jckay

After 200+ Apptopia developers email'ed Apple, and after 15+ months of hustle its finally possible!

Really wild point. So malicious, but i guess in the same sense that would be a "clever" way to "pay yourself". The seller is someone we have worked with before and has multiple listings with Apptopia (and has had them for a few months now). They also have separate payment profiles. So if they are the same, they have gone through great lengths to hide it...

Still good to keep an eye on. Thanks for making me think through it.

Post Updated to reflect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses

Thanks for pointing this out guys. JK

I really appreciate the kind words.

Wow. This is an amazing point, and quite honestly i am sorry for not including it. My intent is to have people DO SOMETHING WITH IT. Not just to look at it. I want people to very much do anything they find of value with it. Would that be more GPL or BSD? I will update the post...

You make a really fair point. In fact, its why most really successful apps (and software companies in general) all have a free-to-paid model or some sort of trial basis.

With Apptopia, we build in a "Code Review" layer. So if you are concerned about the quality of the code you are buying we can dive as deep as you would like before the acquisition is final.

Also, all apps listed on Apptopia are currently on an app store (so all buyers can and should be testing the apps as a consumer, before acquiring it).

Either way, appreciate you getting involved in the conversation. Hope the code is of some value to you =)

Jonathan

Most app developers can only monetize 10-15% of their users via "common methods". Selling your app allows you to monetize 100% of that user base. Not such a bad deal.

Really emphasizes the need to prepare NOW for these types of opportunities. Especially now that we are talking about $100's of millions (if not Billions of dollars).

Sounds a little bit like the wild wild west / gold rush to me. I like it.

Scotty - thank so much for the shout out man, this is Jonathan, I am the founder of Apptopia. To help add some value to the convo:

We actually partner with AppBusinessBrokers - good guys. They handle the $200,000+ spectrum while we really specialize in the $1,000-$150,000 range. SellMyApplication is unfortunately more of a marketing site and lack the real data/stats and the ability to help with the actual transfer.

We are happy to help however we can, and actually thought you might find this informational post about iOS transfers specifically really valuable: http://blog.apptopia.com/iosappstransfer/

Hey Nick - a quick Devil's Advocate thought for you. I have heard a lot of people lately say that they want to sell ______ (insert anything) and that is has a lot of potential. They are working on another project and need the money to move that project forward.

I challenge you, as I have challenged these people in the past, if it has "that much" potential than why not continue to do it yourself?

I am sure if you saw an opportunity to make a lot of money, you could get past the idea of working with investors, and media folks. Shit if you made enough money you could just hire someone to handle it.

Thoughts?

Jonathan

@tamdenholm - I am creating a company called Apptopia - we will be almost exactly that. A marketplace to broker the sale of mobile app (micro business acquisitions).

Have fantastic traction so far, and I have a handful of apps already for sale if you were interested I am @jonathanckay.

Just saw someone comment....361 paid signups in 3 months. Well shit that is pretty good. Thoughts? Would you really shut down a shop that had over 100 new paid signups a month?

Its crazy how much business is similar to both dating and friendship. I find those people who I enjoy working with the most, treat them very similarly.

Interesting...First of @Ksablan - you did use the word Lie...and secondly while at first i thought it was a huge deal...its really not. The point of the metric is social sharing...and Comments, likes and shares are all social sharing you know? No need to get more granular than that i think

"Gut level craving" - that is what hit home for me. Enjoyed this. thanks.

I like the UI a lot. Curious though, so when i click on Android - it wont let me see the deals?

Does that mean i have to actually sign up and wait for the daily emails - or is there a platform that allows me to go on the site and see what the deal is?

Because of their online presence, and their partnership with Starbucks.

Really?? Have you ever worked with companies like youtern? Internmatch? There are some cool options out there for virtual interns but just unclear if there is less value for both parties?

I have multiple students, with tons of passion, from great schools wanting to work at my company - but i feel like it would be difficult without being able to sit next to the kid and really teach them / explain what we need!

Aren't there a ton of apps that do this, or something very similar. I did a Google search and found a pretty solid top 25 list http://www.solutionwatch.com/450/25-to-do-lists-to-stay-prod...

I am just curious how this one stands out?

Robert - not sure i understand the strong negative reaction?

Have you had any experience or interaction with these 3 brands? Is there any precedent that would lead you to think we would want names & emails, or have any intent of spamming anyone for that matter? The reason the 3 of us choose to join forces on this project is because we all try and engage with entrepreneurs, not market at them.

I am sorry if you have had a negative experience in the past with sponsors, but this offer my friend is a genuine one. Last year we attended multiple BarCamps and had an absolute blast, the feedback that we got from the communities was overwhelming appreciation and hope that we would come back again next year.

We are not asking for everything, in fact we only want to be involved with what you need help with. I think its so AMAZING that you have such overwhelming support from sponsors in your community, but in our experience there are still tons of barcamps struggling to solve a few pain points. Or in some cases (like BC Charlotte), they don't even want our monetary support but just wanted us to come participate and meet their community.

The bottom line is, this is something new and we are going to make mistakes & learn as we go. All i know is that we want to find a way to make barcamps even more awesome...and i hope people are willing to work with us to help make that possible.

Jonathan

Ha! Tampa was one of the BarCamps which inspired this...did you see the post on Grasshopper Group which talked about it? http://grasshoppergroup.com/barcamp-tour-2011-grasshopper-gr...

This shit is really fascinating.

One crazy example i have seen is this site which allows you to buy a video recorded from your favorite celebrity. So for instance pay $1000 and get a Justin Bieber autograph and a video of him signing happy birthday to you - that you can play at your 8th grade bday party.

And x% goes to charity. Really cool stuff. People are getting innovative and celebrities will always be influential.

I think this is a bit idealistic. Especially in the entrepreneurial world, with your mind constantly spinning on new ideas. Sometimes it can even be challenging to take the weekend off.

The one thing i just love about this is the "Do Something Cool". This is something i have tried to do even on my weekends, something as simple as take a 2-3 hour walk. Or try and get lost and find my way home.

Silly stuff like that, but the second you truly relax and let your mind wander you actually start to be MORE creative. I would love to instate something where employees must take a one hour walk a week!

Why would NYT want to get into this business? Do you think its as simple as: "people dont pay for newspapers anymore, and we know we can use our huge circulation to make money somehow?"

Hey Guys,

Interesting article - just tweeted it. While i wouldnt say i am part of the "lean startup cult" - i must say i really like their stance on Pivoting.

The Flickr example is a great one, smart companies, the truly smart ones you find always had to pivot a few times. It has certainly happened at the company i work for (Grasshopper).

We used to be called GotVMail - we realized that being voicemail focused wasnt the right strategy, and that really we were a communications solution for entrepreneurs. We bit the bullet, as pivoting is always taking one step back to go forward. But its been amazing for our business ever since.

Good luck!

Have you looked into Charles Schwab? I have a good friend who literally raves about them. He compares their level of banking customer service to that of Zappos retail customer service.

That is quite the compliment if you ask me. Might be worth checking out! Its huge to be able to get someone on the phone who is helpful and caring - esp when you are a small business.

I heart Andrew Warner. So would always recommend his interviews.

Outside of that...you have to hand it to Wufoo, simple is what wins these days. Take Go Daddy for example...if you were to look at their dashboard for more than 2 minutes you would have a spinning headache..constantly trying to upsell and show you more information than you can handle.

Simple wins (and is worth paying for).

I think that is the most important question. How many, or rather what percentage of the free users stayed on 2 weeks after the article?

How much other press did you get? When i look at at site (and a lot of Gen Y) I look for at least 3-4 pieces of "social proof"...Mashable would definitely be one, but i am looking for a handful other before i "buy".

If i were you i would use the Mashable effect to parlay it into more press at other small/medium size outlets, That is how you could really get the most value out of the hit.

This is a crazy interesting article. Just for starters i think Option #3 is the best. Taking a "loan" from the company is the most simple, least complicated approach.

What i think is even more interesting is the idea of " what percentage of the company is "sweat equity" worth?" - I recently was working with someone to start up a company. I was not going to be able to put in as much sweat equity as she was right away and we ultimately could not agree on legal terms we both felt comfortable with.

Any one have any experience in this?