Pinch Media currently works with thousands of mobile application developers, many of whom are very enthusiastic about our service and help us market ourselves by telling other developers about Pinch Analytics. We thought this type of enthusiasm and promotion deserves some kind of recognition. So this week, we are launching our “App Developer’s Corner” on the Pinch Media blog, where we will be profiling developers who have been happy with our service, and have helped us get the word out, in whatever way they can.
Our hope is that sharing the personal experiences of developers on our network will help our readers, prospective app developers, and others understand the intricacies of the mobile app development process, as well as what it takes to go to market and launch a successful mobile apps business.
To start us off, today’s developer profile features Gabe Zichermann, CEO and Co-Founder of beamME, whose products help business professionals efficiently network and organize their contacts electronically. Enterprise / business solutions are still just starting to take off in the App Store, and Gabe certainly took hold of the opportunity early on. Here’s what he had to say about his experience so far:
Gabe, tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Gabe Zichermann, and I’m the CEO and Co-Founder of beamME – the world’s most popular mobile networking suite for professionals. My background includes a long stint in the video game business, including helping to found a company called Trymedia Systems (sold in 2005) and some time spent on B2B networking and platforms at Cisco, Nortel and CheckPoint Software. Since moving to NYC in 2006, I co founded beamME with my business partner, Christopher Cunningham, to make it possible for people to exchange contact information seamlessly from their phones. I’m originally from Toronto, speak 5 languages and love to cook and travel.
How did your interest in developing mobile apps, specifically apps that help professionals network, come about?
I meet a lot of people and was extremely frustrated that I couldn’t easily send my business card using my smartphone – despite the fact that the Palm was able to do something like that 10 years ago. Worse still, I couldn’t receive anyone else’s card digitally, meaning it was impossible to keep track of and manage my real-life social networking. As Chris and I peeled back the onion, we realized that most attempts to do this were poorly executed, especially when it came to requiring that recipients have special hardware, software or registration before being able to make a connection. We thought a bit differently, and the result has been the overwhelming popularity of beamME.
What experience did you have coming into iphone app development?
Chris’ background includes substantial mobile experience – he built a startup called TrekMail which was sold to Visto in 2005. With my games background, I was exposed to a lot of issues in the mobile ecosystem, but I had never worked on a pureplay mobile startup. Neither of us had developed any iPhone software prior to beamME for iPhone.
What made you think of creating the beamME app as a starting point?
Actually, we started by building a successful SMS-based service (you text a number or email address to a shortcode and that delivers your card). But when we saw the simplicity and popularity of the iPhone interface, we realized that an app would make consumers happier. While we still have the SMS based offering, we’ve focused our attention on well-designed, snappy and innovative apps.
How did you go about building a company around your idea?
Since neither of us was new to the startup game, we knew some of the steps. We built a powerpoint, raised some money, built a prototype, raised some more money, then we put out a whole mess of products that weren’t winners. Eventually, we released beamME, and the rest is history.
What has been the most successful strategy/avenue for promoting and increasing visibility for your apps and your company?
Apple’s promotion of apps is certainly very powerful, and working with good people at Apple has been a tremendous asset to our business. Principally however, person-to-person information transfer – where users share apps with each other – seems to result in more durable and revenue-rich new users.
How has Pinch helped with app development, promotion, and marketing?
Pinch really helps us understand our users’ in-app behavior. We like being able to see what people are doing within our apps and how they interact with our software. We get more and better real-time data than Apple provides on usage as well, which makes our business intelligence substantially more…well…intelligent. We’re certainly looking forward to using more of the capabilities of the platform.
Do you have any other advice you’ve learned that you’d like to share?
The iPhone audience is extremely particular. While you may think that people don’t read or care about app quality, appearance or behavior, they really do. Put a tremendous amount of care into your initial design, and continue to refine it with an emphasis on usability and customer satisfaction, and you’ll have a winner.
Gabe’s experience clearly proves that mobile apps are a great solution to business communication, and we can’t wait to see more developers enter this space. For more information on beamME, check out their website and their blog. And as Gabe noted, if you want to know what is actually going on in your mobile application (beyond just daily downloads), register for an account at Pinch Media and let us know if you have any questions in getting started.
- Katherine Pan