Pre launch / Idea Discovery
Job board side project
Built a job board connecting mobile developers with businesses to immerse himself in the mobile industry. Observed repeated postings from small business owners willing to pay $100k for basic mobile apps, validating the pain point and the opportunity for a templated solution.
→ Identified core product idea and confirmed willingness to pay before building
Launch / Early Traction
Direct smb sales
Attempted direct in-person sales to small business owners (restaurants, salons). Quickly realized this channel was inefficient — owners were hard to reach and skeptical of cold pitches.
→ Channel abandoned; pivot to reseller model
Early Growth
White label agency partnerships
Pivoted to partnering with digital and web design agencies worldwide, allowing them to resell Business Apps under their own branding to their existing small business clients. This turned agencies into a distributed sales force without needing a large direct sales team.
→ Scaled to tens of thousands of mobile apps sold across the world
Scaling
Press and tech media
Ran a maniacal press strategy — pitched TechCrunch, VentureBeat, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal for every company milestone (new partnerships, product updates, Android launch). Andrew became a guest author on TechCrunch. They would pitch a journalist, wait a month if busy, and pitch again.
→ Regular coverage in top tech publications; described as the primary channel for reaching potential customers at the time
Scaling
Localization and international expansion
Translated the platform into 30+ languages to enable agency partners worldwide to sell in their local markets. This compounded the reseller distribution strategy globally.
→ Enabled worldwide distribution through agency partners; contributed to scaling to $10M ARR
Growth / Operations
Offshore team building via upwork
Hired one engineer from Upwork in China, then hired his entire network/friends who ran a software house. Built full engineering teams in China, Ukraine, Philippines (design), and South America to scale operations capital-efficiently.
→ Grew to ~75 employees globally while remaining profitable and bootstrap; $2M+ cash in company at exit
Brand Positioning (All Companies)
Brand storytelling and narrative
Crafted a brand story beyond the product — at Business Apps, the narrative was 'helping small businesses compete against mega-brands who could afford $50k custom apps.' At Acquire.com, the story was championing bootstrapped founders who don't need VC to build a life-changing outcome.
→ Created broader market resonance and press-worthiness; made the brand memorable and easy to root for
Post exit / Acquire.com Launch
Founder personal brand and twitter
Leveraged his own exit story and bootstrapped founder identity to build credibility for Acquire.com. Shared the narrative of selling Business Apps without VC as a proof point and content engine for the marketplace's positioning.
→ Over $1 billion in closed deals on Acquire.com; positioned as leading startup acquisition marketplace under $50M