadian Monk who has lived for 10 years on a $4,000 per year budget.
John Paul is the founder and CEO of VenueNext. Responsible for leading the startup, VenueNext on a mission to set a new and much higher standard for live event experiences for both fans and venue operators. VenueNext is the company behind the Levi’s® Stadium app, a context-aware app that for the first time connects fans with everything the venue has to offer. VenueNext’s platform unifies the venue infrastructure ecosystem giving venue owners access to an entirely new suite of sophisticated software tools and services that enhance business.
Louie La Vella is the president of La Vella Nightlife Marketing and Events. "Louie La Vella's clients are entertainment personalities, nightclubs, concerts and festivals, and he creates strategies to make them a lot of money. Working within the ‘shark infested waters’ of the nightlife and music industry as a marketing and branding consultant, La Vella has been delivering high profit solutions to both live entertainment events and venues for years.
Matt Ruedlinger is the founder and CEO of the marketing firm Triple R Marketing. Matt has been described as “highly creative with an unparalleled understanding of service”. With over 20 years’ experience in Marketing and Sales, Matt has helped small-local businesses and brand-name Fortune 500 companies alike become leaders in their industry. He has worked alongside world-renowned author and sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer, and has helped businesses promote their products at high-profile events such as the Sport Emmy Awards.
Chino Lex is the CEO and founder of tapTrax. He founded an app company called Select Apps. 166 Apps (over 50 of which were Top-Ranking in their categories) and over 5,000,000 users later (with $0 spent in marketing), Chino started working on tapTrax - a rapid music discovery app. He advises for Spreesy, and helps startups with mobile app growth through App Store Optimization (ASO) & user acquisition.
Dennis Tan is the Co-founder and MD of Dashmote. Tech geek/nerd/lover to the max and major (youth) entrepreneurship ambassador/mentor/investor. Entrepreneur with a track record of failures & successes, grateful to have had the opportunity to do business beyond continental borders.
Angela Yu is the founder of London App Brewery. In her own words, Angela is not a female programmer, but rather a programmer who happens to be female. She is also a medical doctor and an iOS developer. In London App Brewery they teach busy people how to make fully functional Android and iOS apps during intensive weekend courses. Through their hands on approach, students learn the structure of a mobile app and its components, key programming design patterns, as well as debugging techniques so that they can easily expand on their knowledge and start working on own apps with confidence.
Jeremy Reeves is the CEO of Kaizen Marketing Inc. He is a sales funnel specialist. They specialize in building strategic, automated sales funnels and uncovering new, untapped profit centers within your business.
Eamonn Carey is the MD of Techstars Connection in partnership with AB InBev program in New York, and he mentors startups on several other accelerator programs around the world. He sits on the board of several early and mid stage businesses and advise several other mid and late companies. Eamonn likes making things that people use including radio shows, TV, online and mobile video, social and mobile games, reward networks, travel and education apps and lots more besides.
Jay Melone is the CEO of New Haircut. At New Haircut, he works with entrepreneurs and executives who are looking for a firm they can rely on to deliver hi-quality, cost-efficient web & mobile solutions. Jay helps founders launch better software by creating customer tested prototypes in 5 days.
Cyril Trosset is the Founder and CEO of Alertfilm. He is a performance focused software developer with an entrepreneurial drive combined with significant experience in a variety of technical domains including coding languages, frameworks & libraries and development techniques. Over the course of his career Cyril has honed his skills as a developer specializing mobile application development. Cyril's educational background supports his experience as he has a Bachelors degree in Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.
Brett Hagler is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Story Charity. Its a startup that crowdfunds houses and transforms slums into sustainable communities. They're a Y Combinator-backed organization, and their co-founders are 2016 Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs.
John Bodrozic is the Co-Founder of HomeZada. He is a second time entrepreneur and loves innovation, building a business and Notre Dame. HomeZada is a digital home platform that manages the information during the entire homeowner lifecycle including owning, selling and buying a home.
Kristian Bouw is the founder and developer of NotionTheory. Helped 30+ companies build & deliver their products to market in web, mobile, hardware & virtual reality. In NotionBuilder they build and deliver products to the market in just 4 weeks. Over 25 startups rely on them to be their stand-in CTO.
Nathan Hirsch is the CEO and founder or FreeeUp. For the past 7 years, Nate has been the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of Portlight, an Amazon Marketplace seller ranking within the top 20,000 sellers representing top toy, baby, and home brands from around the United States. In 2015 He founded FreeeUp with the purpose of providing business owners with an easier solution to accelerating the growth of their company through hiring remote workers.
Alexander Rauser CEO at Prototype. He has over 15 years of experience in the digital media industry with both a creative and a technical background. Alexander's company - Prototype is an Interactive Agency based in Dubai Media City specialized in designing and developing digital solutions. Since 2010 Prototype has continuously worked with leading brands from various industries across the region and contributed to shaping their digital presence.
Jofin Joseph is the co-founder and COO of Profoundis. He is involved in building an app called Vibe. He started off as a web programmer in the dorm rooms, where he started his first company, Openode Labs. After college, he had a short stint at Infosys, further which he started my real journey as an entrepreneur. Jofin is intrigued about solving the data management problem for people focused professionals.
Andrew Couch is the Co-Founder and Executive Officer of Candy Lab. CandyBAR®, which is a product of Candy Lab is a technology toolset that sends people to locations and businesses using custom-branded, location-aware mobile applications. Utilizing cutting-edge beacon and GPS technology, the app immerses the users in your brand and deepens overall participation. The white-label application can enhance any ongoing effort or serve as a standalone platform.
Jonathan Kay is the founder of Apptopia. He is an entrepreneur, an executor and an expert in all things mobile. Apptopia is a mobile data company. We provide insights and intelligence on the mobile app industry. We do this by accurately estimating downloads, revenues, and active users for every mobile app in every country. We also provide deep SDK analysis and recognition.
Vincent Dignan is the founder of Magnific. He is also an expert growth hacker. If your startup needs users or amazing content written he is the one to speak to. He knows how to find people who will love your product. His first book will be released on Kickstarter, May 10th tbc. It will be a play-by-play book on how to growth hack- Get traffic to your website, grow your social community, make revenue. This book will be controversial.
Matthew Turner is the Chief Brand Storyteller in Turndog. He is a Brand Storyteller who helps Forward-Thinking Manufacturers & Social Enterprises thrive in today's fast-paced society. Through his innovative take on Brand Development, he crafts the sort of relationship your customers crave. He also happens to write books, currently working on his third novel, and his largest Non-Fiction Project to date, The Successful Mistake (tdog.co/successfulmistake).
Rush Sadiwala in an entrepreneur who has worked for LIM Advisors, Bravia Capital and Global Endowment Management in the past. He is associated with Zolt App in the present. Zolt gives you bite sized 60 word summaries of the news pulled from the best sources across all categories so that you can quickly get lowdown. Links to the underlying stories are present, so you can read the entire article if you want the full story.
Rochelle Kopp is founder and Managing Principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting, an international training and consulting firm focused on Japanese business. She is a recognized authority on Japanese culture and business practices, particularly Japanese communication style and organizational behavior and decision-making in Japanese firms. A veteran facilitator experienced in delivering training and consulting to both Japanese and non-Japanese, Rochelle has a particular specialty in facilitating cross-cultural team-buildings and other programs for executives. Steven Ganz is an Entrepreneur & Technology Investigator. His passion is in applying the rigor of sound theory to obtain new perspectives and insights into the solution of relevant problems. Whether working with start-ups or research labs, he always tries to look beyond the immediate problem at hand to see how recognition of a common pattern might lead to a potential for adding greater value than previously contemplated.
Martin Stellar is a Business coach for ambitious artists and creative professionals and the owner of the website http://martinstellar.com/. He is also a Prolific writer. Marketing educator. Practitioner of sales magic. Singer. Ex-monk. Psychology fanatic.
Sephi Shapira is the CEO of Escapex and MassiveImpact. With over 20 years of mobile experience, Sephi has founded MassiveImpact to make a ROI driven business out of mobile marketing. Sephi heads MassiveImpact's international operations for the company's five regional offices around the world. Sephi represented several Israeli companies including Amdocs and Comverse in Taiwan from 2000 to 2003, selling their software to local telecommunication companies.
In this episode of The App Guy Podcast Paul Kemp chats with a NY Times Best Selling Author who can write and publish your book with a 12 hour commitment. For a warm introduction, email Paul+book@TheAppGuy.co with the subject : I Want To Publish My Own Book
Denise Terry is the Cofounder/CEO of EmbraceFamily Health, a maternal-child health company developing mobile applications for pregnant and new mothers that helps them have the healthiest possible baby. Our digital obstetrician gives every mom instant answers to hundreds of questions, gives her personalized prenatal plan for what to do and what not to do, and allows her to instantly chat with a real doctor.
Adam Farah : Leaving A Bank Job, Losing On His First Startup And Now Doing A A.I Personal Assistant
Ethan West is the CEO of MXO Pulse. MXO Pulse is the brainchild of Ethan West, a Pennsylvania University graduate. MXO Pulse is a social app with remarkable potential. Unlike other social apps, which are mainly aimed for casual dating or flirting, the app is designed to connect university students based on their mutual interests, and allows them to exchange campus buzz.
Cole Smith is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tresit Group LLC. Cole has earned his experience in the global fields of security, military and management. He enlisted into the U.S Army as a Human Intelligence Specialist and now serves as an Intelligence Officer in the Army National Guard. The remainder of his time was with Diplomatic Security Service as a Special Agent. There, he received various awards including a Superior Honor Award for his missions to Somalia. He was a member of a six-man team that responded to civil unrests during the Arab Spring in Tunis and Egypt. His education consists of a Master in Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts and Associate’s Degree in Intelligence Operations and Arabic.
My guest hires the top 3% of freelance talent to help companies connect to the highest quality developers and designers. I know the best person to talk to whenever you (or anyone you know) needs to hire a great developer or designer quickly. Email me at paul+toptal@theappguy.co
Josh Jacobs co-founder of Rhymeo says now is the time to quit my job and go full-time on my app
Philippe Desgranges Co-founder / CEO at Mana Cube. Here are some exciting quotes from our episode. "...then Apple pushed us Worldwide" and "I made a game for Facebook over the weekend which got millions of downloads"
Paul Kemp looks back on almost 450 episode of The App Guy Podcast to pick up on the big theme - Successful entrepreneurs solve a problem
Paul Martens is the founder of CORA. He is a pioneering design psychology consultant, writer, researcher, television commentator, and author of the bestseller "The Motivated Life". CORA is a free, lightning fast iOS app designed to get you through the daily grind of posting on multiple social networks. Hook up one or all of your favorite social network accounts and broadcast to them all at once.
Eduardo Sanchez is the CEO and Co-founder of Relevant Technology, Inc. RELEVANT is the mobile customer experience management (mCXM) platform that helps businesses retain and acquire new customers by providing an unparalleled mobile experience. They are developers of next-generation mobile presence elements – dynamic bi-directional digital cards – that are distributed via email, text messaging, or even short-range peer-to-peer connections (AirDrop/Bluetooth).
Mark Asquith is an Entrepreneur, speaker & host of the UK's #1 small business podcast, Excellence Expected. Excellence Expected is his way of sharing with you, actionable advice and inspirational initiatives borne from the trials and tests that he faces when running his businesses, along with how some of the most successful entrepreneurs deal with those same trials and tests.
Matthieu Rigolot is the CEO and co-founder of Hiboo, a instant messaging app allowing you to see what your friends are typing in realtime. Currently in private beta and going into public beta very soon. He leads the business development, product vision and strategic partnerships of Hiboo!
Robert Hartline is the CEO of CallProof. He is a shy timid guy who accidentally turned into a salesperson then business owner and now a founder of a tech start-up. Robert is a problem solver who looks to hack a problem via trial and error and sometimes implement technology as part of a solution. But he believes that you can get anywhere with great people in a team with common goals.
Bruno Leveque is the CEO and co-founder of PrestaShop Inc. He is a self-professed "Business-oriented Geek" and is also fascinated by Computer Science and Entrepreneurship. Bruno started developing games since he was 8 years old. He found PrestaShop Inc. in 2007 with a mission to provide world-class ecommerce software through open source innovation. Since day one, open source has been part of PrestaShop’s DNA.
Lex Deak is the founder and CEO of OFF3R. OFF3R is not a crowdfunding originator. OFF3R is an aggregator of publicly available information, you will need to register on each platform and agree to specific terms to access additional investment information. OFF3R is targeted towards investors who are sufficiently sophisticated and/or accredited and understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Investing in early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio.