BuildFire’s DIY Mobile App Building Platform for Business

Businesses of all sizes can go mobile quickly and cost-effectively with BuildFire’s DIY Mobile App Development Platform

 

Startup: BuildFire

What they do: Provide an easy-to-use, DIY mobile app building platform.

Headquarters: Newport Beach CA

Founders: Ian Blair and Nathan Keating, who previously teamed up to found Kaleo Apps.

Founded: 2013 

Funding: They’re currently backed by $500K in friends and family funding.

Problem they tackle: Pretty much every business under the sun thinks they need a mobile app, and for most this is actually true. Recent studies have shown that Americans spend more than 2 hours per day on their mobile devices. Those same users are spending less time on websites – 22 minutes per day in 2014, down from 31 minutes the year before – while at the same time, those consumers are spending more of their mobile time with apps – 86% in 2014, up from 80% the year before.

The problem most businesses have when trying to take advantage of this trend is that building a solid mobile app takes time and can be prohibitively expensive.

This is where BuildFire comes in. The startup has built a turnkey, DIY mobile app building solution that allows businesses and organizations across nearly every vertical to easily build their own robust mobile apps.

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What I like about them: One very cool feature in BuildFire’s DIY mobile app platform is that it provides users with live editing technology. As you make changes to your content, you see it happen live in the app. Conversely, most other app builders rely on a CMS design similar to WordPress where content editing and visual representation are not side by side.

With BuildFire, you can pull in the existing content you publish online, rather than pulling it in manually. You can automatically sync any RSS feed from your Blog or multimedia channel, such as YouTube or Vimeo. Simple plug in your feed and BuildFire takes care of the rest.

You can also easily create loyalty programs and plug into third-party e-commerce services like Shopify.

Customers include: such apps as City Hot Spot, Premier Healthcare, Steel Fence & Supply, and VC Buzz’s Content Marketing Training App.

Competitive Landscape: This space is reminiscent of the DIY website design space of a decade ago or so. The barrier to entry is fairly high to create a drag-and-drop tool that actually meets most businesses’ needs, and most of the competition comes from internal DIY efforts or app building shops.

Others offering build-your-own platforms include AppMachine, Biznessapps, and Como.

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