#IgniteApplico Takes Over the Applico Rooftop

Over 100 NYC startup founders and entrepreneurs joined Applico on our rooftop for a special founders-only event this last Friday, featuring a Q&A with the founders of Handybook.

The crowd started to gather around 6pm, and #IgniteApplico kicked off with our DJ spinning from high above.

GeneralCatalyst1 We were joined by a special guest from one of our sponsors, Spencer Lazar of General Catalyst Partners. Lazar spoke with Applico CEO Alex Moazed about Handybook’s progress as a platform, with the company having just closed its $30mm Series B. He also talked about what he looks for in platform startups and gave the crowd of founders some advice on what they need to do to make it to their own Series A or Series B.

Next up, Applico’s CEO presented the first-ever graphs showing how platform businesses scale without increasing costs. The graph shows that while a linear business’s costs continue to rise as it grows, a platform’s costs tend to level off logarithmically, enabling the platform to scale far beyond the size of most traditional businesses.

After that, it was time for the #IgniteApplico’s main event, a Q&A with Handybook co-founders Umang Dua and Oisin Hanrahan. Applico’s Alex Moazed talked with the two founders about the NY-based Handybook’s success and how they see their business progressing after raising their latest round of capital.

Referencing Alex’s earlier presentation, Hanrahan noted that Handybook’s industry is still in the early part of the platform cost-structure graph, but that he expected the costs to start to flatten out over the next 6-12 months as clear winners in the sector emerge.

We finished off the night with a little more entertainment. Keeping with #IgniteApplico’s theme, a firedancer wowed the crowd before making the rounds to allow the crowd to pose for fire-eating selfies.

Thanks to everyone who came out! Applico would also like to give a special thanks to our sponsors for helping us make this a night to remember:

Be sure to check out more photos from the event on our Facebook page.

If you missed the event, don’t worry – the fun isn’t over! You can still join us for our Platform Innovation™ Workshop on August 7th. Sign up now to get a special low price!

Photos by Caleb Tenenbaum

Filed under: Applico in the Press | Topics: #IgniteApplico, Events, platform innovation, startup