Appticles solves mobile publishing for content creators

First you needed a website. Then you needed an interactive website. As mobile became the leading content platform, all those websites needed to be mobile compatible. Then they needed to be compatible across multiple devices. The next twist came in 2015 when Google announced they would penalize non-mobile optimized websites. As more devices were developed, it became more…

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Founders Ciprian Borodescu and Alexandra Anghel at a Prosper Women Entrepreneurs event in St. Louis. Photo credit: Prosper Women Entrepreneurs.

First you needed a website. Then you needed an interactive website. As mobile became the leading content platform, all those websites needed to be mobile compatible. Then they needed to be compatible across multiple devices.

The next twist came in 2015 when Google announced they would penalize non-mobile optimized websites. As more devices were developed, it became more difficult for smaller businesses and publishers to package their content across multiple platforms.

Enter Appticles

Ciprian Borodescu, CEO and co-founder of Appticles and its supporting company Webcrumbz, wanted to solve the mobile publishing problem.

“When it comes to targeting their mobile users, online publishers such as newspapers or magazines, are trapped in a ‘mobile death spiral’,” said Borodescu. “They are fueled by the promise that having an application in an App Store is the ultimate distribution model on the one hand, yet on the other hand that ‘mobile’ means just screen size.”

Simply having an app for your content rarely delivers on its promise.

“The publisher ends up with tens of thousands of dollars invested, months spent in developing and promoting the applications with a staggering 1% converted into mobile app users for their existing web traffic,” said Borodescu.

From Romania to Copenhagen to St. Louis

In 2010 Ciprian and co-founder Alexandra Anghel relocated from Romania to Copenhagen to further develop Appticles through the business accelerator StartupBootcamp. The team struggled with technical issues, scaling their business, gaining traffic and customers while building a platform to accommodate their growth. An equal challenge came from a second business they owned.

“We wanted to move from a service company to a product company with Appticles. Some of the staff didn’t have the proper mindset required in a startup so we made the very difficult decision to let them go,” said Ciprian.

In 2013, the team exited the service company and put their focus on Appticles. During this phase, they explored various pricing models, client behavior and needs, and building an effective growth hacking strategy.

During this process, they discovered their primary users were in Western Europe and the United States. The team moved to the US to further establish their business. They connected with mentors at Prosper Women Entrepreneurs and within their first month in St. Louis, they applied to Arch Grants and are now among the finalists.

“Our primary audience are bloggers, content creators and publishers and our platform empowers them to easily engage their mobile users by simplifying the technical aspects of having an application and eliminating the need for an App Store,” said Ciprian.

Appticles is now the second largest WordPress mobile plugin on the market with over 850,000 downloads. A Pro version is available, which is a self-hosted solution suited for blogs and small publishers. The platform currently has over 5,000 signups with a trial-paid conversion rate of 5% and a monthly growth rate of 10%.

Defining success

Through their growth, travel and experiences, the Appticles team has gained significant knowledge about the entrepreneurial process.

“It’s the sum of experiences that define success. Someday I’ll look back on this and decide if this has been successful, but today I would rather focus on building a business and providing valuable solutions to our customers,” said Borodescu.

Alexandra thrives on advice gained from one of her mentors.

“The impact we have on others is the most valuable currency there is. If you are fortunate enough through your activity to make others’ lives easier, then that is considered success,” said Anghel.

Kristen Reed Edens, of St. Louis, is a content writer and blogger for small business. She writes about entrepreneurs, business and the unique lifestyle of grandparents in business.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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