A great story in yesterday’s Sunday Times…

One Jamie True, who is 35 and nauseatingly good looking, and his 24 year old CEO Alistair Crane, are set to sell their company, Grapple Mobile, for more than £15m. They have received many unsolicited bids. The company was set up 7 months ago. They make Apps (mobile device applications) for smartphones, made by the likes of Apple and Blackberry.

A number of things struck me as salient about Grapple’s story -

1. Grapple Mobile have proprietary software to allow them to make the apps in “days”. This looks like a USP to me – why a customer should choose them over other apps designers. It’s why Boeing made 50% return-on-sales for decades with their 747 – no one else could make a plane so big (read “efficient”). They dominated the market. They had a monopoly (which is not illegal).

2. Grapple work with big advertising and marketing agencies to develop apps for the agencies’ clients. This is a great route to market – offer your USP not directly to your customers, do it through a third party (in this case the agencies) who already have access to your target market, yet cannot offer what you can. But how do you get into big advertising and marketing agencies? Read on…

3.  Grapple Mobile is chaired by Jon Claydon, a “veteran advertising executive”. That’s the icing on the cake.

A great USP, a clever route to market and an insider to make it all work.

I hope Jamie True and Alistair Crane get their £15m.

They deserve it.

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