Building Client Relationships & Reaching MVP - Appetiser Founders Share Insights

Appetiser: A Comprehensive Approach to App Success

Appetiser, an Australian agency, identifies three crucial elements for application success: robust technology, effective marketing, and compelling design. The agency gained recognition through a TechCrunch survey seeking software development partners for startups, and also aligns with their survey for identifying growth marketers.

Founding Principles and Client Endorsements

Co-founders Jamie Shostak and Michael MacRae of Appetiser specialize in the design, development, and growth of both mobile and web applications. They have received strong endorsements from numerous clients who collaborated with them from the initial stages of their projects.

Shostak emphasizes that every startup begins with an idea, and that some of the most successful ventures originate from individuals who directly experience the problem they aim to solve, even without extensive technical expertise.

Client Success Stories

TradeNow, an Australian pay-later financing solution for trade businesses, exemplifies Appetiser’s impact. Founder Matt Brennan stated that the Appetiser team consistently delivers exceptional applications and demonstrated unwavering belief in TradeNow’s vision from the outset.

A strong working relationship was established early on and maintained throughout the project’s progression.

A Collaborative Model

Entrepreneur Andre Eikmeier highlighted the flexibility of Appetiser’s operational model. He explained that their team was able to leverage their CTO to lead a team of six developers from Appetiser, supplemented by UX/UI, product management, and project management expertise as needed.

This collaborative approach fostered internal capability building rather than creating a dependency on an external agency.

Interview with the Founders

To gain deeper insights, interviews were conducted with both Shostak and MacRae, covering topics ranging from prototyping and growth strategies to achieving design excellence and the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Appetiser Story

Origins and Founding

Jamie Shostak: Appetiser’s inception dates back to 2017, when I encountered Michael at a co-working space in Melbourne. He possessed extensive experience with applications boasting millions of users, while I specialized in growth marketing.

Through shared discussions, we recognized a common passion for building and scaling tech products, identifying a need to assist others in achieving product success through rapid market entry, data-driven insights, high-quality execution, and strong team dynamics.

Team Structure and Size

Michael MacRae: Currently, our team comprises 150 members in Asia and 30 in Australia. We prioritize efficiency by organizing teams into small, client-focused production squads.

These squads include iOS, Android, and back-end developers, alongside UX designers, product managers, and QA/PM specialists. They operate within an agile framework, scaling up or down based on project requirements. Appetiser maintains a relatively flat organizational structure, emphasizing data-driven decision-making through iterative testing.

Beyond a "Blackbox" Agency

MacRae: Many agencies create barriers between their development teams and clients, leading to miscommunication. We actively avoid this practice.

When you partner with Appetiser, you gain access to our team, allowing you to participate in stand-up meetings, brainstorming sessions, and one-on-one discussions. We replicate the structure of successful in-house teams within an agency setting, fostering simultaneous capability building.

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A "Growth Machine" for Clients

MacRae: Our vision extends beyond simply developing applications. We position ourselves as a product success agency, dedicated to maximizing the likelihood of our clients’ products achieving success.

We track key metrics such as app success rates, user acquisition, revenue generation, and funding secured. Our entire team is accountable for these outcomes, and we are committed to providing whatever support is necessary, including design, development, growth strategies, fundraising assistance, and more.

The Importance of the MVP

Shostak: We have refined internal processes and intellectual property based on extensive data analysis, enabling us to rapidly deliver reliable, high-quality products.

This allows us to help entrepreneurs quickly launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test the market.

MacRae: Defining an MVP involves identifying core value propositions while deferring non-essential features. This reduces development time and iteration cycles, accelerating product-market fit. Clients save both time and resources, which can then be reinvested in growth. Move With Us, for example, halved their development timeline using this approach, achieving significant traction in Australia and the U.S.

Prototyping: Validating Ideas

Shostak: Regardless of whether you are an individual with an idea or an established company, we always begin with a dedicated design phase and interactive prototype.

This allows us to visually define the project scope and create a leading-edge user experience. We prioritize user experience, mirroring Steve Jobs’ approach of starting with the user and working backward to the technology.

Prototypes also serve as valuable tools for securing funding, gaining stakeholder approval, and validating ideas before committing to full development. Clients like Good Empire and Vello successfully raised capital based on their prototypes.

The Value of Design Quality

MacRae: In the competitive app landscape, you have mere seconds to convince a user to download your application. Similarly, on the web, you must capture a visitor’s attention within seconds to prevent them from leaving.

Therefore, design excellence is paramount. It accelerates user acquisition and, once users are engaged, a strong user experience ensures retention. We view product design as a performance driver, believing that one design will consistently outperform another.

We centralize learnings from all our projects to inform design decisions based on proven tactics, minimizing risk.

Internal Knowledge Sharing

MacRae: Appetiser has cultivated a substantial amount of internal intellectual property, including our baseplate – a set of gold standards that unify the team based on best practices. This is continuously investigated, tested, and refined by a significant portion of our team.

We also established Appetiser University, offering a growing curriculum of production-relevant topics, encompassing standards, best practices, and broader subjects like economics, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), and data analysis. Employees participate in weekly exams to apply their learnings.

Future Plans

Shostak: Our remote-first culture enables us to recruit top talent globally. We initially focused on the Asia Pacific region, establishing a presence in Davao, Cebu, Manila, Melbourne, and Sydney.

In 2022, we plan to expand our reach to additional continents, with a presence in the U.S. anticipated within the next 12 months.

Furthermore, we aim to build a startup community and platform, partnering with investors, crowdfunding platforms, legal professionals, and accountants. We also intend to create educational content and launch Appetiser Ventures, an incubator to accelerate client startups and potentially develop ventures internally.