This year we celebrate the 4th birthday of Applover. We have decided to give you a little bit of insight into our story. How did it all start? What are our plans for the future? And what tips do we have for those who are thinking about starting their IT career? Applover’s CEO, Radek Bułat, in a short birthday interview, talked about where the idea for a full-stack digital agency came from and what the company’s plans for the future are.
Do you remember the day you decided to open a digital agency?
Before working as a Full-Stack Digital Agency/Software House, we were building a startup – Loca. It was a loyalty program as a mobile application – working entirely without user interaction. For just being in restaurants/pubs/clubs, users collected points that they could eventually exchange for rewards. It seemed like an innovative product in 2015. Unfortunately, we had a problem with monetizing this innovation. At that time, mobile was not as strong as it is in 2020. As we had a reliable technical team – we decided to do projects for others, not only for ourselves. It is how Applover was created – out of love for mobile, that’s the genesis of the name, a few geeks flirting with applications.
How do you know each other with the founders?
Together with the guys, we built our startup products, such as Footsteps, Artion, and the mentioned above Loca. We know each other very well, e.g., Piotr Sobusiak and I spent our summer holidays after high school painting houses in Norway. A few years later, in 2016, we all decided to get together as Applover. The guys joined the company (a few months after the historic start). To this day, our relations are not only business but also outside the office, giving a lot of support through our rainy days and helping us stick to our goals in the better moments.
With what attitude and goals did you start your adventure with Applover?
Initially, with the rest of the co-founders, we wanted to build exciting mobile projects with the possibility of monetization. The mobile market grew strongly in 2016, more and more interesting projects like Uber, Tinder, Facebook Messenger, etc. appeared in users’ minds. We were mainly driven by a passion for making startups succeed and helping other companies build tools to change the world. At the same time, this motivation was joined by the desire to create a workplace with a relaxed atmosphere for young people with passion. Financial matters are not essential for us, although we have a plan to make Applover appear on the stock exchange in a few years.
We keep our fingers crossed! Tell us what has changed since 2016 that makes you closer to your goal?
Practically everything has changed except one thing – the passion for building digital products. Working at a Full-stack Digital Agency can’t get boring, each of our employees get into new digital projects at least several times a year, projects that change our environment and the way we live.
Many of our employees have been with us since the beginning of the adventure; most of them were not people from open recruitments, but colleagues. In the beginning, it allowed us to build a very open organizational culture.
Indeed, since 2016 the office has changed three times. Applover started in a 20m² room, and now we have a building with over 600m² and are planning further expansion. New talents are joining us, bringing freshness and energy to the organization. We build new processes, and we dynamically adapt to the changing conditions. We have also returned to making our own products. Generally, a lot is going on, and I can proudly say that the company is evolving every year.
Indeed, we can say that you are growing dynamically. And what makes Applover stand out from the competition?
The software development market is very competitive. Only in our country, there are over 1000 such companies. Indeed, we stand out quite strongly against their background, which was confirmed by the Deloitte award won in 2019 (Rising Star in the CEE). Last year, my partners – Piotr Sędzik and Janek Kamiński – were on the “Forbes 25 under 25 list”. These types of awards are part of our shared success and are an honor for all of us who work together at Applover.
We are not an organization focused on short-term profit. We care about building long-term relations with business partners and achieving business goals together. In 2019 we also decided to put a strong emphasis on our products, which allows us to continually learn and go out to customers with both strong theoretical and practical knowledge. Most of the competition on the market has never brought its own product to market. We are strongly distinguished by the fact that we are practitioners and real app-lovers.
You’ve mentioned your passionate employees. What do you pay attention to when employing new people? You’ve already built a team of almost 50 of them. It must be quite a challenge?
For some time now, we have focused on recruiting only people with rich experience and skills. It allows us to develop as a company and the individuals themselves. Of course, knowledge and experience are one thing. Another important aspect is to match our atmosphere and culture. We stand out on the market due to our flat structure, directness, loose atmosphere, and at the same time, high motivation in the professional challenges themselves.
Looking back at the past four years – what are you most proud of in terms of projects?
We are very proud of each project. I don’t want to point out a specific one. The final version depends on many factors, and we put as much heart and work into each one. Nowadays, we are most proud of the products we create in-house. We learn a lot from them, and we have the opportunity to learn and test new assumptions and technologies. I’m thinking about projects such as Bench or Footsteps. In our portfolio, we also have applications of well-known and currently growing startups. Unfortunately, while I’d love to, I cannot name the most impressive ones here.
