Apsy 2023 In a Nutshell
Apsy's Trailblazing Journey: Triumphs Amidst Tech Turbulence
As we approach the close of a tumultuous year in the startup ecosystem, I am filled with pride reflecting on how Apsy has not only stood strong but also achieved significant growth in our revenue and product offerings. In this year's final newsletter, we'll delve into our key accomplishments, showcasing our product, tech, and financial progress. Before diving into these triumphs, let's examine some key statistics from 2023's startup landscape. These figures contextualize our journey and magnify the significance of our successes. I trust they will heighten your appreciation for our achievements, as they have mine.
Increase in Startup Failures: Based on Carta, In 2023, the U.S. startup ecosystem experienced a significant challenge, with a 16.3% increase in the number of startups shutting down compared to the previous year. In raw numbers, 87 startups that had raised at least $10 million ended up closing, nearly double the total in 2022.
Decline in Venture Capital Funding: The first half of 2023 witnessed a 49% drop in the total value of VC deals in the United States compared to the same period in 2022. The deal value decreased from $127 billion in 2022 to $64.6 billion in 2023, with the number of deals also falling by 35%
With this challenging backdrop in mind, it's time to shift our focus to the brighter side and celebrate the remarkable strides Apsy has made this year. Despite the odds, we've managed to carve out our success story. Let's dive into the exciting accomplishments and milestones Apsy has achieved over the past year.
Financial Milestones: A Year of Exponential Growth
As we conclude the year, Apsy's financial growth narrative is one of remarkable success. We've achieved a 2.8-fold increase in revenue, reaching a stellar $840K. This impressive growth is attributed to advancements across three key areas:
Self-Serve Customer Expansion: Our launch of the fully self-serve platform in June 2023 marked a pivotal moment. Since then, we've welcomed around 20 new subscribers each month, building apps independently. This has contributed an additional $10K to our monthly revenues, a testament to our platform's user-friendly design and capabilities.
Cloud Referrals Revenue Surge: Our partnership with AWS, initiated in July 2023, has been a game-changer. It has brought a steady influx of referrals, adding approximately $25K monthly. Catering to this segment, we employ a hybrid approach—leveraging our AI tool and manual expertise to meet our customers' functional and aesthetic needs.
Growth Trajectory: Accelerating Digital Presence
The final quarter of 2023 marked a significant upturn in our digital marketing initiatives, focusing on SEO and targeted advertising. These efforts are already yielding impressive results:
SEO Success: Our meticulous SEO strategy has propelled Apsy to rank among the top 3 in non-sponsored search results for key phrases like “AI App Builder” and “AI mobile app builder”.
Rising Engagement: This enhanced online visibility, coupled with our vertical-specific ads, has driven an average of 600 daily visitors, leading to 30 new signups and 60 published apps each day.
Future Outlook: With ongoing enhancements in features and support for more verticals in our AI app builder, we are on track to convert a significant portion of these users to paid subscriptions. Our goal is to surpass a million in MRR by 2024.
Product Innovations: Expanding Our Horizons
2023 has been a year of strategic expansion for our core product, the AI-driven app builder Gamma. Looking ahead to Q1 2024, we are excited to announce two groundbreaking additions:
Source: Recognizing the diverse needs of our clientele, particularly developers seeking foundational code, we've evolved Gamma. 'Source' is our new offering, enabling customers to purchase and download code directly. This platform, set for a January 2024 release, will also feature a user-friendly portal where developers can access various components, libraries, and templates to accelerate their app development.
Platforms: In response to customer feedback, we're introducing 'Platforms' – a suite of ready-to-use apps and back-end systems tailored to various business verticals. Designed for customers looking for a plug-and-play digital solution without needing a separate branded app, our initial focus will be e-commerce and social platforms, launching in January 2024. This will be followed by marketplaces, online education, and dating platforms in the subsequent months.
Deep Tech: Addressing Investor Curiosities
When presenting Apsy's innovative capabilities to investors, two key questions often arise:
What is Apsy's secret sauce?
Could other players, such as OpenAI, replicate what we do?
While the full extent of our methodology remains under wraps for competitive reasons, I’d like to provide some hints given that our state-of-the art technology is about to be released in coming months and so there is lesser risk of imitation. The essence of our unique approach is embodied in our intelligent system, Xi. With its cutting-edge components - Zoomable App Representation (ZAR), Intelligent Developer Agent (IDA), and Resource Knowledge Graph (RKG).
Zoomable App Representation (ZAR): Xi's foundational element is the ZAR, a sophisticated framework enabling intelligent agents to process extensive, interrelated app data. It translates complex code, screens, and control flows into an intelligible format, much like how GPT revolutionized NLP.
Intelligent Developer Agent (IDA): Beyond ZAR, our state-of-the-art IDA is fine-tuned to understand and act on specific app requirements. It's akin to an experienced developer, deeply familiar with an app's nuances, ensuring precise and context-aware modifications.
Resource Knowledge Graph (RKG): This component is a repository of internal and external resources, including features, app archetypes, and APIs. The RKG empowers Xi to implement solutions, not just suggest them, elevating our AI app builder to unprecedented levels of efficiency and sophistication.
Set for release in Q1 2024, Xi is set to propel Gamma into new realms of AI-driven app development efficiency and sophistication, distinguishing our technology in a way that goes beyond current market capabilities.