Alex has spent his entire career in and around the mobile app space. He created his first app at university and has since led the commercial teams at various mobile-first companies. Alex has helped scale starts ups of various sizes from their earliest stages pre-revenue to as high as $50m ARR.
In your own words, what’s your role in the app business right now?
My role at Glassfy is to enable businesses to grab the most of the billions spent every year on apps around the world. IAPs and subscriptions are the lifeblood of any app. Still, unfortunately, it is an incredibly technically fragmented space that is often shielded from the rest of the business. At Glassfy, we believe that if an app can build a meaningful strategy from the foundation of payments, the analysis of that revenue to how the app implements revenue strategies, then it will be the highest-performing business.
How did you end up working in apps? / get started?
Back when I was at college, around the time the App Store was launched, I was playing around with the idea of building and launching an app with a friend. We were talking about how we didn’t really have an idea what was going on in town and how great it would be if we had a way to know what was happening around us. I then pitched him the idea of an app that could combine our interests and the most exciting events in town and recommended them to us as the end users. And that’s how the idea of my first app, BeeSocial, was born and, as they say, the rest is history…
What are you most excited about in apps right now? (tech, trends, people, verticals)
I am really excited about what I would call a renaissance in app building. In the last few years, we have witnessed the rise of new platform technologies like Flutter that will allow us to build apps much more easily and faster than ever before. I believe we are seeing a renaissance in app building and we will see 2, 3, 4x more apps developed in the coming years.
What other companies in the app space do you rate/ inspire you and why?
Companies all across the spectrum from Duolingo pioneering strategies like gamification to health apps focused on improving people’s mental health, e.g. Reveri.
What do you like most about working in apps?
The ever-changing dynamics of the industry – constant innovation and constant room for bettering what helps apps grow.
What one thing would you change about the app industry / market?
That business more quickly start to treat mobile and apps as first-class citizens internally and truly bring together the internal organisations of web and mobile.
If you weren’t working in apps what would you be doing?
I love wine, so I would be running a small wine shop selling to friends and family and exploring all the world has to offer.
iOS or Android?
iOS
What app(s) have been most useful to you over the last year?
Citymapper
What’s on your Spotify / Music party playlist?
If you’re not listening to Waffle House by the Jonas Brothers, then who are you?
Any Netflix/ TV show recommendations?
Succession
Is there anything else we should know about you?
I have traveled to more than 30 countries, flown over 1m miles, and still have the itch to explore more every day. Every chance I get to share a meal with someone new in a foreign land makes me a better person.
Do you know someone driving change and growth in the app industry? Nominate an app leader here.
