“I am the CEO of App Store Optimization platform AppFollow. I have specialized in mobile app development and promotion since 2009. Having started my career as a CTO with TochkaK, I’ve joined Ostrovok.ru where I worked as the Head of Mobile Products for two years. In 2013, I won a hackathon hosted by AngelHack. At present, I combine my business pursuits with teaching at Netologia online school, where I deliver lecture courses on “Mobile Marketing” and “Mobile Product”. I am a huge fan of metrics and the remote culture and am passionate about SaaS and startup development.”
In your own words, what’s your role in the app business right now?
With the AppFollow products, I am helping users/companies to keep up-to-date with the trends for their own app as well as get a bird’s eye view on the competition (to keep track of app performance, enhance the conversion to install rate, boost your average rankings, streamline your work with users, select the best keywords and adjust ASO).
How did you end up working in apps?
I’ve realized I don’t want to spend my whole life just programming. I wished to share the product I make with a wider audience. I desired to see how successful products are made and got myself a job in a startup that had investor support, a proper business model, and traction. Then, I had an idea to run my own VC-funded startup. We’ve tried a number of product ideas I had at the time. Later, we went to a hackathon and won. After that, there was a visit to Silicon Valley, where we pitched our idea to investors. There, I realized that we needed to find something new – with the best business model and the demand on the market that isn’t saturated yet. At the time, I’ve been really into mobile app promotion on the App Store and Google Play, so I’ve become an ASO Expert and loved to do mobile app competitor analysis. But, this was too time-consuming, since all the data had to be collected manually through a dozen different services. And thus, I’ve started a company that has been in the market for six years now.
What are you most excited about in apps right now?
The number of apps in the market grows rapidly every year, with more and more apps grabbing the spotlight. The Clubhouse app is a testament to that. But that also means it’s the competitive scene in the App Store and Google Play is getting tighter. As an expert, I find it exciting to help developers and app publishers create better apps and market them. That’s what makes AppFollow valuable to users.
What other companies in the app space do you rate/ inspire you and why?
App Annie – #1 Marketing Intelligence Platform Podium, BirdEye – top reputation management platform, Miro – top SaaS for remote teams.
What do you like most about working in apps?
That’s one of the most dynamic and quickly growing industries. The competition is becoming stronger – the app publishers get more challenges, and that positively affects their quality and growth. When you work with mobile apps, you learn a lot of new things every day. You may think that you’ve seen it all, and then bam! Playrix starts using a new buying strategy and an entire section of the market is changed.
What one thing would you change about the app industry ?
More accurate in-store analytics would definitely be welcome by a lot of people. New changes in Google Play Console (GAdW ad attribution to organic traffic), Apple Search Ads (Search installs), and App Store Connect make it impossible to use only the app store console data for meaningful analytics.
Where do you think there’s an opportunity for apps or unmet needs?
AR recognition apps are quite a good opportunity, to use at the industrial facility as well as to recognize items with Buy links.
iOS or Android?
iOS
What app(s) have been most useful to you over the last year?
Slack, Notion, Twitter
Any Netflix/ TV show recommendations?
Resident Alien / Ted Lasso
Do you know someone driving change and growth in the app industry?
Nominate an app leader here.
