The mountain of mobile applications – or apps – makes Everest look puny.  Who wants to be at the bottom?  Nobody.  It’s reaching the top that maximizes the adrenaline level for every coder and marketer who dares the ascent.  But the field of climbers is filled with big, smart competitors and there are only so many channels to people’s mobile devices, so how does a startup climb over the intimidating crowd?

John Roberts certainly went down enough dead-end trails searching for his path, but he and his company, Mindwarm, Incorporated of Beaverton, Oregon, are moving up.  A communications veteran, John hooked up with some other very savvy minds to blow away the world with great apps.  But they stalled more than once trying to move up and had to find a new path to success.

In his interview, John cautions companies with just a couple of apps (no matter how game-changing they seem) that they simply won’t get noticed on a mountain that is so huge.  Better to take a path that goes behind the scenes, becoming known for understanding the industry and becoming engineers with expertise than to climb the paths already know.  A great lesson on repositioning your company when the path you’re on is leading nowhere.  Enjoy.

by Thubten Comerford and Michael Coates

This interview was sponsored by Startup Business Credit – Business Credit Spot.