Thread: Forget Creating An App. Make Money Flipping Them Instead!

Anyone else think that this will eventually flood the market with shitty apps (think Flippa for apps)?

How does one judge whether an app is worth buying. And on that topic, how do you know whether a Flippa auction is worth bidding on?

My line of thought is that if it makes you steady money, it's not worth selling.

If an asset pays you $1000 a month 'steady money' would you sell for $1m? $500k? What point would a person sell if they had a buyer? Vice versa.

The only time you would sell is when you can see the end is near, but nobody else can. You would then need to find a greater fool, just like USA's retarded "housing market", eventually someone is left holding the bag and loses everything. Do you really want to take that risk?

I say no deal. Create value, or piss off, nobody likes morons who get in between transactions and steal wealth, you might as well go work for JP morgan if that's your ultimate agenda. I would say half the people on here are trying to create legal skimming machines, to scoop off the cream at the top while relying on everyone else to do the grunt work, that's not helping anyone, and you're a lazy ass.

Originally Posted by damien275x

The only time you would sell is when you can see the end is near, but nobody else can. You would then need to find a greater fool, just like USA's retarded "housing market", eventually someone is left holding the bag and loses everything. Do you really want to take that risk?

I say no deal. Create value, or piss off, nobody likes morons who get in between transactions and steal wealth, you might as well go work for JP morgan if that's your ultimate agenda. I would say half the people on here are trying to create legal skimming machines, to scoop off the cream at the top while relying on everyone else to do the grunt work, that's not helping anyone, and you're a lazy ass.

There's value in helping people who do the grunt work get what they want out of it. There is indeed value in being a middleman whether you like it or not.

Although, you do make an interesting point: who would sell an app that is making them any money? Probably nobody. I'd say the majority of apps on here would be garbage (before looking at the site). You can't "transform" an app like you can a Web site. You can market the living hell out of it, connect it to Facebook if it lacks that capability, etc. but you can't do SEO on an application and changing the app would be wasting money.

I may be premature but as for what I know from the article, I'm gonna say no deal.

Originally Posted by damien275x

The only time you would sell is when you can see the end is near, but nobody else can. You would then need to find a greater fool, just like USA's retarded "housing market", eventually someone is left holding the bag and loses everything. Do you really want to take that risk?

People sell for hundreds of reasons, need money for...

fix the car
pay the rent
get son out of jail
save house from foreclosure
death
divorce
debt
distress in a thousand flavors.

anytime there is buying and selling in a market, it provides liquidity and lubricates many transactions that couldn't occur otherwise.

there alot of people who would sell apps or even whole portfolios of apps, that were making money. I see them on a regular basis. and as for how do you evaluate them to buy? well that's just putting a criteria list together of what your trying to do. and following that.


as for re-purposing an app. you would be surprised at what you can do with an app. maybe the base code is what your after or more importantly a user base.
you can also rework an apps graphics or user interface giving it a face lift and revitalizing the app. or you may make a strategic purchase for a industry and port the app form and structure over to a new use. There is alot more here than meets the eye.

I am always skeptical. If it were a true income producing asset, you would find other ways to pay off debt and hold onto it, not liquidate it. You would only liquidate to get back time. For websites and apps that do not require giving up time, it only makes sense to sell if you will get more in a lump sum than you expect to get over the next 3-5 years.

All of the ventures I've sold I saw issues in the future - shaky economy, currency likely to appreciate/depreciate destroying margins, but I didnt have much trouble passing them onto an idiot who assumes things will continue as they always have and nothing will change. Very often you will see sites/portfolios valued based on current earnings, and pie in the sky future predictions that never happen!! If you are going to get into the flipping business, do your due dilligence, or you will eventually get a nice expensive lemon. A rotton one that you can't make lemonade out of!

Originally Posted by damien275x

nobody likes morons who get in between transactions and steal wealth

Originally Posted by The-J

who would sell an app that is making them any money? Probably nobody.

Are you guys serious?

Haven't you read the story of MJ Demarco, the author of The Fastlane to Millions book?

This guy was making money.

And still sold his company.

I wouldn't call him a moron. Actually, I'd call him the opposite.

What about Elon Musk? Or any of the founders of eBay, or PayPal?

Anyway.....

And Rickson9, we do need that "stalker-mode' feature I mentioned... I really like pretty much everything you post. Thanks for bringing great topics to the forum.

Originally Posted by The-J

You can't "transform" an app like you can a Web site. You can market the living hell out of it, connect it to Facebook if it lacks that capability, etc. but you can't do SEO on an application and changing the app would be wasting money.

I disagree with this. If the app logic is in place, a facelift is quite easy to do. Also, some brilliant programmers don't get the marketing aspect of an app. You cannot create an app and throw it on the app store and expect it to do well. But if you already have a stream of traffic in a specific niche, an email list in the niche and you could find a poorly marketed app for sale that would appeal to your niche, purchase it, give it a facelift and rebrand, then set it front of your stream of traffic and you could do really well with it.

Originally Posted by healthstatus

I disagree with this. If the app logic is in place, a facelift is quite easy to do. Also, some brilliant programmers don't get the marketing aspect of an app. You cannot create an app and throw it on the app store and expect it to do well. But if you already have a stream of traffic in a specific niche, an email list in the niche and you could find a poorly marketed app for sale that would appeal to your niche, purchase it, give it a facelift and rebrand, then set it front of your stream of traffic and you could do really well with it.

You can make simple small changes to an app and see a HUGE change in downloads/revenue. A kid I know went from averaging about 7-8k downloads a day to 60k+ a day by marketing it. He won't tell his secrets but its small things that can make a huge difference.

I am always skeptical. If it were a true income producing asset, you would find other ways to pay off debt and hold onto it, not liquidate it. You would only liquidate to get back time. For websites and apps that do not require giving up time, it only makes sense to sell if you will get more in a lump sum than you expect to get over the next 3-5 years.

I am assuming you have not bought many companies then

All of the ventures I've sold I saw issues in the future - shaky economy, currency likely to appreciate/depreciate destroying margins, but I didnt have much trouble passing them onto an idiot who assumes things will continue as they always have and nothing will change.

Noted, Nice to know your criteria of your buyers. Im thinking your deals you sold werent that high of value, or were pretty small.

Very often you will see sites/portfolios valued based on current earnings, and pie in the sky future predictions that never happen!!

yes, people hope to sell to idiots....

If you are going to get into the flipping business, do your due dilligence, or you will eventually get a nice expensive lemon. A rotton one that you can't make lemonade out of!

idiots don't due diligence.

Sorry to hear that you only feel like idiots are buyers, and sellers supreme schmucks, willing to sell junk.

Again, in my 20+ yrs of experience of being a buyer of stuff, I find people sell for all sorts of reasons. maybe after some more experience you will find the same.

or just more idiots...
Z

Originally Posted by andviv

Are you guys serious?

Haven't you read the story of MJ Demarco, the author of The Fastlane to Millions book?

This guy was making money.

And still sold his company.

I wouldn't call him a moron. Actually, I'd call him the opposite.

What about Elon Musk? Or any of the founders of eBay, or PayPal?

Anyway.....

And Rickson9, we do need that "stalker-mode' feature I mentioned... I really like pretty much everything you post. Thanks for bringing great topics to the forum.

"Any" money isn't what I meant. The only way you can sell a business is if it is making money or creating some sort of value. (General statement)

But I'm just saying that I'm skeptical of the potential of the apps that would be sold on this website. I'm assuming they are primarily iPhone/iPad apps, some sort of mobile app. I don't disagree that people will sell under value for extreme circumstances (or that they just can't put in the time anymore). I don't know what exactly is being sold here, either; I read that there will be a feature to transfer intellectual property and that would be interesting; I could see people making money simply by buying the names of growing apps.

I dunno, the law of lemons comes to mind when I see things like this, especially looking at the prices they are going for. How much does it cost (on average) to code a fully functional iPhone app? I don't think it only costs $500.

Of course, an intelligent investor can see what apps are 'lemons' and which are not. As for me, I'm uneducated in this space, so I'm gonna pass on the opportunity until I learn more about applications, their revenue streams and how to market them.

(If I made an app and it was making money, would I still sell it? Of course, even if I suspect it to grow. If it gets me to my goals faster, I'll do it. Especially if I feel like it would be too much work to grow it myself. But I wouldn't sell it at a fire-sale price like $500.)

Originally Posted by oddball

You can make simple small changes to an app and see a HUGE change in downloads/revenue. A kid I know went from averaging about 7-8k downloads a day to 60k+ a day by marketing it. He won't tell his secrets but its small things that can make a huge difference.

The site gives you a lot of valuable info about each app. If you look at the downloads and revenue chart on any the apps for sale you can see where the trend for the app is going and if you read the reviews you can get a sense as to why the trend is occurring. I am not a programmer but neither was MJ when he started but he learned what he needed to learn and got it done. I can see revenue streams here but the question is, are you buying a job or starting an app company?

I'm actually currently in this position. Have an app business (one app, actually) that is generating $100k per year, with zero time spent on it. It's generating $6-8k per month at the moment with no marketing at all.

That said, I'd like to focus on new things and I feel like someone else might be able to take it further. Any here have recommendations on finding a potential buyer for it?

Originally Posted by Kari

I'm actually currently in this position. Have an app business (one app, actually) that is generating $100k per year, with zero time spent on it. It's generating $6-8k per month at the moment with no marketing at all.

That said, I'd like to focus on new things and I feel like someone else might be able to take it further. Any here have recommendations on finding a potential buyer for it?

Thats the stupidest thing I've ever heard. If its generating $100k per year with no work and no advertising, why do you want to sell it? Scale it up to $1M per year yourself.

No need to get all aggressive. The main reason is that I want to focus on other things.

This is not my only source of income; I'm also doing corporate mobile consulting bringing in around $200k per year (for approx. 2-3 months of work). I live in Europe in a country with high income tax but low capital gains tax - making it more interesting to sell. I've also gotten the opportunity to join an established company as an equal partner doing more high profile, higher paid and more interesting technology 'stuff'.

Everyone has their reasons.

I'll bite. App name? iOS or Android?

It's an iOS app, specific niche app. Won't be posting the name for everyone to see, but happy to disclose specific information to a potential serious acquirer.