Tech firm holds $100K app contest

If you run a small business, now may be the time create a mobile application.

For the rest of year, a Deerfield Beach tech company called Appsbar will have an app building contest with a winning prize of $100,000.

To enter, companies must develop a free Android, iPhone or Windows phone app by using Appsbar’s free service. The app with the most downloads by Dec. 31 wins.

The contest was launched in May, and more than a thousand contenders have already entered, according to Appsbar CEO Scott Hirsch.

Hirsch said his company aims to help small businesses that don’t have the money to hire tech engineers.

“We’re leveling out the playing field between small and bigger businesses,” he said.

Registration is free for users to custom-build their companies’ apps. Appsbar’s Web site leads developers step by step through creat- ing an app, from picking a type to designing it and sharing it.

Erik Leander plans to release his company’s app this month for a chance to win.

Leander is the CEO and founder of FuelFoods, a food delivery service based in an 8,000-square-foot commercial kitchen in Palm Beach.

Once completed, his FuelFoods mobile app will allow users to order from the mobile platform, upgrade their accounts and have an easy-to-use transfer code to share with friends.

The sharing option is his strategy for winning.

“If you share the app with a friend and they sign up, you get a free meal,” said Leander, who needs the winnings to re-invest in equipment like freezers.

Some advice Hirsch gives to contestants: “Know your customers.”

“You can make the prettiest app or the coolest games, but at the end of the day customers need to get what they want from your business,” Hirsch said.

Though the competition is targeted toward small businesses, anyone may use Appsbar.

Even parents looking to organize their child’s soccer schedule have used Appsbar, Hirsch said. The company has more than 1 million subscribers.

“I think as more and more people become dependent on smartphones, apps are going to be part of our everyday life,” Hirsch said.

To register for Small Business App Challenge, go to appbusinesschallenge.com.

For information about Appsbar, see appsbar.com.

“We’re leveling out the playing field between small and bigger businesses.” Scott Hirsch, CEO of Appsbar