AppSumo

AppSumo
Type of site
 Daily Deal
Available in English
Owner Noah Kagan
Website appsumo.com
Current status active

AppSumo is a daily deals website for digitally distributed goods and online services.[1] AppSumo was founded in March 2010 by Noah Kagan.[1][2][3][4] Today the company has over 700,000 active subscribers.[5]

History

Beginnings

Kagan, a former Intel, Facebook, and Mint worker, began the company after seeing an opportunity to sell web applications for startups.[3][4][6]

AppSumo was originally created in one weekend using an outsourced team in Pakistan for $60.[7][8] Kagan bootstrapped the company, eventually accepting limited outside funding, including a "staggering" $20.47 from his mother, Debra.[9][10][11]

AppSumo's first deals were with Imgur and Lifehacker.[8]

Growth

Initially, AppSumo focused only on digital tools, such as apps. The company found that their largest response came from their learning offerings.[12][13] Today, the majority of deals offered are learning based products attempting to teach customers skills such as programming languages, project management, and hiring practices.[14][15][16] This helped AppSumo achieve over $1 million in revenue in the first year, the majority (60-80%) stemmed from learning offerings.[12][17]

After conversations with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Kagan was convinced to focus solely on growth, specifically of AppSumo’s email list.[7][18] To accomplish this, Kagan increased advertising budgets which led to more long term customers.[12] In addition, he increased the frequency of both AppSumo’s advertisements and customer emails.[12][19] This allowed AppSumo to grow their email list to over 200,000 in the first year.[8][13]

The final problem Kagan attributes to the growth on AppSumo was hiring practices.[12][20] The first issue was removing himself from many of the roles he served when bootstrapping the company.[19] Next, he hired more sales people to source more deals for the website.[13][17][20] These two changes Kagan cites as a major reason for AppSumo’s long term success.[12][20]

Description

AppSumo, in contrast to other popular deal sites (Groupon, LivingSocial) deals exclusively with digitally distributed goods. The deals include application software (apps), ebooks, learning courses, and other packages.[2][10] Many of the site's deals are aimed towards productivity products and website tools,[2] such as copywriting courses, email marketing, or project management apps. This has made the website particularly popular within the startup community.[6][10][21][22]

Due to the digital nature of the products, there is more flexibility than in traditional models. There is no cost for shipping or reproduction, so the profit margin can be much greater than traditional deal websites.[23] The benefit also extends to customers, as greater deals can be offered. Typically deals of 50 to 75% off retail price are offered.[2]

AppSumo takes a percentage of sales from every deal, typically 50% of sales.[24][25]

Reception

AppSumo has been well received by many individuals, startups, and established businesses that cite AppSumo for helping them acquire both new customers and valuable resources.[22][25][26] It has been featured in major news publications like Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Business Insider, PC Magazine, PCWorld, LifeHacker, and TechCrunch.[1][2][22][26][27][28][29][30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kincaid, Jason (July 21, 2010). "AppSumo Offers Web Software On The Cheap, Targets Latest Deal At Entrepreneurs". TechCrunch.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Duffy, Jill (February 16, 2012). "AppSumo". PCMagazine.
  3. 1 2 Lang, Ben (November 30, 2011). "An Interview with Noah Kagan: Founder of Appsumo". EpicLaunch.
  4. 1 2 Ferriss, Tim (September 24, 2011). "How to Create a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend".
  5. ↑ "NOAH KAGAN". Business of Software.
  6. 1 2 Goh, Daniel (April 27, 2011). "AppSumo – Big Deal On Web Tools For Entrepreneurs". Young Startups.
  7. 1 2 "Noah Kagan Interview". FounderLY. August 2, 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 Walling, Rob (September 1, 2011). "Ten Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups". Software by Rob.
  9. ↑ "AppSumo.com Raises Round with a Top Angel". AppSumo Blog.
  10. 1 2 3 Howard, Ane (April 18, 2012). "Four start-ups that may actually help small businesses". Vator News.
  11. ↑ "Startups That Are Still Bootstrapped". Silicon India. April 13, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "How Noah Kagan Built A List Of Over 600,000 Followers (After Getting "Fired" From Facebook)". Marketing Show.
  13. 1 2 3 Garland, David. "Getting Naked with Noah Kagan: How He Started AppSumo for $50 and Got Over 500,000 Subscribers". The Rise to the Top.
  14. ↑ "Level up your jQuery and JavaScript through interactive games with Code School". AppSumo.
  15. ↑ "Make project management more manageable". AppSumo.
  16. ↑ "Learn Chief Sumo's Proven Automated Hiring Formula". AppSumo.
  17. 1 2 "What is the difference between a $100,000 sales person and you?". AppSumo Blog.
  18. ↑ "Gambit Co-Founder Reveals His Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistakes And What He Learned – with Noah Kagan". Mixergy.
  19. 1 2 "James Schramko and Noah Kagan Impart Solid Business Philosophies". Times Union. April 23, 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 Schramko, James. "Noah Kagan And James Schramko Discuss Appsumo.com And Related Internet Business Ventures During Breakfast". Internet Marketing Speed.
  21. ↑ Sethi, Ramit (January 12, 2011). "How Mint.com's Noah Kagan Turned A Single Cab Ride Into A $250,000+ Payday". Business Insider.
  22. 1 2 3 DesMarais, Christina (April 29, 2012). "10 Fantastic Websites You Need Now". PCWorld.
  23. ↑ Lee, S (January 7, 2012). "How AppSumo Defeats the Daily Deal Debacle". SLee and Topher.
  24. ↑ Roeder, Laura (August 4, 2011). "How To Decide If Group Coupon Sites Are Right For Your Small Business: My Experience With AppSumo". lkr.
  25. 1 2 Tame, Jared. "Startups Open Sourced, 1 Week Later: $10,000+ in Revenue". Startups Open Sourced.
  26. 1 2 Kirr, Adam (May 14, 2012). "Get a Job!". Huffington Post.
  27. ↑ Graham, Shawn (July 12, 2011). "The Entrepreneurial Renaissance And The Rise Of The Independent Workforce". Fast Company.
  28. ↑ Gordon, Whitson (June 17, 2010). "Grab Premium Versions of Your Favorite Productivity Webapps for Cheap with AppSumo". LifeHacker.
  29. ↑ Heintz, Nadine (October 6, 2011). "Appsumo's Dropbox Pro Giveaway". Inc. Magazine.
  30. ↑ Cohen, David (October 5, 2010). "The AppSumo Lean Startup bundle". TechStars.

External links

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