Two Entrepreneurs Crowned "King of the Apps" at South by Southwest
Boise, ID -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/25/2011 -- A cloud-based software application designed for service-based businesses was named "King of the Apps" this weekend at the annual South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, TX.
Two entrepreneurs, Cody Harris and Brock Holzer, won first prize for their SnapAppointments software during the "King of the Apps" competition sponsored this year by Rackspace.com. The two were "crowned" during a presentation on Saturday, March 12th.
Well known start-ups like Twitter, Foursquare, and Tumblr also have received their big breaks at South by Southwest and every year, hundreds of techies descend on Austin to compete for recognition for their own programs. SnapAppointments, an application that allows service-based businesses to take appointments online, wowed the "King of the Apps" judges' panel with its user friendly interface and its potential for widespread appeal. Along with $10,000 in prizes from Rackspace, the award included the chance to meet one-on-one with industry experts.
Cody Harris and Brock Holzer grew up in Billings, Montana, but were roommates in Boise in 2005 while Harris was attending Boise State University and Holzer was running his own technology consulting firm. The two came up with the idea for SnapAppointments during that time. Both saw a need for this kind of service in a town like Boise with its abundance of small service-based businesses.
"Boise, ID is the perfect place for entrepreneurs find their niche. There are countless resources in Boise to incubate an idea into something more viable." Said Cody Harris, SnapAppointments founder.
SnapAppointments officially launched in beta form on Saturday, March 12th, and is now taking sign-ups for no charge. Businesses can embed SnapAppointments into their own websites or just take appointments directly from their listing page on SnapAppointments.com.
Harris and Holzer will defend their title at a similar competition on April 28th in San Fransisco. They are looking forward to competing against Silicon Valley heavyweights.