1. App Store for Windows PC
Story of an almost successful French startup
by @thibauld – ex-CEO of Allmyapps

2. 2009
A great start!

3. Software installation on PC is broken, let’s fix it!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

4. 2 co-founders: Arnaud (@coulondre) and I
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

5. 70K€ euros raised from friends and family
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Patrice
Jeff
Lionel
Gab
Damien
Maria
Brigitte
Seb
Hughes
Patrick

6. 1st Launch: 30K users and 1st deal with Intel US
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

7. 2010
The euphory

8. LeWeb09, Startup Academy, Techcrunch France
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

9. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Marie
Sam

10. Hiring and building our team
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Sylvain
Maxime Jerome
Patrice
Maxime
Xavier
Alex
Elodie
Fred
Gawen

11. 1st App Store for Windows released!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

12. 2011
The mistakes

13. 2011
The mistakesssss!

14. Big marketing push. Burn rate soars to 120K
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The race to our 1st million users
Objective: Convincing Tier 1 software
publishers to sell on Allmyapps

15. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #1

16. We could not get them to sell on Allmyapps
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #1

17. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #2
It took us time to realize we had
BIGon-boarding issues

18. Product/market fit wasn’t there yet :/
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #2
It took us time to realize we had
BIGon-boarding issues

19. Our cash level was reaching the “danger” zone
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #3

20. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
+1M€ bridge financing

21. Objective: product iteration and Series A
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
+1M€ bridge financing

22. Fund raising attempt in the US… FAILED
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

23. Fund raising attempt in the US… FAILED
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

24. Fund raising attempt in the US… FAILED
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

25. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New strategy!

26. all my apps on all my devices
Dropbox for Apps
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New strategy!

27. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New fundraising attempt in Europe…

28. FAILED
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New fundraising attempt in Europe…

29. 2012
The struggle

30. Only 4 more months left to live….
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pb #3 (again)

31. From 15…. to 8 employees :(
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Only solution left: downsizing

32. Capitalizing on our current product
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Back to Windows App Store
<Microsoft logo>

33. Marketing budget: 0€
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Full SEO acquisition strategy
<Google logo>

34. App Promotion
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New business model

35. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New product - Allmyapps v2

36. Released on September 27th 2012
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
New product - Allmyapps v2

37. Race against time….
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Sept
1K€
Revenues Cash left
175K€
Sept

38. Race against time….
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept
12K€
1K€
Revenues Cash left
100K€
175K€
OctSept

39. Race against time….
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov
17K€
12K€
1K€
Revenues Cash left
63K€
100K€
175K€
OctSept Nov

40. Race against time….
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
Revenues Cash left
33K€
63K€
100K€
175K€
OctSept Nov Dec

41. 3 months of cash missing :/
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
Break-even is around the corner!
Break-even

42. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
+300.000€ final investment

43. Objective: reaching profitability
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
+300.000€ final investment

44. 2013
The recovery

45. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€

46. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
28K€
Jan

47. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
28K€
50K€
Jan Fev

48. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
28K€
50K€
66K€
Jan Fev Mar

49. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
28K€
50K€
66K€
Jan Fev Mar
Break-even

50. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OctSept Nov Dec
24K€
17K€
12K€
1K€
28K€
50K€
66K€
Jan Fev Mar
WE ARE
PROFITABLE!
Break-even

51. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
+200.000€ B2B deal

52. +25% monthly average growth
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Daily allmyapps downloads
-
5 000
10 000
15 000
20 000

53. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
We’re out of the death zone…

54. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
We’re out of the death zone…
Back to our growth plans!

55. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
We’re out of the death zone…
Back to our growth plans!

56. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
But then this happened…

57. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
But then this happened…
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Weekly allmyapps.com traffic

58. Google killed 70% of our traffic… overnight!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
But then this happened…
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Weekly allmyapps.com traffic

59. Google killed 70% of our traffic… overnight!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
But then this happened…
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Weekly allmyapps.com traffic

60. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
We’re BACK to the death zone…
Out our growth plans :(

61. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
We’re BACK to the death zone…
Out our growth plans :(

62. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
At this point…

63. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
At this point…
ALL IN !

64. We make it… or we crash it!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
At this point…
ALL IN !

65. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The main issue:
DISTRIBUTION
Let’s find another distribution channel!

66. Worldwide distribution deal with Systweak
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
January 2014

67. New distribution channel: OK
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Results
-
20 000
40 000
60 000
oct.-13 nov.-13 déc.-13 janv.-14 févr.-14
Daily allmyapps downloads

68. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
End of March 2014
30K€ revenues / month
(back from 15K€ in January 2014)
We need 60K€ / month to break-even
BUT

69. In the “Danger” zone again!
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Problem

70. 3 months to sell the company
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Decision
Let’s sell the company…
NOW!

71. 2014
Selling Allmyapps

72.  9 employees
 500K€ Debts
 3M€ Loss carryforward (“déficit reportable”)
 100K€ in the Bank + 150K€ CIR “yet to come”
 30K€ operating loss / month
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Company facts
April

73. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The context
 Box software and games distributor
 Wants to go into online distribution
 Interested in:
– Our know-how / team
– Our technology
– Our users May
Company A

74.  Offers to buy the company shares for 350K€
 Keep all employees
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The offer
May
Company A

75.  Letter of Intention received but:
– Company A refused to properly incentivize
employees to join the company
– As a result, all developers voiced their opposition
to join Company A during HR interviews
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The result
May
Company A

76.  Letter of Intention received but:
– Company A refused to properly incentivize
employees to join the company
– As a result, all developers voiced their opposition
to join Company A during HR interviews
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The result
May
Company A

77. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The context
 French Coopetitor / We know each other
 Profitable company
 Interested in:
– The product and its user base
– Our catalog of desktop applications
– The Tax (IS) economy
– Buying a competitor June
Company B

78. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The operation as proposed by Allmyapps
 A win/win deal:
– Sell of 100% shares for 500K€
– Risk free acquisition for Company B:
• Accretive even if synergies finally do not work as hoped
thanks to the important Tax economy
June
Company B

79. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The (Non) Offer
 Strong first initial interest
 Abnormally slow moving
 Finally informally proposed to buy Allmyapps
with options (BSA) of the company
July
Company B

80. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The result
 (non) offer contradictive to our 1st talks
 Not interesting for allmyapps shareholders
 Company B was obviously trying to run out
the clock
 Our answer: NO
July
Company B

81. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The result
 (non) offer contradictive to our 1st talks
 Not interesting for allmyapps shareholders
 Company B was obviously trying to run out
the clock
 Our answer: NO
July
Company B

82. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The context
 Allmyapps business partner for 1.5 years
 Leading company in the download space
 Interested in:
– The product
– Our catalog of desktop applications
August

83. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The offer
 370K$ for allmyapps assets
 200K$ for pre-identified key employees to help
transition adapt our technology to their technical
platform
 30K$ for our mutual “contact agent”
August

84. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The result
 370K$ < Allmyapps total debts:
– I cannot take the decision to sell alone
– Needs approval of “administration judiciaire”
 Our answer:
– OK but pending administration approval
August

85. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Sept
September 9th 2014

86. Liquidation procedure opening
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Sept
September 11th 2014

87. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1

88. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
Company A

89. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
Company ACompany A Company B

90. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
Company A Company B

91. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
80K€
Company A Company B

92. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
80K€
250K€
Company A Company B

93. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 1
80K€
296K€
(370K$)
250K€
Company A Company B

94. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 2
Company A Company B

95. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 2
80K€
Company A Company B

96. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 2
80K€
320K€
Company A Company B

97. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Oct
Final judgement – Round 2
80K€
320K€
361K€
(450K$)
Company A Company B

98. October 21st 2014
bought
for 361.000 euros

99. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
Winston Churchill

100. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
Winston Churchill
If you’d like to know more about my next upcoming venture:
@thibauld

101. Credits
Thanks again to all who contributed to this almost success story

102. Our early business, code and design angels
Patrice
Jeff Lionel Gab
Damien et Claude
Maria Brigitte
Seb
HughesPatrick
Leo
Andrea

103. Our funny and hardworking (sometimes) interns ;)
Adrien, Matthieu, David, Slim
Laurence, Reda, Cyprien, Pierre, Vivien, Loukmane
Feiyu, Xiaodong

104. Our hardworking team
Mikky, Xavier, Patrice, Gawen, Jean-Tristan, Frederic, Arnaud, Maxime, Elodie, Jerome, Thibauld, Alex, Sylvain, David
Axel Maxime Seb Patrick Jeremy

105. Our supportive investors and board members
Marie PaulineSamantha
Rodrigo Nenad

106. My friend and co-founder
Arnaud

107. My friend and co-founder
Arnaud
Hélène
And his supportive wife!

108. My beloved wife and partner for life!
Paola

109. My beloved wife and partner for life!
And finally my entire family for their never ending support
Paola