Bootstrapping to $7M with DIY Business Apps: Andrew Gazdecki, CEO of Bizness Apps (Part 1)

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Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Bizness Apps, a do-it-yourself iPhone app platform that allows small businesses to easily create, edit, and manage an iPhone app online without any programming knowledge needed. He founded Bizness Apps while attending CSU Chico full time. He is a graduated of CSU with a degree in business marketing.

Sramana: Andrew, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and where did you grow up?

Andrew Gazdecki: I am originally from Orange County, California. I grew up in a beautiful beach town. I have two entrepreneurial parents. From the time I was in high school, I have always thought of businesses. I have always had some type of venture going from the time I was a teenager. After I graduated from high school, I went to CSU Chico and had a fantastic time there. While I was in school, I had a goal to start a company every summer.

I saved a little startup capital, and over time my businesses got a little more complex and sophisticated. Each venture generated a little bit more revenue than the previous venture. I majored in marketing and I was really involved with the entrepreneurship program on campus. At the beginning of my junior year in college, I started a pretty successful job site. I connected mobile developers with businesses.

I saw an opportunity to help solve the mobile application problem. This business just connected businesses with developers and even that, in 2010, was pretty difficult. It was hard for them to find an iPhone or Android developer. Through that business I saw an opportunity to make mobile applications even easier, more efficient and more affordable. That company generated a mid-five figure revenue stream. In college that made me feel like a billionaire.

I used that money to start Bizness Apps. I saw that as an opportunity to nail down mobile app development for small businesses even more. I really pushed the envelope. Originally the company started so that I could create mobile apps for businesses through a template solution. It started really small. I was committed to being an entrepreneur, and I had no desire to get a job after college. I figured if I could create the templated app solution, I would be able to pick up 50 to 100 small business clients and enjoy a decent lifestyle.

I initially invested a little less than $20,000 of my own savings. At the time that was the biggest investment that I had done. I believed in the business and we worked closely with small restaurants. My first clients were in Chico. The CSU Chico school gym was our first client and was our first iPhone app. Everything just grew from there.

Sramana: Essentially you were charging people to develop very simple apps, correct?

Andrew Gazdecki: That was the initial aspect.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Bootstrapping to $7M with DIY Business Apps: Andrew Gazdecki, CEO of Bizness Apps
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