The Hunting Lease is a Zillow-style app, allowing users to find available properties for hunting and fishing.
For most founders, when they think of a mobile app they think of a fully custom native app built from the ground up by specialized (and expensive) developers).
That’s what The Hunting Lease App started out with, and it tied him down when it came to making updates and changes to the app. So he went in search of something simpler.
We talked to The Hunting Lease App’s CEO and Founder Braxton Huggins about his journey of launching a new mobile app with MobiLoud.
About the Company
The Hunting Lease App is the “Zillow or Redfin of Hunting and Fishing.”
Like traditional real estate applications, the app provides a directory of available properties for people to hunt and fish on. They have a wide range of properties on their platform, from 50 acres up to 15,000 acres, representing 20 different states across the US.
The app started out with an MVP that was a hard-coded native app. Braxton needed to go through his developer whenever he wanted to make changes or modifications to the app, which was a laborious process.
He decided to switch to a web-based platform on Squarespace, to make it easier to iterate and refresh the app with new content. But that meant they needed a new way to manage their mobile app.
The Challenge
As a solo founder, Braxton didn’t have the time or headspace to learn the ins and outs of mobile app development and managing a mobile app. He didn’t have the budget to keep a large mobile development team on staff.
But he also didn’t have any overly complex needs from the mobile app. Squarespace worked out well for managing content, UI and UX.
As a mobile-first platform, he needed a way to convert what he built on the web into mobile apps, and do so in a way that was low-maintenance and didn’t require a lot of time or effort from him.
The Solution
“I found a lot of different services that could take your website and turn it into a mobile app. Me being a solo founder, I needed somebody that could provide that end-to-end kind of turn-key experience. What I mean by that is helping the app get set up, submitting it to the app stores, going through the process of getting it live.
A lot of the other services, they would just turn it into a mobile app and then you would have to go and submit it yourself and you'd have to go through the experience of getting all the integrations and touch points set up. I didn't have the bandwidth or insight to do that. And because you guys did, that was an easy decision for me.”
MobiLoud turned out to be the ideal partner for Braxton.
In his research, most of the website-to-app solutions would build the app and hand it off. It would still require a ton of work from Braxton to publish and manage the app.
Our approach is different. We’re full-service, acting as more of a partner than just an app builder.
We not only helped him convert his website into a mobile app, we also held his hand through the process, took care of the app store submission process, and ensured he wouldn’t have to do the legwork of building the app, publishing it, and doing technical maintenance after launch.
It was exactly the experience a solo founder like Braxton needed.
Results
“With what you guys do, replicating our site in a mobile app form, it was a simple decision for me. I now have the flexibility of managing the content, but I also had the delivery mechanism of the mobile app that our end users wanted.”
Simply being able to launch an app that wouldn’t require significant effort each time they published new content or made small changes to the site was already a win for The Hunting Lease App.
But the results have been even better than just simplifying Braxton’s workflow. Since relaunching the app, it’s been downloaded more than three times as much as their previous app, in a shorter time frame.
“We had close to 4,000 downloads in a full calendar year when I made the switch to take it off the app store, redo it, and go with MobiLoud. We relaunched in March of last year. So it hasn't been a full 12 months yet, and right now I'm looking at it and we already have close to 13,000 downloads. So, three times the number of downloads in less than a year. It's performed well and the download numbers have been great, so I'm happy.”
MobiLoud has given Braxton more freedom to work on and improve the platform, and The Hunting Lease App’s users are clearly responding to that in a positive way.
MobiLoud is the Best Way for Solo Founders and Small Teams to Launch a Mobile App
Custom native apps are not just expensive to build; they are expensive to maintain, and seriously slow down your workflow.
Having to go through a mobile developer every time you want to make changes to your app is burdensome, and blocks you from making quick updates and improvements to your app that could fuel your growth.
Managing your content and user experience on the web is far easier, particularly for solo founders, small businesses or businesses with a web development team already in place.
Even for mobile-first businesses like The Hunting Lease App, there are significant benefits to running everything from a web platform like Squarespace, WordPress, or Shopify.
MobiLoud bridges the gap between web and mobile and manages all the technical aspects of your mobile app, allowing you to focus on content, user experience and business development.
“My experience has been great, it's very simple for solo founders and small teams that are looking to replicate their websites in mobile app form. I would highly recommend them going with you guys. It's been a very easy and seamless process.”
If you want to launch an app without dealing with the mess and expense of mobile developers, get in touch with us. Book a free consultation to learn what we can do for your business, and how easy we make launching your own native mobile apps.
The Hunting Lease is a Zillow-style app, allowing users to find available properties for hunting and fishing.
