Hannah Byrne and her team at Savannah technology firm Smack Dab Studios named their “baby” product RappidApp.
The mobile app solution has lived up to the moniker.
Byrne completed a sale of the RappidApp technology on Tuesday, just 16 months after the company built the product that allows users to easily create and maintain mobile applications for smartphones and tablets. RappidApp was acquired for an undisclosed amount by SignUp4, an Atlanta-based company specializing in content management for meetings and event planners.
The sale is a coup both for Smack Dab and the Savannah tech community, Byrne said.
“To build Smack Dab to the level we did and to build RappidApp in the state, grow it in the state and sell it in the state, is a testament to our tenacity,” Byrne said. “It also shows what the Creative Coast community has a chance to bring to this region.”
RappidApp is utilized by several local businesses in their mobile applications products, including Savannah Magazine, the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and Bryan County-based vinyl manufacturer Oracal.
Byrne closed Smack Dab with the sale. She ceded most of the firm’s Web development work to a partner business, Southpoint Media, while developing RappidApp. Byrne will start a new job next month in Gulfstream Aerospace’s information technology department.
“Hannah is an incredibly hard worker whose entrepreneurial spirit is palpable,” said Jake Hodesh, executive director of the Creative Coast Alliance, the organization that exists to foster an environment attractive to technology and knowledge-based businesses. “We are very happy for Hannah and proud that she has found success in the region.”
Byrne’s success came with difficulty. She moved Smack Dab to Savannah from Atlanta in 2006, on the leading edge of the push to grow Savannah’s tech community. The company built websites and designed interfaces for several successful Savannah businesses and organizations, including Gulfstream, HunterMaclean and the Savannah Economic Development Authority.
Sensing the shift away from websites and toward mobile applications — and recognizing the complexity businesses face in creating and maintaining mobile apps — Byrne refocused the business on RappidApp early last year.
She envisioned developing the platform, selling it to clients like a software application and gradually building the business. RappidApp attracted no venture capital interest, however, and with limited resources in a competitive space, sales didn’t meet expectations.
“We’re builders, not sellers,” Byrne said. “We decided to either sell the technology or shut it down.”
Byrne’s banker connected her with SignUp4 in May, and the acquisition proceeded at an “unheard of” pace for a technology sale.
SignUp4 announced the acquisition Tuesday. RappidApp will allow the company to extend its “cutting-edge personal experiences” for meeting attendees to mobile devices.
“Because this technology was originally designed to allow any user to simply create their own apps, upload logos and graphics and manage content, it is a good companion for our easy-to-use website utilities,” SignUp4 President Nick Romano said.
As for Byrne’s future, she is looking forward to a return to the corporate world in her new role with Gulfstream.
“I worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week on my business, so I’m looking forward to being part of a bigger team where I have other talented technologists to work with,” Byrne said.