24 Hours With… Alex Louey, co-founder and managing director, Appscore
24 Hours With… spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Mumbrella’s world. Today we speak with Alex Louey, co-founder and managing director, Appscore.
5:30am: My mobile phone screen illuminates with a text message — it’s the company lawyer. I’ve asked him to check over a client’s contract for me that requires some amendments. His notes scribbled on it are in a barely-comprehensible drawl. Looks like I’ve been given my first task for the day.
I roll out of bed and get ready for work, the legal contract playing on my mind. I want to get onto it straight away. I spent some time working in sourcing and procurement for BHP, so I know a thing or two about contracts and legal business but it will chew up the morning.
After a quick kiss to my girlfriend Ana, I head out the door and drive to the office.
7.30am: I arrive at the office and have a quick look over my emails, making sure all the major day-to-day activities that come with being managing director are under control. I then put my paralegal hat on and finalise the contract. Just like with app development, contracts around app technology are always different depending on what we are building.
The contract in question today is for an app designed to help one of our clients streamline their internal operations, which means that once it’s built, the app will require us to access staff information.
Naturally, privacy for our clients and their staff is hugely important and so it is essential that we build these protections into the contract and the app. It can be a time-consuming process, but it’s absolutely necessary in this industry.
After about two hours of cutting through the fine print and feeling confident that I have dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s, I send the contract back to my lawyer before the final review and make a beeline to the coffee shop to sneak in a caffeine hit for my next lot of meetings.
10.30am: After powering through the essentials and the contract, I spend mid-morning catching up with my team. One of my favourite things about my job is my team; I work with a fantastic and quirky group of strategists, creatives and developers.
The office is open-plan, including my desk space, so instead of an ‘open door policy’ I have an ‘if I’m not on the phone’ policy. This environment really supports collaboration, but can also result in some great banter.
Today’s catch-ups include debriefing with my new senior digital strategist, Gene, about a recent partner conference and opportunities for new business. I also meet with my content team about some new website material.
We recently updated the company website and one of my favourite features is the blog. It’s an opportunity for the Appscore team to let the community know what’s exciting us in the sector, and to provide existing and future customers with ideas about how we can help them transform their business.
We are passionate about making sure there is always fresh content available on the website, with our hard-working internal content team creating and uploading new blog posts every second day.
12:30pm: Meeting time. Every day I have a number of client meetings on the phone or in person. Clients are the lifeblood of the business so maintaining a strong focus on client relations is essential.
Today I speak to a client who wants to expand their app functionality. They started with digitising their external business eight months ago and are not so happy with the results. They are looking at how they can use app technology to improve the internal operations. No problem is unsolvable with some time and brain power.
2:00pm: I pretty much always eat lunch at my desk — today is no exception. In between bites, I look up insurance for my new car and research investment properties. I’m always looking to expand my portfolio, and my newest venture at the moment is property development.
It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while but I know very little about it, so I call a friend who has been in the game for some advice. Lunch may be at my desk, but it’s still a good break from work to refresh the head.
3:00pm: Work time again, more legalities. This time it’s confidentiality agreements. We’ve taken on some pretty big clients lately and the apps are often top secret. We have some really innovative projects that will transform industries, and it’s critical that we keep the strictest confidentiality. I spend an hour or so paging through the nitty gritty details of various documents, negotiating with lawyers.
4:00pm: I like to use the afternoon to touch base with the interstate and international Appscore offices. We have regular teleconferences to catch up on what’s happening outside of Melbourne HQ. We are looking into China at the moment as well, so I spend some time talking to various industry experts and practicing my Chinese, which is great for an Australian…
We’re also looking at pushing into Queensland and Western Australia, so I finish off the work day by looking at different ways to restructure our teams to service those states more effectively. Being furthest away from our HQ, these places often don’t have as much visibility as Melbourne and Sydney. There are a lot of opportunities in Queensland and WA and we need to make the most of them.
It’s back to China after that, chatting with the Hong Kong office. I am briefed on an emerging technology that would fit perfectly with the suit of services Appscore already offers. One of the coolest things about the international offices is that they are exposed to different markets and help keep us informed on global trends.
6:00pm: I leave work earlier than usual to head to a babysitting gig! My business partner has asked me to watch his new baby so he can take the night off with his fiancée. I recruit my girlfriend Ana to assist me with the task.
Luckily for us bub is super well-behaved; I feed her and put her to bed without any trouble. Parenting, so simple… (please don’t write in and complain, I’m kidding).
9:00pm: After an early dinner Ana and I settle on the couch and half-watch TV – tonight it’s Have You Been Paying Attention? (which I am clearly only managing 50% – while I tap away at my iPad Pro 9.7. It’s my device of choice for working on the go: it’s small enough for me to just grab and head out the door.
Every now and then I think the bigger iPad Pro 12.9 inch would be better, but I hate carrying things around. A few ideas start to formulate before I find myself being distracted by the comfort of the couch, the soothing flicker of the television and the seductive pull of sleep…
