Meet the founders of Pre-Apps -one of the newest partners joining the BizSpark community . With over 30,000 new apps introduced each month, PreApps is a marketplace to discover, rate, and download the best mobile apps coming soon. They also have an exclusive offer for BizSpark members - you will receive free PreApps featured services ($24.99 Value) using the promo code: BizSpark.
Simply create an account, submit your app and enter the promo code upon check it out.
This interview was conducted by Neha Bhaskar, SR CHANNEL & ECOSYSTEM Marketing Manager at Microsoft, in NYC.
The PreApps Team. You can watch a video demo here
Here is an interview we did with the CEO of the company, Sean Casto.
Tell us a bit about your app and company
PreApps is the exclusive place to preview new and exciting apps coming soon. Our vision for PreApps is to forever enhance the relationship between mobile app developers and mobile app users, which will in turn create better quality, more successful apps. By implementing user feedback in the development process, apps have a greater chance of success, and for users a more enjoyable experience. PreApps provides developers with the tools, knowledge, and resources to increase their app’s chance of success. Our collaborative process has proven to increase an app’s downloads, ranking, and overall quality.
What came first for you-the team or the idea?
The vision for PreApps came first. The idea was first conceived 3 years ago. We began development over a year ago and have been growing our team ever since.
What inspired you to work on this idea and how do you see yourselves evolving?
Our team consists of app developers and we understand first hand the struggles app developers face. PreApps was built to provide developers the tools, knowledge, and resources to over come these struggles. The mobile ecosystem is constantly changing and PreApps will evolve with it. We will continue to improve our services and further provide significant value to the developer community.
What was the most difficult challenge your business faced this year?
As a startup, our biggest challenge has been building our brand informing developers of the advantages PreApps provides to the development community.
How do you know when you are failing in product development and how do you make a correction – do you make the decision on your own, or do you consult your team?
App developers know when they are failing in development when users encounter issues in quality, functionality, and design. Generating quality user feed back prior to an apps release is critical as it eliminates the potential negative reviews posted once the app is released, which will indefinitely ruin an apps status.
Who would you like to be your mentor, and what would you ask him or her?
I believe Mark Pincus (CEO of Zynga) would be a great mentor for PreApps. Mark Pincus has an extensive understanding of the mobile app ecosystem and particularly social games. He could provide invaluable insight into how our organization could further provide value to both the app user and developer community.
Who is your mentor, and what was the last great thing he or she told you and your team?
Chuck Goldman (Founder of Apperian) is one of our great mentors. The last great thing he told our team was to continue to innovate and expand our services for developers.
Who inspired you the most this week, and why?
Richard Branson inspired me the most this week. His recent article“Convincing Investors to Fund Your Tech Startup” provide me with the insight to better position our company to be more appealing to outside investors.
When was the last time you fell in love with a product?
The last time I fell in love with a product was 2 months ago when I downloaded an app titled Analytics Tiles. Analytics Tiles allows me to instantly and conveniently view our PreApps.com analytics in real time.
Is the lean startup process a type of marketing, or is marketing different from customer and product development? How does your company utilize next generation marketing techniques?
PreApps provides developers with the tools, knowledge, and resources to increase their chance of success. Our marketing techniques and quality user feedback results in an increase in app downloads, ranking, and overall quality. PreApps utilizes next generation marketing techniques through social media integration and a user reward system. Our user reward system can be viewed as a next generation marketing technique as users are rewarded for previewing, sharing, rating, apps coming soon.
We hear you have an exciting offer for BizSpark members. Could you tell us more about it ?
We are very excited to announce that all BizSpark members will receive FREE PreApps featured services ($24.99 Value) using the promo code: BizSpark. Simply create an account, submit your app and enter the promo code upon check out! It’s takes less than 2 minutes to post your app and gain expose