Our ‘Profile: A Day in the Life of’ feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry. This week we head to London to meet the CEO at Appsme.com.
Name:
Nick Barnett
Job title and company:
CEO, Appsme.com
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
Appsme is an online app builder that enables small businesses to create mobile apps quickly, easily and cost-effectively
What are the company’s unique selling points?
Our service is quick and easy to use with tailored functionality, design and cost. We have 10 years’ experience in app technology and are trusted by over 25,000 SME customers.
Within the last six months/year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
We’re a mobile app company that has a history in developing apps for newspapers and magazine clients (including The Independent, Evening Standard, OK! Magazine and Vogue). We launched our SME focused app builder, Appsme, almost exactly a year ago, and have seen tremendous interest in the service with over 25,000 SME customers already on board.
Duration in current role:
5 years.
Where are you based?
London.
Previous performance marketing-related companies you have worked at:
O2/Telefonica.
What are your main job responsibilities?
As CEO I have the fun of getting involved in all aspects of the business (hopefully without meddling too much!) While day to day I typically split my time between product development activities and customer growth activities, my main responsibilities as CEO are always pretty clear:
- Define the strategy and direction for the company.
- Hire and develop the best people to deliver the strategy.
- Always make sure there’s enough cash in the bank to cover the costs and fund growth.
Take us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday:
My working day typically start with a check of my emails at home, while eating breakfast and hurrying my two young sons through their breakfast before school! I try to cycle to the office about three days a week – it’s a lovely ride through Richmond Park and helps me arrive with a clear mind. I get to the office for about 8.30, do a quick check-in with the team then grab a shower.
We have a daily stand-up at 9.30 to ensure everyone knows what they’re doing and clear any roadblocks, after which I get stuck in to my working day. Again this is usually split between growth activities (sales, marketing etc) and product development. On the growth side, we’ll typically be discussing email campaign performance and coming up with new ideas for campaigns we can run that week. We use DotMailer as our main email platform – we like it a lot and it gives us lots of flexibility for building campaigns. We’ve also been using Contactology (now Campaigner) for some upsell/conversion campaigns.
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
- Singletrackworld.com
- Yachtsandyachting.com
- Ft.com
What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
- Define what you want to do, why you want to do it and what you think will make you good at it.
- Go direct to the companies you want to work for – find contacts there then email them, phone them up, get some time with them and sell your case.
- Be persistent. You have to kiss a lot of frogs…
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
We’ve been running the Appsme business – focused on SMEs – for about a year now and it feels like we’re just getting started. We see mobile apps today being in a similar position to where websites were about 15 years ago – businesses know what they are but (a) don’t see what they’ll do for their business, (b) see them as complicated to setup and (c) see them as expensive. Self-service website tools, such as Wix.com, broke down these barriers for websites, and we’re doing the same for apps.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’ve competed in a World Championship sailing competition and numerous European Championships. I’ve never won though, and can frequently be found in the back half of the fleet!