MakeitApp is an Italian startup that was founded by five friends in Milan in 2013. The company is the first online platform where people can meet online to create apps together by sharing their skills, ideas and knowledge.Since its foundation, MakeItApp have launched 25 apps that have been created through its online community and the power of sharing. How it works?
MakeItApp is Skill Sharing: this means that MakeItApp, as a social network, helping users to connect with people with different skills that they would otherwise not meet There is no investment needed: all members work on the app for free and all the revenue generated by the app are shared between all team members and MakeItApp with pre-agreed percentage. Furthermore, it offers many free tools to all its users to make programming and creating an app easier In the App Market Visibility online is everything: one can have the best app out of all of them, but if it is not visible online, users will not find it. When members use it to create an App, it takes care of the promotion online, using a huge data of contacts with journalists for Marketing and Promotion
We at iGeeksBlog.com have interviewed Federico Soncini Sessa one of the co-founders of MakeItApp.Name: Federico Soncini Sessa Job Title: Co-Founder/ CEO MakeItApp Age: 30 Background: Engineering and apps developer iGB: How did you start with apps? Federico: I started to develop mobile apps for fun and I keep going having fun with apps for work. At the beginning I developed apps for myself, then I became a project manager of apps for others. Finally I founded MakeItApp.eu to give the chance to everyone to develop their own app in team while having fun. iGB: What are the key elements to launch a successful app and how does MakeItApp contribute towards it? Federico: In a mature market, where there are millions of apps available, nowadays, apps only stand out and gain success through high quality content and design. To achieve this, each app needs a team that truly puts its heart and effort into the production of the app. At MakeItApp we consider the teams that produce the apps as a key element to success because of the following reasons:
Users only sign up to projects that interest them, which means they have a personal passion for the topic of the app Furthermore, it offers the opportunity to put experts in one field together with experts on other topics. Like this, an iOS developer does not have to pay a botanist for his expert knowledge on plants, when he wants to create an app on plants, and vice versa Through this system, there is no initial investment needed to produce apps on it, so that people with the best skills and best ideas can work on their app without a worry Furthermore, most ideas for apps on MakeItApp start with someone saying “I wish there was an app for…”. And where there is a problem and someone has found a solution, there is also a market. Through this system the relevance of the apps is guaranteed
Secondly, there is the factor of marketing and promotion, which means making people aware that the app exists. It doesn’t matter how good or useful your app is: if no one knows about it, no one can download it. Simple. And this is where MakeItApp contributes most to launching a successful app. In a world where information and ranking lists are just a Google Search away, one has to get coverage from many different websites and journalists to make app users aware of the app. It works daily with journalists from many different countries, including Italy, the US, China and the UK, to promote the apps that are born on the MakeItApp platform. The developers of the apps profit from the extensive network of contacts that MakeItApp already has. iGB: What was the biggest challenge you faced while developing your project? Federico: The implementation of contracts (in which we regulate the users of our platform) in compliance with the Italian law it was the biggest challenge for us. We don’t lack ideas or practical skills: unfortunately most of the time our resources are dedicated to bureaucratic elements, maybe if there was a legislation more in line with our sector, we could concentrate our energy to activities that add more value. iGB: An advice for startups? Federico: Looking to our case, I would say that the strength comes from the team. This is for a number of reasons: different point of views, access to different networks, different skills, “moral” support. So our advice is: choose very well your team! iGB: Where would you like to see mobile apps moving in the future? Federico: Apps have revolutionized our phones leading them to be smartphones. In the future, apps will revolutionize other tools such as: television, vehicles, household appliances and many more. Today, we can see the first step towards it, the new Smart Watches. Thanks Federico for your valuable inputs and time.
