The Palo Alto Club, a co-working space created by Estonian angel fund Superangel, and led by Estopreneur Rain Rannu, lies in the heart of Telliskivi, the hip innovation hub in Tallinn. The retro-fitted space has become a popular site for industry meet-ups and workshops. Together with Kalev Kaarna, from Superangel, I produced and led a workshop, ‘Producing Killer Apps: What You Need to Know Before Going Mobile,’ at Palo Alto Club on Wednesday, October 16, 2019.

The audience of 20 Estopreneurs was taken through exercises on building and re-building their app-based companies, and a lengthy discussion session followed, with solid back-and-forth on what worked and did not work for various founders.

Thanks to Kalev, Rain, and the Palo Alto Club crew, as well as the incredibly energized audience.

See the original event overview, and photos, below.

Set-up for ‘Producing Killer Apps’ workshop at Palo Alto Club in Tallinn

Kalev Kaarna describes the workshop structure

Participants in the workshop describe their challenges in building and re-building app-based companies at the ‘Producing Killer Apps’ workshop

Chris Pfaff, Kalev Kaarna, and Harri Tallinn, after the ‘Producing Killer Apps’ workshop at the Palo Alto Club

Chris Pfaff and Mikk Orglaan, after the ‘Producing Killer Apps’ workshop

Producing Killer Apps: What You Need to Know Before Going Mobile

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

1:00-3:00 pm

Palo Alto Club, Tallinn

Overview:

The global app market now includes more than 2.7 billion smartphone users and 1.35 billion tablet users. Mobile apps will generate $189 billion in revenue by 2020. There are 2.2 million apps available in the Apple App Sore and 2.8 million apps on the Google Play Store. Approximately 57% of all digital media usage comes rom mobile apps.

It is now time to rethink what an app is. Entire businesses (e.g., Uber, Bolt, Transferwise, AirBNB) are built around apps. Utilities tied to major hardware products (e.g., exercise apps paired to devices) are apps.

What are the steps to developing and marketing a killer app? With more complexity on the device layer, and a more sophisticated user base, there are more key elements to consider when going to market, including: how to measure app usage; how to engage users; how to upgrade the app, and how to gain attention within the app stores.

In this session, start-ups will learn from each other and from session leaders on how to create strategies and consider new ways of building and sustaining app-based businesses.

There was an aspect of expectation to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona that went far beyond the usual trade show hype. With the mobile world encompassing everything in our technology universe, MWC 2017 very quietly – and firmly – showed that the mobile ecosystem can, and will, show the way forward. All of that hype about VR and super mixed reality last year? We have greater clarity this year – from Samsung Gear to network operators such as Verizon and Orange. Augmented reality seemed too much too soon last year? We now have more AR implementations, and more interest and demand in AR now than ever before. 5G yet another acronymic bamboozle? It will take a while, for sure, but it’s coming – this year.

MWC 2017 was a watershed, in its own quiet way. And it’s not just the big boys who are spurring innovation. Qualcomm and Intel duked it out near each other, as always, but while the companies shared as much of the stage in the IoT, smart auto, AI shuffle, it was more evident than ever that the European start-up ecosystem was making major strides in the mobile SDK world. From gesture recognition (the Swedes showed off Manomotion and Crunchfish) to intelligent location (Finland’s Quuppa), we are seeing more efficient delivery of complex experiences, driven from European university spin-outs and venture-backed start-ups.

The week was endless, as usual, and started with GSMA’s event at the Pullman Barcelona Skipper Hotel, and an excellent panel moderated by Bonfire Lab’s John Gilles, on VR/AR, paneled by Verizon Ventures’ Ed Ruth; Oculus’ Andy Mathis, and Ericsson’s Per Borgklint.

John Gilles, Bonfire Labs; Ed Ruth, Verizon Ventures; Andy Mathis, Oculus, and Per Borgklint at GSMA Summit’s VR/AR panel

Mobile Sunday, at the Estrella Damm event center, saw a critical mass of people – investors, start-ups, and analysts – with a mass of new faces. Kudos to Robin Wauters and Rudy De Waele on growing this event into a seminal MWC gathering.

Rudy De Waele and Robin Wauters great the Mobile Sunday crowd at the Estrella Damm event center

With the entire world worried about cybersecurity’s ability to take on new threats, the mobile world had more answers at MWC 2017, including solutions from Estonia. More network-based innovations for smart cities and IoT were on display from everywhere – from SK Telecom to Huawei.

The device manufacturers did not boffo announcements, but incremental progress – from Sony’s Xperia accessories to LG and Samsung’s forthcoming tablets – and the nostalgic hype for the Nokia 3310 and the new BlackBerry device showed the diversity of the market.

Sony’s super slow motion feature showed that the smartphone has now overcome the likes of GoPro

Sony Xperia Ear, an earpiece which uses gesture recognition

Oddly enough, two of the biggest statements at the event emanated from New Jersey: Verizon and Nokia Bell Labs. Verizon’s stand was a show of innovation, from its telematics group to smart city and IoT solutions to the new holding company, Exponent, which will deliver service architecture for other carriers. The company’s envrmnt studio, and end-to-end VR/AR offering, will be part of Exponent.

Me at the Verizon stand. The company made a major statement through its envrmnt VR/AR studio

But, overall, the most stunning statement made at the show was from Nokia. Its stand was a testimony to new ideas and even a new attitude. Bell Labs shined with its race track demo, which had radio-controlled cars (cheekily named after Bell Labs luminaries, including Claude Shannon) powered over 4G and 5G networks, showing the efficacy of network controls. Nokia, which acquired Bell Labs and the old Alcatel-Lucent entity last year, has already rebranded and repowered Bell Labs, and it was evident at MWC 2017.

We can only hope that the coming year will deliver more experiences powered by network innovation, which was quietly the star at MWC 2017.

Estonians hard at work, first thing in the morning, on Day #3 of MWC 2017

LG was a quiet presence at MWC 2017

Samsung bristled with energy; its Galaxy Note 7 disaster well in the rearview mirror

IBM’s Watson story has increased since last year, and drew flocks of people to its psychedelic-meets-Deco booth, complete with the “cognitive dress,” which is designed based on user’s moods and whims.

IBM’s “cognitive dress”

Intel’s mega-pixel wall

ST Microelectronics’ “smart football” – the Wilson X Smart Football – brings IoT to the sports world

Kim Mathews mans the Nokia Bell Labs race track; scenes of the track and one of the radio-controlled cars, featuring the names of Bell Labs Nobel laureates John Bardeen and Arno Penzias

The AmCham Finland Open House on Friday, October 2nd, celebrated the 1st anniversary of the organization in New York. But, in every way, it celebrated the growing presence of Finnish entrepreneurs and business owners in New York. And, in one sense, it was somewhat of a homecoming.

The homecoming was evident when Poju Zabludowicz, head of the Tamares Group, which owns 1500 Broadway, the new home of AmCham Finland, appeared to give his best wishes to Erika Sauer, the head of AmCham Finland New York. A Finnish-born real estate magnate, Zabludowicz symbolizes the ultimate height of business success for someone born in a country of slightly more than 5 million people. But, as with its neighbor to the south, Estonia, Finland punches well above its weight in the business world.

Pujo Zabludowicz; Erika Sauer; Timo Soini, and Kristiina Helenius at the AmCham Finland New York Open House

The event was held in a raw space down the hall from where AmCham Finland New York will take an office, in a co-working space. But the space was the ultimate New York party scene, with partitions, dry wall, and bare floors, all with stunning north Times Square views. At the tail end of UN Week, the event was significant for the presence of Kai Sauer, the ambassador of the permanent mission of Finland to the UN, as well as the new foreign minister of Finland, Mr. Timo Soini. Soini read prepared remarks that underscored the significance of the U.S. market to Finland, now more than ever.

Chris Pfaff and Kai Sauer, Finland’s UN ambassador

Kristiina Helenius, the president of AmCham Finland, thanked the more than 75 people who attended, many of whom had braved strong winds and rain to make the event, and pointed out the success of the Launchpad USA program, which is opening doors for Finnish (and Estonian) ventures. Helenius had presided over a Nordic Investor Summit in New York in May; at least half of the presenting companies have already established offices in the U.S.

Kristiina Helenius, president of AmCham Finland, and Toni Toikka, CEO of Alekstra

It was an open house (avoimien oven päivä), but somewhat of a door-opener as well. At least four Finnish ventures were present at the event, all of whom had recently set up offices in New York. This is a tipping point for the Finnish venture scene; even a year ago, few if any Finnish ventures were making commitments to expand to New York – or the U.S for that matter – but the strategic vision of venture capital funds such as Inventure and Vision+ has pushed more Finns to settle in the world’s largest market and, more importantly, its largest city.

One can expect more Finnish ventures to land in the New York market, and there is every reason to believe that AmCham Finland will be part of this trend. Onnea, Suomi!