This startup believes cell apps for companies ought to work extra like shopper apps

Have you ever observed the large hole between shopper and enterprise apps in your cellphone? Whereas shopper apps are each fantastically designed and straightforward to make use of, enterprise apps are merely painful to make use of.

A European startup is growing a collection of B2B apps which are designed for cell first as a result of telephones have develop into the principle computer systems for most individuals. They usually’re calling their firm… The Mobile-First Company.

Whenever you obtain an app from this firm, you possibly can count on to have the ability to create an account out of your cellphone (that’s not all the time the case for B2B apps) and carry out the whole lot from the machine in your pocket. Too many corporations that supply B2B instruments deal with cell apps as companion apps and second-class residents.

However the European startup doesn’t need to recreate Salesforce, Asana or Workday on cell. As an alternative, the corporate plans to give attention to small and medium companies and deal with their wants one app at a time. Small corporations don’t want an advanced enterprise software program resolution. They want one app to carry out a set of duties extraordinarily effectively.

And The Cellular-First Firm has loads of concepts, equivalent to constructing an app to create a quote, or one other one to trace bills, or an app devoted to managing the stock in your workshop or small warehouse.

“The idea is really to build a suite of applications. It will not be an all-in-one app and that will be the main difference with other players. We don’t believe in the all-in-one model because people are scared of technology,” co-founder and CEO Jérémy Goillot instructed me.

A primary app to trace your stock

Ignacio Siel Brunet, the co-founder and CTO of this new undertaking, beforehand labored as VP of Engineering for Pomelo, a fintech infrastructure firm in Latin America with 200 engineers working for the corporate.

Whereas Siel Brunet is extra skilled with the wants of huge corporations, he has additionally seen how B2B apps don’t work effectively with small companies. “I know how to help big companies solve big problems. But on the other side I had this problem with my family. They own a furniture company but they have issues with invoicing, inventory, etc.,” he instructed me.

Many small corporations merely depend on shopper apps to fill their wants. “They use Instagram as the showcase, WhatsApp as the CRM, a personal bank to run their financial aspects,” Goillot mentioned. “Our DNA is to keep this B2C style of applications with this friendliness and mass-market appeal while also solving problems.”

The Cellular-First Firm’s first app is Amoa, a cell app to trace your stock. For example, many garages depend on spreadsheets to trace the variety of spare elements they at the moment have in inventory. However staff don’t often spend their work day in entrance of a pc.

With Amoa, they’ll open an app, add elements by scanning a barcode, add different data, equivalent to pricing particulars, and begin utilizing the app because the supply of fact. Once they choose one thing up from the shelf, they’ll take away the merchandise from Amoa and transfer on.

Even when you don’t promote items, managing a listing may be helpful. For example, when you’re a marriage photographer, you may need to create a listing of all of your digicam lenses and equipment to just be sure you don’t go away something behind. Equally, nurses need to ensure they’ve the whole lot they want earlier than driving to the primary affected person.

Appearing like a cell gaming firm

Amoa might or might not work. The concept is that The Cellular-First Firm will develop, ship, iterate and kill concepts that don’t work to allow them to give attention to probably the most promising ones. In my dialogue with the founders, it felt extra like speaking with an off-the-cuff cell gaming firm than a B2B software program firm. Ultimately, the corporate plans to monetize probably the most promising apps with premium options that you may unlock with a paid subscription.

That’s as a result of Jérémy Goillot, the CEO of the startup, already is aware of just a few issues about product-market match as he beforehand labored for spend administration startup Spendesk as head of development. He was the fourth worker on the French fintech firm that shortly turned a unicorn.

When he left Spendesk, he spent a while touring and tech merchandise and the way they’re used exterior of Europe and the U.S. “I traveled to Africa a lot, from Nigeria to Ghana and Kenya because I wanted to see other types of products. I traveled a lot in Latin America too,” Goillot mentioned.

“And I was impressed by other types of companies. We are a huge fan of Indian companies — Zoho is one of them. We are a huge fan of Treinta as well — it’s a Colombian company.”

Since being included in December, The Cellular-First Firm has raised €3.5 million ($3.8 million at at the moment’s alternate fee) in a pre-seed spherical led by Lightspeed Enterprise Companions and Emblem — the corporate is saying the spherical at the moment. Many angel buyers additionally participated within the spherical, together with Xavier Niel (Kima Ventures), Thibaud Elzière (Hexa), Jean-Baptiste Hironde (MWM) and Rodolphe Ardant (Spendesk).

Now, the corporate desires to maneuver shortly. “For the end of the year, our goal is to release six applications to have this high velocity of trying, killing, trying, killing to really upgrade the knowledge of the company,” Goillot mentioned.

“We are able to build an application in two weeks. We are able to bring thousands of downloads a day,” he added. So let’s see how lengthy it takes earlier than The Cellular-First Firm ships an app that you may spot within the wild when speaking with a small enterprise proprietor.