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Apps have changed the way we communicate, shop, play, interact and travel and their phenomenal popularity has presented possibly the biggest business opportunity in history.
In How to Build a Billion Dollar App, serial tech entrepreneur George Berkowski - one of the minds behind the internationally successful taxi hailing app Hailo - gives you exclusive access to the secrets behind the success of the select group of apps that have achieved billion-dollar success.
Berkowski draws exclusively on the inside stories of the billion-dollar app club members, including Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Candy Crush, Square, Viber, Clash of Clans, Angry Birds, Uber and Flipboard to provide all the information you need to create your own spectacularly successful mobile business. He guides you through each step, from an idea scribbled on the back of an envelope, through to finding a cofounder, building a team, attracting (and keeping) millions of users, all the way through to juggling the pressures of being CEO of a billion-dollar company (and still staying ahead of the competition).
If you've ever dreamed of quitting your nine to five job to launch your own company or you're a gifted developer, seasoned entrepreneur or just intrigued by mobile technology, How to Build a Billion Dollar App will show you what it really takes to create your own billion-dollar, mobile business.
- Sales Rank: #47523 in Books
- Published on: 2015-03-03
- Released on: 2015-03-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.25" h x 1.50" w x 6.25" l, 1.37 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 480 pages
Review
A fascinating deep dive into the world of billion-dollar apps. Essential reading for anyone trying to build the next must-have app―Michael Acton Smith, Founder and CEO, Mind Candy
A practical guide on how to start your mobile app company. A must read for anyone who wants to start a mobile app business―Riccardo Zacconi, founder and CEO King Digital (maker of Candy Crush Saga)
I loved this book. It provides an entertaining and rigorous yet very practical guide to success in the brave new world of mobile technology. I will never look at apps the same way again―Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup
The first book to take a detailed, insightful behind-the-scenes look at the mobile app world. A must read for anyone who wants to know what it takes to build an app into a successful business―Hugo Barra, VP, Xiaomi (and former VP, Android Product Management, Google)
In his new work, George Berkowski delivers a compulsively readable business book; it's a rollicking yet rigorously detailed ride through the process of creating a breakthrough app-based business. Berkowski's engaging account of the rise of the app economy provides an insider's view on entrepreneurial best practices, as illustrated by first-hand insights into the people - and their ventures - who have triumphed by exploiting the mobile revolution. It's a richly rewarding read―Jeffrey F. Rayport, Faculty, Harvard Business School
Distilling lessons from the leading mobile internet startups, George offers unique insight into the app economy, the biggest and fastest wealth-creating opportunity in history―Paul Forster, co-founder and former CEO, Indeed
George has combined his own experience at Hailo with a thoughtful study of the iconic mobile companies of this era to provide a helpful guide to entrepreneurs and investors trying to understand the emerging mobile economy―Adam Valkin, General Partner At General Catalyst Partners, And Formerly Venture Partner At Accel Ventures
George Berkowski knows from the front line how to build fast-scaling digital businesses. Don't start one of your own without taking his advice―David Rowan, Editor, Wired magazine
About the Author
George Berkowski is a serial entrepreneur who has built businesses in manned space flight, online dating, transportation and mobile apps. He is one of the minds behind the internationally successful taxi hailing app Hailo where he led the product team until September 2013. George studied rocket science and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and business at the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris. He was Chairman of MIT's Enterprise Forum in the UK and is heavily involved in the UK and US startup scenes. George now divides his time between London and Silicon Valley.
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Mobile Some interesting statistics about mobile A typical smart phone user looks at their phone about 150 times ...
By Ron Immink
How to Build a Billion Dollar App: Discover the secrets of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time by George Berkowski
Do you want to become a billionarie? We do. Actually some of our clients are billion dollar companies. When we reviewed Peter Thiels book, from one to zero, we were hoping we would find the answers and help some of our 10-100 million clients to become billion companies.
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel suggests you should focus on next practice and create a monopoly based on something unique.
That he total net profit that you earn on average over the course of your relationship with a customer (Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV) must exceed the amount you spend on average to acquire a new customer (Customer Acquisition Cost, or CAC).
That you should only start your company with people you know very well and that purpose, cult and culture binds it all together.
To be honest, his book is near to being glib. It is only interesting because Thiel wrote it.
George Berkowski
George Berkowski also writes about how to get to a billion. But he describes the journey from idea to a billion in detail. Using his work with Hailo as the template. It is a cracker. Should be compulsive reading for every entrepreneur. For every business.
Combines the real life journey with a lot of the latest thinking on design, organisational development, data, marketing, communication, innovation, customer care, finance, fund raising. And because the talks about it in the context of apps and software it is at high speed.
Mobile
Some interesting statistics about mobile
A typical smart phone user looks at their phone about 150 times per day’
The smart phone in your pocket today is about 5 times faster than a Cray-1 supercomputer (1979 vintage), and as powerful as the most powerful computer in the world in 1987.
A Cray-1 couldn’t make phone calls, or tell you where in the world you were standing, or tell which direction was north, or even allow you to read your email.
China ended 2013 with 618 million Internet users, of which 500 million were mobile Internet users.
In 2015, the number of smart phone users is expected to hit 2 billion.
Mobile now accounts for 40 per cent of time spent on social media.
Facebook has passed the 50 per cent mobile-usage mark and Pinterest is at 48 per cent.
Together, these two players are responsible for 56 per cent of social-media-generated e-commerce
In 2013, the average US consumer spent an average of 2 hours and 38 minutes per day on their smart phone and tablet. That’s almost one-fifth of the time we spend with our eyes open.
Those consumers spend 80 per cent of that time (2 hours and 7 minutes) using apps and only 20 per cent (31 minutes) on the mobile web
75 per cent of people are always within five feet of their smart phone, and 10 per cent have used one during sex.
Sharing information about ourselves is intrinsically rewarding and gives us a few squirts of dopamine every time we do
Android will run on 1.9 billion devices by the end of 2014, compared with about 700 million for Apple’s iOS operating
In 2012 there were about 4,000 unique devices running Android; in 2013 it was around 12,000.
About 600 different companies manufactured those devices
Wearable
The age of powerful, helpful, life-changing, wearable computers is upon us. From mobiles, wearables, Google glass and Oculus VR. Imagine how the world is going to look like when they reach maturity (and it will be quicker than you think, read “The second Machine age” if you don’t belief it).
THE IDEA AND GETTING TO ONE MILLION
Take your pick
The idea needs to be big and it needs to be global as mass appeal is a core component of far-reaching disruption. Here are 67 human univerals that are global in its appeal:
Age grading, athletic sports, bodily adornment, calendar, cleanliness training, community organisation, cooking, cooperative labour, cosmology (study of the universe), courtship, dancing, decorative art, divination (predicting the future), division of labour, dream interpretation, education, eschatology (what happens at the end of the world), ethics, ethno-botany (the relationship between humans and plants), etiquette, faith healing, family feasting, fire making, folklore, food taboos, funeral rites, games, gestures, gift giving, government, greetings, hailing taxis, hairstyles, hospitality, housing, hygiene, incest taboos, inheritance rules, joking, kin groups, kinship nomenclature (the system of categorising relatives), language, law, luck superstitions, magic, marriage, mealtimes, medicine, obstetrics, pregnancy usages (childbirth rituals), penal sanctions (punishment of crimes), personal names, population policy, postnatal care, property rights, propitiation of supernatural beings, puberty customs, religious ritual, residence rules, sexual restrictions, soul concepts, status differentiation, surgery, tool making, trade, visiting, weather control, weaving.
The billion dollar founder statistics
0.07 per cent of funded startups become billion-dollar companies
Only 43 companies managed it.
It takes 7 years. The average age of founders is 34.
The average number of founders is 3.
They have worked together for many years before.
All founders have a technology background.
80% had earlier start up experience.
33% were from Stanford.
The majority of founders had a technical degree.
More then half are based in Silicon Valley.
The 5 business models
1. The first is gaming, where users pay for a virtual service or good.
2. The second is e-commerce / marketplace, where users pay for a real world good or service.
3. The third is advertising (or consumer audience building in the case where the company has not yet switched on the advertising).
4. The fourth is Software as a Service (SaaS), whereby users pay for cloud-based software (typically via a subscription model).
5. And the last is enterprise, whereby companies pay for larger-scale software (again, via a subscription-type model).
The first steps
Start with a big problem, a novel solution and a huge market ready to adopt it. Then build a great product that users love, and then prove they love it with data showing they are willing to pay for it. Combine that with a robust strategy that attracts users systematically and at a cost that is less than what users will potentially generate in revenue for your app.
Get out there and test your great idea for an app, put it on paper, and start getting feedback. As you flush out a great design, start prototyping it. Test all the time.
His tips at start up stage:
Three key roles need owners:
someone must lead the product vision
someone needs to build the technology
and someone needs to be focused on getting users and generating money.
Ideas are a penny a dozen. It’s execution that’s worth money.
Once you’ve combined your huge idea with a huge market, it’s time to find a cofounder. Look for chemistry, skills and passion. Get a test drive. Go on holidays together. No experts, advisors or coaches.
Creating the identity for your business . Creating a robust name and brand from the very beginning is critical.
A great name is 10 times better than a good name. First Impressions count. Is your name short, catchy and memorable? Is your name distinctive? Is your name clever? Can your name become a verb? Do you own the domain? Spend money on designing logo, branding
The most important question you can ask yourself, as an entrepreneur, is, How much do I want to sacrifice to achieve success?
The companies that generated revenues from day one are the ones who wield the real power, create the most value and, most importantly, control their own destinies.
To iOS or to Android? A great approach is to focus on one platform and make it a success. iOS is easier.
Focus only on the absolutely necessary and ensure wow. Learn from the best and study screen shots. Then
Start with paper and screen shot
Test everything
Map out the wire frames (and test them)
Test the user journey (and test them)
Create a slide by slide PowerPoint outline (and test them)
Get a designer involved
Translate your wireframes into pixel-perfect mockups of your app (and test them)
Focus on function
Use Protio.io
Start coding
Get a user group
Measure
Test everything
The metrics
Acquisition: users downloading your app from a variety of channels and users enjoying their first ‘happy’ experience on your app;
Retention: users coming back and using your app multiple times;
Referral: users loving your app so much they refer others to download it;
Revenue: users completing actions on your app that you’re able to monetise.
CAC, or the Customer Acquisition Cost, the price you need to pay for someone to download and install your app.
CPD, the Cost Per Download.
If you’re looking for investment
You should be able to show a solid download-to-user-acquisition rate of around 80–90 per cent (always shoot higher).
You should be able to activate upwards of 50 per cent of your users.
In terms of retention, this depends on whether you’re a gaming app (where the leading apps keep people coming back daily) or an e-commerce app (typically, users come back 1–4 times per month).
You’re generally going to see only a small proportion – generally 2–5 per cent – of users who actually invite a significant number of others to download your app.
At this stage, any metrics around revenue are going to be great news – and a bonus.
Dealing with investors
Key lesson at this round with investors. Make sure you understand everything and don’t sign if you are not comfortable.
GETTING TO TEN MILLION
You now should have an app that users LOVE. That means that at least 40 per cent of users saying they would be ‘very disappointed’ without your product.
The triggers
You need to discover the triggers that drive people to want to download, use and talk about your app. Ask yourself:
The top five emotions you want your app to elicit
The top fifty words that describe your app
The top fifty words that describe your brand
The top customer needs your app satisfies and benefits it delivers • The top problems your app solves
The top fifty words that describe your competitors’ apps
The top fifty words that describe your competitors’ brands.
The engines
You now need to build the engines. The growth engine and the revenue engine. You need a systematic way to grow your user base. That involves being able to test new user-acquisition channels, test their effectiveness and then figure out what kind of lifetime value (LTV) they generate. Similarly, you need to validate how your app is going to make revenue.
And you need to start recruiting. You need to start building a communication infrastructure. You need n organisation structure.
His learning:
Small teams
Become product centric
Test, try, measure
Say “no”, keep focus
Keep shipping
Do not outsource development
Get a VP of engineering
Always recruit
Kill features to find out what users really love
Create an organisational DNA of customer support
Deliver delight
Use Net Promoter Score
The customer is always right
Create new metrics
Average transaction value (ATV)
Annual revenue per user (ARPU)
Life time value (LTV)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Share the metrics across the company
Don’t put in analytics too late
Focus on emotion (love or hate). Do not get stuck in the middle. Get a reaction.
Explore the new channels
Allocate 3 to 6 months for A round
HUNDRED MILLION
The rule
‘Simply put, does adding $1 in sales and marketing resource generate $2+ of revenue? That means focusing on business model, profit margin and product development.
The questions
• Should I go for growth (acquire more users, generate more revenue, at the cost of profitability)?
• Should I aim for profitability (sacrifice some user and revenue growth but retain more control and potentially position myself to fund my own growth and not give away more of my company to investors)?
His tips:
Share and learn from your VC portfolio brothers and sisters
Get a VP in marketing
Branding becomes more important
Measure everything
Do not rely on traditional channels
Focus on Facebook
Focus on big data
Keep users coming
Measure retention
Build a CRM system
Find the fanatics
Stay relevant
Focus on empathy with your customers
Start focusing on internationalisation
Be smart in your strategy
Languages
Every character on the screen counts
Look at China
Create a playbook
Ensure your customer acquisition cost (CAC) to be less than your lifetime value (LTV)
Focus on virality
Your viral coefficient, K = X × Y × Z, where:
X is the percentage of users who refer or invite other users to download your app;
Y is the average number of people they invite (over a specific period of time);
Z is the percentage of people invited who download your app.
There is another metric that affects your virality: cycle time. This is the average amount of time between when an existing user initiates a ‘referral’ (invites a new user to the app), and the moment the new user downloads the app. The shorter this period is, the faster you grow
Hire for tomorrow, not for today
Know your organisational chart
Keep recruiting
Organise Friday updates
Organise all hands meetings
Create clarity on targets and goals
Communicate the metrics daily
Hire a scrum master
The typical timing between closing a Series A funding round and landing a Series B round is around 600 days
FIVE HUNDRED MILLION
The moment you have been waiting for
At this point all the rules change. You have reached an inflexion point. Scaling is where you – the founder and entrepreneur – create the most value and generate financial rewards. This is, after all, the moment you have been waiting for – the time to show the world that your app can become the undisputed leader
His lessons:
Beware of premature scaling
Never hesitate to filter out the weak, under performing employees.
Don’t hire reactively. Hire because that’s the absolute best thing to do.
Over-invest in your management team.
Craft a clear vision for what an optimal organisation would be like to take your company global, which helps to recruit the right people into the right roles.
Hire big hitters
Scale the marketing team
Delve deep in the data
Your business model will start blurring (online goes off line)
Always be recruiting
Scale engineering
Keep product centric
Don’t organise around technology or skills or functions
Make sure that you build teams into self-empowered squads or units
Apply the two pizza rule
Invest in people, not infrastructure.
Hold out for exceptional engineers, the 10x employees, the ones who deliver above and beyond.
For all future hires, no matter for what team, the final say would be made by a senior executive with this ‘power of hire’. This ensured that there was an incredibly high – and consistent – bar for hiring.
Fire quick
Have an onboarding programme
Communication is key
Understand the difference between makers and managers
Minimise meetings
Meetings disrupt makers
Facebook has a loose policy called ‘No-Meeting Wednesday’
Have a meeting policy and schedule
Things that work well at small-scale tend to break at large-scale
You need to instrument your system so you can see when things are reaching the breaking point well before they break.
There is always one problematic component in a system that causes the majority of the scaling problems and must be rewritten
Loose coupling of components is critical. Blameless postmortems are the key
Overreacting to a crisis is likely to make it worse.
Overbuilt systems are hard to implement, manage and scale.
ONE BILLION
And this is where it gets interesting…..
You need to keep tuning your business model, you need to keep your users ecstatically happy and you need to look out for disruptive innovation. But what is the key lesson?
Culture
Culture, culture, culture. Your advantage is not the hardware. It is your people. So how do you create culture at scale.?You start at the beginning (at start up). You lead by example. You recruit on cultural fit and passion. You recruit the best. You are transparent. You deliver the perks. You let them to get on with it.
More metrics
And the proof is in the metrics. The revenue per employee of Netflix is $ 2.2 mln, the profit per employee for Apple is $ 460,000. So they can afford to hire the best. And keep the best by allowing to play.
Purpose
Telling your staff that the company is a playground (a well kitted out one), for them to solve meaningful problems, that is the ultimate retention tool.
Other billion dollar CEOs
He finished with advice from other billion companies:
Delegate, Spread the load at high growth
Make decisions fast. It is about momentum
Vision and mission statements are important
You need entrepreneurs, producers, administrators and integrators on your management team
Be totally transparent
Start reading to learn
Hire only people who you want in your top 10, even if it number 400 in your company
Open communication
Create serendipity
In summary
His summary at the end, which is not far off from Peter Thiel:
Build a truly great product
Hire the best and infect people with your vision and mission
Develop a solid business model
Excellence is a product of practice
Steve Jobs
The last page is a quote from Steve Jobs.
Do what you believe is great work. Love your work. Don’t settle.
Other books we covered with Bookbuzz
Everything in this book confirms a lot of thinking that has been described in the many books we have covered in Bookbuzz
Overconnected (designed for delight)
Digital disruption (platforms)
Power brands (marketing)
Metaskills (makers and design)
How Google works (HR)
The Alliance (HR)
The Thank You Economy (Culture)
Delivering happiness (Customer service)
Talent masters (Talent)
Reinventing organisations (organisation structure)
Do it! (move)
A cracker
And I can go on. An absolute cracker. By a guy who has been there and not only bought the T-shirt, he wore it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Must read for anyone wanting to build a mobile startup
By Brian
Love this book! I work for a startup so I can relate to the experiences highlighted. Over the last year I've been reading everything I can get my hands on to launch my own startup...and conveniently every topic you can imagine is laid out in this book in an easy to digest format. I'd highly recommend you read this book if you work for a startup or want to launch one. The advice and guidance is practical and immediately actionable.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent New Guide for Mobile Apps Development and Marketing - Explains Big Picture but Give Rigorous but Practical Advice
By Bill Aulet
There are lots of books out there ABOUT entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship that are interesting reads but very few that really help you to BECOME a successful entrepreneurs. This is one of those rare books that takes on the challenge of doing the latter and doing it well.
The author analyzes opportunities in a very intelligent manner (love the effective use of data in the book) and then lays out the decision points to frame the problem/opportunity and decision tools to resolve the decision point. Once this is done, he then goes through and gives very specific recommendations and resources that make this book much more concrete than other books. It gives the reader/student/aspiring entrepreneur a clear pathway to optimize the chance of success for his new app. It is very well done from seeing the big picture to giving the reader the next step they should take -- and why.
I was a bit dismissive of "apps" when they first came out but now it is clear they are the future as the world moves from desktop computers to mobile apps and this is an invaluable tool to help the next generation in their "gold rush" for billion apps -- or to just have a super positive impact on the world. Don't be fooled by the gold and billion dollars clickbait on the front, these lessons can help you if you are a social entrepreneur, corporate entrepreneur or really any type of entrepreneur involved in the mobile space.
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