So you think you have an idea for the next fad iPhone or Android app that will make you millions? CEO Spencer Forrest of Appiction would encourage you to think long-term about your app. That is exactly why he built such diverse teams at Appiction. With a focus on creating apps with a longer shelf-life, this end-to-end developer is helping the app development business get its second wind.

Appiction blends the trinity of smart phone app creation: creative, development and marketing. The Austin-based startup builds native and web apps for entrepreneurs, businesses and interactive advertising and marketing firms. The company’s end to end service don’t just launch apps, they launch app businesses.

I had a chance to interview Spencer Forrest to find out how he was able to create a successful company in what seems like a crowded market. Spencer is an entrepreneur that is able to combine his 20 years of experience in mobile, software deployment, and e-learning to take on one of his toughest challenges yet: creating apps that people will use more than once.

How did Appiction get started?

After years of working in online ventures, and having my ad network business Affiliate Fuel acquired, I was looking for a new project and saw a striking similarity between the rush for the web and the rush for the app market. Companies and entrepreneurs were eager to get into the space but the code language and the store were so young, there weren’t a lot of resources to help them. Appiction started coming together in early 2010 and officially launched in March at SXSW with a large booth but no actual apps in the iTunes or Android markets. Now, six months later, the company boasts a staff of 55, almost half of which are developers located at their Austin, Texas office. The company has put nine apps into the iTunes store and three into the Android Market, for companies including Samsung and Jameson. Austin Texas has been a great place for the company to grow, with a healthy talent base from local universities like UT, a booming tech scene filled with apps including Gowalla, TabbedOut and Qrank and an economic climate where investment and innovation can still happen. The company’s success draws from a few areas, but the comprehensive scoping of apps is an innovative aspect that seals the deal for clients. Before we even write a line of code, a client sees a full wire frame of their app, color graphics showing what it will look like, a review of it’s technical feasibility both immediately and ongoing and market analysis. It’s good for the client, but it’s just as good for us because that level of planning means less mistakes and surprises through the development phase.

What is your target market?

We are a client-based company so in a nutshell, anyone with a big idea or a desire to take their business mobile. More specifically, we partner with startups and entrepreneurs with an enterprising app-based business, we help interactive agencies provide creative branded apps, and help businesses find a way to translate what they do into a mobile app that drives business. It’s hard enough for us to keep abreast of all the constant changes in the mobile industry, we hardly expect our clients to do it too, so our target market it also made of those who are looking for someone who can consult with them and navigate this new space.

What is your business model?

Clients, such as businesses, entrepreneurs and agencies, come to us with their app ideas or mobile needs. Their first step is purchasing a scope, which is effectively a full business plan, wire frame and cost analysis they can present to CEOs, lenders and decision makers. We have a 89% rate of people who move forward after the scope to develop the app, and it’s a number we’re proud of. With select apps, ones where we see potential but know they will need long term updates or marketing to be viable, we choose to partner. We share app revenue with the client and in exchange we advise, help with additional build and apply market strategy. It’s a great way for us to feel ownership of an app and put in 100%. Some of the unique proposition Appiction offers are that almost all of our development is done in house or on-shore, we outsource overseas as little as possible. Also, since we are end-to-end we don’t just hand over a lump of code and wish you the best of luck, we build marketing and long term strategy into every app from its inception.

What type of sales and marketing are you currently doing?

For our own company, we’ve taken a really diverse approach. We use Google Ads to help those people who are just poking around online trying to learn more find us. We’ve established a strong presence at several conferences now including SXSW Interactive, Appnation and The Android BBQ, where we have had booths and thrown parties. Our marketing department makes sure press opportunities are always in front of us and consequently we’ve ended up on UNTETHER.TV, AOL Small Business News and Yahoo Tech News. Lead generation sites such as We Make Apps have delivered us many creative clients and have been a positive tool for us. It’s always a challenge to keep our sales staff as educated as possible, whether they have technical backgrounds or not they need to understand the capabilities of these devices and of apps. We actually call them “App Consultants” because the knowledge they require goes far beyond a person sitting in call center.

What sets you apart from competitors?

Two things: that we are truly end-to-end service and that we partner to forge app businesses. End-to-end service cuts down on the time it takes to make an app, improves the quality and gives consistency through the project. Marketing and design are not mutually exclusive of one another. An apps marketing should be considered from inception, just as the development should be consider alongside the design. When all these departments are in house, working together, the product is just better. With partnerships, the era when you make an app and put it in the store and money rolls in is over, an app is a living piece of work that evolves with user feedback, responds to comments and grows over time. We want to help create those Gowallas and GetGlue and marry their business savvy with our creative and development abilities and create a lifetime plan for the app’s success.

What are some other interesting facts about your startup?

Our office is divided in a sort of left brain, right brain format. We have the Creative Think Tank and the Development Center. Our think tank sports chalk walls covered in the latest art from whatever project we’re working on, our Development Center is stocked with Mountain Dew and white boards covered in UI navigation.

Spec documents are created by teams, and each of our teams in the creative department have a chosen name. Some of them include “White Gold”, “Sweetums”, “Fortress” and “NSFW.”

One of our riskiest and most successful app marketing campaigns to date involved handing over a check to a 16 year old girl. To promote the Dream Closet fashion app we tapped into the 1,000,000 plus fan base of YouTube star Blair Fowler. Within hours of her video the app soared from obscurity to a 3 ranking in the iTunes Lifestyle section and 140 ranking in all paid apps. The influx of people tanked parts of the apps landing page and resulted in unsponsored spin-off YouTube videos.

What other experiences does your management team bring to the table?

We develop a diverse collection of apps so it’s fitting we have a collection of people with diverse backgrounds spanning film, media and tech.

In addition to myself, Appiction is composed of Creative Director Q. Manning, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design who has a knowledge base that includes print, marketing and film. Sam Griffith leads up Appiction’s development team with 20 years of experience and a is a published author, an adjunct professor and a guru of codes new and old alike. Sam’s back end knowledge, combined with the rest of the development team, allow Appiction to comfortably take on apps with large back ends and server needs. Our marketing director Rachel Youens brings a media and startup background to the company, including work with FOX, Current TV and aiding in the launch of two online startups. Her new media savvy brings a quirky and creative spin to clients’ marketing campaigns.

What lessons learned would you like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?

For as played out as people like to suggest the app market is, it’s really just a second wave. The era of throwaway apps making money is done, and it will be the apps that are thought-out businesses or have highly creative branding that ever get into a consumers phone. We’ve known this for a long time and it’s why we invested so much in our scoping and design teams so that they help a client draw out a business plan for their app and give it a design that has shelf appeal.

Creative, social marketing works for apps. App discovery is still a huge problem and a lot of people still only find apps by opening up to “top selling” or by asking friends. We try to design apps and marketing campaigns that drive word of mouth sales, whether that mouth be a blog, a YouTube video or just one friend to another.

Be flexible with your billing and development methods depending on the project. We fluctuate between flat rate, SCRUM, waterfall and time and materials billing methods for apps depending on what we think an app needs. It’s not been easy to integrate all these into our work flow but it’s made setting realistic timelines, and then staying on them, much easier

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