One of Inc. Magazine’s Coolest College Startups 2014, Applits is an app development company that applies the power of crowdsourcing to create apps that are actually in demand by users. They accept suggestions for new apps from members of their online community, use feedback from the rest of the community to identify promising ideas, send the most popular ideas to a panel of tech experts, and then gets continous feedback from their contributors throughout the technical development process. Community members earn points for each suggestion, which translates into a share of revenue from apps that find commercial success. They are the first company to allow smartphone users to be involved every step of the way with app development, while rewarding useful suggestions with a share of the revenue.
Applits was founded by two students at The Ohio State University, Keith Shields and Joshua Tucker, who are building a fascinating business while still in college. This concept applies many lean start-up methods like continuous feedback to create the best possible chance for an app to find success. At the time of the Inc. article, Applits had already launched 9 apps and had 11 more in development.
I think Applits has found a great way to get ahead of the competition in a crowded field. By taking advantage of liquid networks and a pool of ideas, they can find more and better ideas to produce truly innovative apps.
Remarkable venture. I can see many great ideas coming from this business, but I can also see many entrepreneurial minded folks withhold their ideas in search for personal success.
Interesting! I never knew that something like this existed! I am excited to see what great things are to come from this company within the next few years. I may even check this out myself!
This is a great idea. This should lead to many good apps because of the ability to develop a multitude of great ideas.