Yesterday at the Launch conference, which I did not attend, Steve Espinosa launched AppStack. It won a prize for “best business model.” It’s an SMB (DIY) mobile site and app builder that requires only a phone number to create the mobile site/app.
It’s template driven and the sites/apps look good from what I’ve seen. They have a number of features, including the ability to publish deals and push notifications.
AppStack is the first in what may be a new wave of mobile site and app builders targeting the SMB market. To date Duda Mobile has been the leader in the SMB/DIY segment, and MoFuse has gone after enterprise SMB channel partners to resell its services. But there are a dozen others that offer mobile sites and apps for local businesses — and the market is about to get more crowded.
The two major differentiators for AppStack are 1) the fact that the site can be created with just a phone number and 2) a tie-in with AdWords. Just as it can automate site creation, AppStack automates AdWords campaign creation.
The company has “A-list” investors including Dave McClure, Google Ventures and Tomorrow Ventures. Andrew Shotland is also an investor. (Shotland is on the B+ list [kidding].)
The challenges for AppStack are familiar and two-fold: the perennial challenge of reaching SMBs (notwithstanding its simplicity) and the issue of AdWords campaign management. Ordinary SMBs have limited ability to successfully manage AdWords campaigns and compete for much more limited mobile “inventory” (placements in SERPs). Mobile AdWords campaign management requires additional skill above and beyond typical AdWords campaigns.
In order to appear for any given mobile query, AdWords advertisers essentially need to win one of the top two spots:
AppStack will thus need to pursue a dual DIY-reseller strategy. But its simplicity as an entry level mobile site/app product gives it a leg up. AppStack will undoubtedly soon join the ranks of the other SMB-centric mobile site developers listed on the Google “HowToGoMo” site, including Google’s own “site builder.”
While it’s tough to see AppStack as a long-term stand-alone business it’s easy to imagine AppStack being acquired in the near or medium term and incorporated into a larger suite of services.
March 10th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Actually Greg I’m a Montessori-style investor. No grades. Too stressful for the kids and parents.
While I agree in the long-term that AppStack will need to expand it’s business model, at the moment laser-like focus on mobile site marketing is paying off and appears to have a lot of green field, runway, elbow room, [insert fave biz cliche here], etc.
March 10th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Agree there’s huge opportunity the question is really reaching the audience.
March 10th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Reaching the audience is a big problem. We have an inside salesforce that is helping solve that problem. We offer both DIY or we you get an account manager to do it for you, at no additional cost.
We have a great start already and we power over 2,000 SMBs mobile marketing campaigns, over 1,000 of those have signed up with AppStack directly.
Also worth noting, we barely started accepting customers December 19th
March 11th, 2012 at 12:28 am
Steve: What % of those are doing the AdWords piece?
March 11th, 2012 at 3:49 am
I love this business. Steve are you accepting C- investors?
March 11th, 2012 at 10:37 pm
All of them
March 12th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Surely claiming Dave McClure as an investor isn’t that hard. The guy invests in 500 startups each year.
This looks like a glorified website building company to me. Before they get too far ahead of themselves, I’d suggest that they pay close attention to the progress of the likes of Reach Local over recent years. If you’re not generating significant ongoing value for local businesses over a long period of time, then you will have high levels of churn, and your company will burn.
March 13th, 2012 at 8:55 pm
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