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.