[Top Agency Series] Navigating App Development With John Driscoll of Naked Development

John Driscoll is the CEO and Co-founder of Naked Development, a California-based mobile app development and creative agency known for helping clients tackle significant industry challenges. With a history of entrepreneurship spanning over two decades, John leads a team skilled in bringing innovative app ideas to life. Under his leadership since 2018, Naked Development has amassed over 3.7 million app downloads, launched over 327 apps, and facilitated a staggering $96.5 million in client fundraising. John’s expertise in strategizing eight-figure exits and attracting prestigious clientele, including PGA, UPS, Bank of America, and figures like Peter Thiel, cements his reputation in the tech and entrepreneurship communities.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [3:35] John Driscoll explains how Naked Development addresses big problems through technology and apps
• [5:27] The importance and benefits of podcasting for business relationships and networking
• [7:30] John’s rationale for choosing to work with startups
• [11:00] The common misconceptions founders have about attracting investors and raising funds
• [17:22] Strategies behind John’s approach to client selection and ensuring successful outcomes
• [22:40] The crucial milestone of recognizing the staying power of native apps
• [28:16] Tips for negotiating equity stakes between agency and client
• [34:29] The story behind a politically charged, controversial dating app funded by Peter Thiel: “The Right Stuff”
• [42:35] The role of unique and sticky features in app user engagement

In this episode…

Can innovative mobile app development make a significant difference for startups seeking to solve big problems? Do strategies exist for these companies to attract investments and navigate toward successful exits? How can relationships with high-profile clients be attracted and maintained?

Seasoned entrepreneur John Driscoll dives into how his company has become a cutting-edge mobile app firm, elevating startups from idea to investment. With a focus on app development since the inception of Apple’s App Store, he shares the importance of problem-solving in technology and the power of strategic partnerships. As an experienced entrepreneur, he emphasizes the role of a founder’s grit and the intricacies of investor relationships in catalyzing startup success. Naked Development’s journey to over 3.7 million app downloads and $96.5 million raised for clients is a testament to its innovative outlook and excellence in follow-through.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews John Driscoll, Co-founder and CEO of Naked Development, about achieving success in the app marketplace. John explains how Naked Development addresses big problems through technology and apps, the common misconceptions founders have about attracting investors and raising funds, and the crucial milestone of recognizing the staying power of native apps.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• John Driscoll on LinkedIn
• Naked Development

Special Mention(s):

• Peter Thiel on LinkedIn
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
• $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex Hormozi
• $100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your Stuff by Alex Hormozi
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dr. Dan Ariely

Related episode(s):

• “[Sweet Process Series] How to Save Hundreds of Hours a Month Using Top Productivity Tools with Adi Klevit of Business Success Consulting Group” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Agency Series] Navigating a Merger and Becoming an End-to-End Digital Partner With Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable Moments:

• “We’re not trying to shy away from problems. In fact, we like problems, because that’s where the opportunity to do something significant lies.”
• “If you’re not ready for investors, it could ruin your reputation — so be realistic, grind, and hustle your way to success.”
• “We go beyond just app development; we’re about building a relationship and forming a team to serve people and solve problems.”
• “Don’t wait for the idea to sell itself, let the investor believe in you — that’s the key to raising funds.”
• “It’s not about making a big app, it’s about making something meaningful. Build something small, but build it well.”

Action Steps:

1. Embrace big problems: Seek out and embrace big problems within your industry, as they present opportunities for significant impact. Engaging with complex issues fuels innovation and leads to meaningful solutions.
2. Build realistic expectations: As a founder, ground yourself in reality to attract investors who value transparency and tenacity. Investors resonate with founders who show awareness of challenges and a willingness to adapt.
3. Prioritize cultural fit in hiring: Incorporate cultural alignment into your hiring process to create a collaborative and effective team. A team that shares common values and vision fosters unity and drives success.
4. Implement sticky features: Innovate with “sticky features” that address user psychology for a standout app user experience. Understanding user behavior helps create features that truly resonate and engage users.
5. Nurture high-profile relationships: Approach high-profile connections with the intent to add value without expecting immediate returns. Building genuine relationships based on mutual benefit can open doors to opportunities when the time is right.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:01 

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 0:22 

Dr Jeremy Weisz here, founder of inspiredinsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders today, is no different. I have John Driscoll, nakeddev.com and John, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes people should check out. Since this is part of the top agency series, and John has a really interesting niche app development agency, but he helps companies solve big problems, including helping raise money and other things. So we’ll get into that. But some interesting episodes.

I had Adi Klevit, John. That was really one of my favorite ones. We geeked out on our favorite productivity tools and tech. And she specializes, or her agency specialize in SOPs. So she goes in and helps a company create SOPs. So if they’re having, you want to smooth out the client journey, or the hiring process, or any process, she comes in and works her magic and does that. So that was a really interesting episode, right? It’s like the non-sexy stuff that makes things work.

And Kevin Hourigan had agencies in 1995 so it was really interesting to hear his take on the agency landscape and evolution, even business entrepreneurship and some of the ups and downs through that time period. So check that out and many more on inspiredinsider.com, this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships.

And how do we do that? We actually do that by helping you run your podcast, or an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. And we do the most important thing, strategy, and then we also do the accountability and the full execution. John, we call ourselves, kind of the magic elves that run the background and make it look easy for the host, so they can create amazing content, great relationships, and, most importantly, run their business.

For me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships, even my guests. I just had one on earlier. I’m always introducing my guests to each other, and I found no better way, over the past decade, to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you thought about podcasting, you should you have questions, you can go to rise25.com to learn more, or email [email protected].

John Driscoll is founder and CEO of Naked Development, and they’re a cutting-edge mobile app development firm and creative agency. They’re based in California. He has over two decades as an entrepreneur. Since 2018 they’ve generated over 3.7 million app downloads, and counting, some of the apps we may talk about are generating 10s of 1000s organic downloads a month. So we’ll talk about that. He helped clients raise an impressive $96.5 million and successfully launched over 327 apps. Some of the topics we may dive into strategies for setting up and navigating eight-figure exits for clients, how to attract and maintain relationships with high-profile clients. Some of their past clients include PGA, UPS, Bank of America, Peter Thiel and many, many more. And John, thanks for joining me.

John Driscoll 3:35 

Thank you, Dr Jeremy. Is that what we call you, Dr Jeremy.

Jeremy Weisz 3:40 

You can call me Jeremy, but you know, as a recovering chiropractor, if you were on the table being adjusted, maybe Dr. J, or something like that.

John Driscoll 3:50 

Dr. J, yeah, I like that. I like that. Yeah. Can I ask you a question? Yeah? So no, I was thinking about what you were saying when at the top of the show here, and is podcasting, the new networking. It kind of seems like it.

Jeremy Weisz 4:06 

I believe it should be, yeah, because here’s the thing we won’t get. We, you know, this is all about you. But you know, if I said, John, let’s talk, okay, and let’s have a GET TO KNOW you call. I’d be asking a lot of the questions, but why not make it go further? Why not give to you by having that conversation, produce content out of it for you that you can use, and people get to know you? I can learn from it, from professional development, and the audience can learn professional development. You get exposure. So it’s a win-win all around.

And now I get to know what you do, and I can refer you people, introduce you to people and things like that. So I like to use it a lot of times, just to introduce people on my network, so that when I introduce you to Mary, you can both listen the up. Episode and go a lot deeper and further with each other.

John Driscoll 5:03 

No, I think that’s real. And I actually had one of my most viral videos ever was just a conversation I was having in an interview. And it’s just, it’s, it’s interesting how in networking today, we just like get to know each other through this medium, and then somehow we let other people in and watch it. It’s, just different. I guess I’m old enough to just remember the old days when we just networked and we didn’t watch.

Jeremy Weisz 5:27 

I mean, the funny thing is, with my guests too oftentimes, and people realize I have formed amazing friendships. I’ve gone to people’s weddings, I’ve gone on family vacations with people. And it’s just really helped deepen many, many relationships. So likewise, like when you’re in Chicago, we’ll probably hang out. But thanks for that question. But this is all about you the rest of the time. Talk about Naked Development and what you do.

John Driscoll 5:59 

Yeah, so Naked Development started as a company, you know, to serve people who are trying to create applications, mobile applications. And people come to us with various, you know, kind of concepts that they’re starting with. A lot of times, they’re trying to solve a problem in their industry, or they’re actually trying to start a company. It comes from so many different places, but people mostly come to us at ideation. So they’re basically the first question we ask them is, what problem are you trying to solve? Because that’s what we’re here to do.

Technology is just a medium in which to solve problems. That’s all it is. If I could solve them without technology, I would, but it just happens to be probably the best medium there is. So we try to get to the core of that problem and really figure out, from a design standpoint, what would be a way to get people to solve the problem with utilizing an app, and that’s something we’ve been doing since 2008 when the App Store first started. But we started naked development as really focusing on startups, mainly so been in the business since day one, the of the app store.

Jeremy Weisz 6:54 

Why startups? I feel like there’s a lot of complexity and starting from scratch, and there’s funding and other things. Why startups?

John Driscoll 7:30 

That’s a great question. I would tell you the reason why is because they’re more innovative than big companies, and they often have more problems. See, I’m not trying to shy away from problems. I actually like problems, and you should too. When you see a big problem, then you actually have the opportunity to do something significant. If it’s not a big problem, you really can’t do something significant. So I think you’re right, startups have more problems than big companies. Big companies can. They have tons of money. They can make mistakes. They can do it, probably in a way that they shouldn’t do it. When startups, they can’t afford to make those kind of mistakes.

Jeremy Weisz 8:14 

With the startups, who’s an ideal client? Do they have to have some type of funding already, because it sounds like sometimes you help them raise money. Because to develop, some of the stuff you develop is, it costs money and time and energy and team.

John Driscoll 8:31 

Yeah. So now that I’ve seen this happens hundreds and hundreds of times, and we get over 200 inquiries a month from people trying to talk to us. So what we are currently working on, actually, is a coaching model to help people with no money really get to a place. I’m actually offering a five-day free class that’s coming out next month, and it’s going to kind of help people, hey, if you have no money, because I’ve seen people go from very, very little money, maybe $15,000 and turn that into a company that sells for half a billion dollars, literally, that they never put another dime in.

And after seeing that multiple times, maybe not always a half a billion, but to see people like go from nothing to cashing out big on their company, I think there’s just a path that people are unaware of, that you can take if you don’t have resources. If you really look at most of the big startups that we all admire, a lot of them have no money, had no money. I think it was Airbnb that they only raised, like $26,000 in two years of trying to raise funds, I would have quit probably three times in that process. That’s just a terrible raise. But they’re obviously doing pretty well.

Jeremy Weisz 9:45 

So out of the 200 inquiries, how do you whittle it down? Who is a fit?

John Driscoll 9:51 

Yeah, so the entry-level now, to us is about 20,000 to start working with us. We’re going to get that down to free next month, which you’re excited about. But we started 20,000 because they have to have enough money to design with us. Once they have that, then they can often raise money from there, we have about a ratio of about 60 to 70% raising funds to raise to build the first version of their app, which might be $50,000-$60,000 to do that. So it’s far more attainable now than it was, say, three, five years ago, where it was much, much more expensive to bank-make technology. Yeah.

Jeremy Weisz 10:33 

So we’re talking about raising money for a second. Some of the ways they use, obviously, the work that you’re doing, they use it to make money and sell the customers. The other is, they use it to raise money, right? They’re showing this to potential investors, like, here’s our proof of concept. Maybe they have traction, maybe they don’t. What are some of the mistakes you’ve seen people make if they’re using it for raising money purposes?

John Driscoll 11:00 

Yeah, I think the most common thing is that people think that the data is going to sell an investor, or they think that the idea will sell an investor. And the truth is, those things matter, but they’re not near as important as you and so a lot of people, they have this thing, if my idea is good enough, then I don’t have to be great. And that’s just not true. You really have to build the idea and the image of a company that you’re building, not a product, and that company has to be led by somebody that that investor believes in.

And that is probably one of the most misunderstood things I see, and so people, often they make a bigger app than they need because they think a bigger app means, it’s going to be more impressive. And they’re trying to impress people, and you don’t want to try to impress people. It’s just a futile exercise. So I just think that kind of approach is the mistake that you see a lot of people make and we try to coach them. We offer weekly coaching. We guarantee you will meet investors when you work with us, that’s actually a money-back guarantee you will meet investors. We have a lot of big claims and guarantees that we put on the line our reputation and our money to make sure that we can deliver.

Jeremy Weisz 12:21 

Talk about that as an agency and company. I remember John and I did a stint of, I don’t know, a year of interviewing some of the direct, top direct response marketers and copywriters on the planet. And they would say, as one of those pieces, a rock star, solid guarantee is huge in a business. So talk about some of the guarantees.

John Driscoll 12:45 

Yeah, so the biggest problem that you face when you’re selling a service is people not believing you can deliver on that service, right? Like, that’s probably the most common thing. And so by putting a guarantee in place, you’re saying, listen, we know that you’re going to like this, and so we actually allow you to meet with us for five hours on the first day, and if you’re not satisfied, we will send you back money, every dime that you paid us.

And it’s because I’m so confident in our ability to consult with you that you are going to be blown away by that experience. And so I put that on the line, and I think you have to make sure that you’re not delivering. You have to over-deliver. And so if you don’t over-deliver, then you can’t guarantee things, you know, but if you do, you have this ability to make these grand promises that people are not used to hearing.

Jeremy Weisz 13:44 

And then you mentioned also another guarantee was investors. And I’ll put a caveat here, John, part of a guarantee, I think, is it’s a client selection thing, right? Because you can’t guarantee that for everyone, but you’re only going to select the clients or people that you can guarantee that for most likely. So, it’s like, no, we’re not guaranteeing this for everyone, and only the people that we select to work with. So talk about the investor or, you know, introduction guarantee that you talked about.

John Driscoll 14:14 

yeah, so one, you’re absolutely right. We only approved 12% of the people that reach out to us. That’s a selection thing. They eventually get to a conversation with me, and in that conversation, that 30 minutes, I’m really kind of evaluating it, we go to an approval process, and we want to make sure that if we sign on the dotted line, that we can deliver what we’re saying, and that we think that you are a good candidate for the outcome that you’re looking for, which is a successful company. So we take that very, very seriously, and we go through a lot of very deliberate steps to make sure of that.

So you’re absolutely right, because the biggest problem is if I do introduce you to investors, I have to be able to vouch for you. And so I have pulled back before and said, hey, I can’t do that because you’re not ready, because it’s important that my reputation when I introduce you to an investor is solid. I took a group up to San Francisco couple three weeks ago or whatever, put them right in the middle of Silicon Valley, and three of them have pitched in front of a crowd for the first time in their lives. And let me tell you, if you have not done that, you better be prepared for it and that’s what I try to do. I want to make sure that I believe you’re prepared for it.

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