It’s been said enough times that launching a startup in SXSW is probably the worst decision possible and now we have a new reason to add. SXSW killed a startup’s launch by calling Apple’s AppStore to remove the app that led to its disappearance for months. SXSW is a great opportunity to network and rub elbows with potential “power players,” but starting a company at this pitchfest is a mistake.
Sohel Siddique is the founder of CardDrop. CardDrop is an app that helps people share their business cards online. Siddique spent 8 months developing and marketing the app before SXSW to make a big splash. CardDrop’s team at SXSW did a great job driving people to the iPhone app and the $5,000 dollars he spent on advertising was doing wonders.
Suddenly, CardDrop’s traffic went from over 6,000 active users to zero. CardDrop’s marketing team then suddenly started reporting that people weren't able to find or download the app in the AppStore.
What Siddique didn’t know is that SXSW had sent a takedown request to Apple’s AppStore for naming the app “CardDrop – SxSW Edition Business Card Reader Scanner.” It is important to note that SXSW is completely within its legal rights to demand Apple take down the app, but was it necessary to take this route?
SXSW’s decision to directly contact Apple, instead of contacting Siddique, resulted in CardDrop disappearing from the AppStore for months. The reason for this mainly falls on Apple’s notoriously poor developer customer service.
It took at least a week or two to obtain a response to each email from Apple. Three emails back and forth would lead to a month passing by with CardDrop in startup limbo. Apple was initially unwilling to even disclose the issue behind their reason for taking down the app.
The lesson here is simple. Don’t launch an app at SXSW because they’re not startup friendly and Apple’s developer support for the AppStore is a nightmare. This is nothing new, but here’s a new reason to be wary of both.
