AppFolio

AppFolio Inc

AppFolio Corporate Headquarters
Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: APPF
Industry	Software
Founded	2007
Founder	Klaus Schauser Jon Walker
Headquarters	Goleta, California, United States
Area served	USA
Key people	Klaus Schauser, Chief Strategist Jon Walker, CTO Brian Donahoo, President & CEO
Products	(see products) AppFolio Property Manager MyCase
Services	Software as a Service
Number of employees	500 (as of Jan 2015)
Website	www.appfolioinc.com

AppFolio was founded in 2007 and offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications for vertical markets. AppFolio initially focused on Property Management. With the acquisition of MyCase in 2012, it expanded into the Law Practice Management industry.

The company’s headquarters is in Goleta, California, United States. It also has offices in San Diego, California; and Dallas, Texas.^[1]

History

Founders

Klaus Schauser and Jon Walker founded AppFolio after identifying an opportunity to build easy-to-use web-based software for specific industries that did not have it at the time.^[2] The software was specifically targeted as a solution for small-to-medium sized businesses, which do not often have an IT staff. As Walker described, this means “doing things like backups and handling security are really difficult, not to mention prohibitively expensive. That’s the real opportunity that we saw, where with Web-based software, the vendor takes care of all the IT functions at a much higher level, and at lower cost.”^[3]

Before founding AppFolio, Schauser was a professor of computer science at UCSB and had previously started the company now called CitrixOnline. He also had a role in creating GoToMyPC, GoToAssist, and GoToMeeting.^[4] Walker was previously chief technology officer of Versora and of Miramar Systems (which was sold to Computer Associates in 2004).^[4][5]

Funding and Financial Info

In 2007, AppFolio obtained initial funding of $5 million in Series A from BV Capital to create Property Management Software and perform research for future products. Managing Partner at BV Capital, Mathias Schilling, stated that his company believed “that vertical applications are going to be the next big opportunity in the software as a service market, and AppFolio is uniquely positioned to capitalize on it… [due to a] proven understanding of how to maximize the software as a service model, as well as the needs of small businesses.”^[6]

A year later, AppFolio obtained $22 million in a Series B funding led by BV Capital and Cisco.^[7][8]

An existing investor, The Investment Group of Santa Barbara, approached AppFolio with another $8 million in unsolicited funding in 2009 in a move to become a bigger player in the company. AppFolio CEO Brian Donahoo stated with regard to the funding that “Our operating plan has not changed radically with the additional investment. We’re growing our sales and service teams a bit more aggressively, but essentially no other changes, just making sure our software is competitive and helpful to the user, not in their way.”^[9]

In June 2015, AppFolio announced its IPO.^[10][11]

Products

AppFolio Property Manager

The company's first product, AppFolio Property Manager, is a web-based real estate property management software system.^[12] The first version was released in May 2008, less than two months after AppFolio received its second round of funding.^[13] The software enables property managers to market and manage their portfolios. It includes accounting and property management functions that give users the ability to track and sendemail work-orders, post monthly owner statements to a self-serve online owner portal, and communicate with residents via email and text messageresident communications. Users can post vacancy ads to their own sites as well as dozens of sites across the web. and set up a personal website. (AppFolio conducted a survey in early 2016; one of the findings was that providing photos or videos of the property can be very valuable – almost 25% of potential tenants will not consider pursuing a property that does not have these visual aids (i.e. the user will eliminate the property from the search).^[14][15]) A mobile app gives users mobile access to their data.^[16][17]

In October 2012, AppFolio announced a partnership with PayNearMe (formerly Kwedit) that enabled a process in which tenants could pay their rent with cash at 7-Eleven or ACE Cash Express locations at any time.^[18]

MyCase

MyCase is a web-based law practice management software application for lawyers; it allows attorneys to manage their law firms with cloud computing – including contact and case management, calendaring, time tracking, billing and online payments – and is available as a mobile app.^[19] MyCase also provides websites for lawyers.^[20] The company was founded by Matt Siegel, Alex Dikowski, and Chris Schulte ^[21] and launched in January 2011.

Key features of the product include the ability for users to: sync with third-party calendars (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, iCal, Google Calendar); manage contacts, cases, matters, group tasks, and documents; enter time; and perform billing and payment functions. The company released a built-in word processor and document generation tool, MyCase Draft, in early 2012.^[22]

Since being acquired by AppFolio in 2012, MyCase has released several new features, including “MyCase Workflow,” integration into QuickBooks,^[23] website development and maintenance services for law firms, and “MyCase Payments,” a feature that allows users to accept payment via e-check.^[24] In early 2016, MyCase announced that it would be expanding MyCase Payments later that year. It would then include a built-in credit card payment option.^[25]

Awards and Recognition

Best in Biz Awards

• 2013
  • silver winner for “Small or Medium Business Product of the Year” - for Property Manager
  • bronze winner for “Small or Medium Business Product of the Year” - for MyCase^[26]
• 2015
  • silver winner for “Best Place to Work”, medium-sized business^[27][28]

CODiE Awards (Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)

• 2016
  • finalist for “Best Legal Intelligence Solution” - for MyCase
  • finalist for “Best Real Estate or Construction Management Solution” - for Property Manager^[29]

Customer Sales and Service World Awards

• 2016
  • silver winner for “Customer Service or Contact Center Department of the Year (Combinations of Customer Service and Contact Center)” - Mike Randolph, VP, Client Services^[30]

Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award:

• 2016 (announced in December 2015)
  • “Best Places to Work” - #24 in the "Best Small & Medium Companies to Work For" category^[31]

IT World Awards (Network Products Guide)

• 2014
  • silver winner for “Best Deployments and Case Studies - Suitable for USA” - for MyCase (Britton Tuma Case Study: The Search for Security, Convenience and Efficiency)
  • bronze winner for “Best Deployments and Case Studies - Suitable for USA” - for Property Manager (Renters Warehouse Leverages AppFolio Property Manager, Grows to 4,000 Customers)
  • bronze winner, twice over, for “Cloud Computing/SaaS” - for both Property Manager and MyCase^[32]
• 2015
  • gold winner for “Cloud Computing/SaaS (500-2,499 Employees) - for Property Manager
  • bronze winner for “Cloud Computing/SaaS (500-2,499 Employees) - for MyCase^[33]
• 2016
  • gold winner for “IT Products and Services for Small Business, SOHO and Consumers" - for MyCase
  • silver winner for “IT Products and Services for Small Business, SOHO and Consumers" - for Property Manager
  • bronze winner for “Best IT Company of the Year (Software) - 100-499 Employees”
  • bronze winner, twice over, for “Cloud Computing/SaaS (100-499 employees) category” - for both Property Manager and MyCase^[34]

Multi-Housing News Tech Choice Awards

• 2012
  • winner for “Property Management Software”^[35]
• 2013
  • winner for “Property Management Software”^[36]
• 2014
  • winner for “Property Management Software”^[37]

National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM)

• 2009
  • Affiliate of the Year^[38]
• 2010
  • Affiliate of the Year^[39][40]

South Coast Business & Technology Awards

• 2012
  • Entrepreneur of the Year - Klaus Schauser, co-founder of AppFolio and Citrix Online^[41]

Stevie Awards (American Business Awards)

• 2014
  • silver winner for “Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - 100 or more employees” - for MyCase
  • bronze winner for “Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - 100 or more employees” - for Property Manager^[42]
• 2015
  • gold winner for “Marketing Department of the Year” - for MyCase^[43]
  • silver winner for “Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Services and Software”^[44]
  • bronze winner for “Most Innovative Company of the Year - Up to 2,500 Employees - All Other Industries^[45]
• 2016
  • gold winner for “Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - Less Than 100 Employees” - for MyCase
  • bronze winner for “Customer Service Team of the Year - Computer Services & Software” - for Property Manager^[46]

UX Magazine Award

• 2014
  • winner, “Union of Design and Engineering” category - collaboration with HealthPartners^[47]

References

External links

• AppFolio Inc Website
• AppFolio Property Manager Website
• MyCase Website