Don’t fool yourself. Getting your app discovered has little to do with luck, and everything to do with strategy. From mobile to social, we’ve watched developers go from startup to stardom, while the vast majority of apps sit in a store somewhere, unknown and undiscovered.

Given the variety of platforms, complexity of guidelines, and need for constant agility, today’s entrepreneus must be equipped with bullet-proof strategies and real-world tactics from the get-go. DiscoveryBeat will break through the typical conference-speak and give attendees the chance to look under the hood of today’s hottest, most successful apps.

Sebastien de Halleux COO, Playfish	Julian Farrior CEO, Backflip Studios	Roy Sehgal GM, Zynga	Ge Wang Co-founder, CTO, & CCO, Smule
John Pleasants CEO, Playdom	Jon Vlassopulos CEO, Moderati	Peter Relan Founder, YouWeb	Chris Dury VP Product, GetJar
Peter Farago VP Marketing, Flurry	Simon Khalaf President & CEO, Flurry	Vijay Chattha Founder & Chief Talker, VSC/AppLaunchPR	Randy Angle Game Design Director, SGN
Alex St. John President & CTO, hi5	Michael Chang Founder & CEO, Greystripe	Neil Young Founder & CEO, ngmoco	Lisa Marino VP Sales, RockYou

Agenda

2:30pm - 3:00pm | Registration

3:00pm - 3:05pm | Welcome

3:05pm - 3:15pm | "Make or Break: How to successfully leverage publicity and social media to drive awareness and downloads of mobile apps"

3:15pm - 3:30pm | "Should driving app discovery require hemorrhaging money?"

3:30pm - 3:45pm | "Social Gaming: The evolving technology platform & monetization"

3:45pm - 4:00pm | "Building Social Games: Games at the speed of light"

4:00pm - 4:40pm | "Discovery 1.0: Starting from scratch"

4:40pm - 4:55pm | "Super-sizing the app economy by moving it beyond the iPhone"

4:55pm - 5:35pm | "Discovery 2.0: Moving to the next level"

5:35pm - 6:00pm | "Discovery 3.0: Bringing in the big guys"

6:00pm - 6:05pm | Closing remarks

6:05pm - 7:30pm | Reception

Discovery 1.0: Starting from scratch

With more than 119,000 apps in the Apple AppStore, discovery is a huge problem. Facebook is just as tough. And to make it worse, you’re at a disadvantage because large networks have the upper hand of experience in platform strategy and a louder voice to get their products heard.

• If you’re a two-person garage development shop and starting from scratch, how do you create an app that can go viral?
• If you're not a giant company, how do you exploit your newness and focus, using the key ingredients of success?
• How can the smaller developers team up with bigger brands that have name recognition? When should they go it alone?
• How do they build a company that bigger investors will notice?
• What are some of the platform tools at your disposal that can be used to get your apps noticed?
• How does discovery fit with the right business model for your app?

Panelists:
• Randy Angle (Director of Game Design, SGN)
• Julian Farrior (CEO, Backflip Studios)
• Ge Wang (Co-Founder, CTO, & COO, Smule - maker of Ocarina iPhone app)
• Peter Farago (VP Marketing, Flurry)

Moderator: Matt Marshall (Editor in Chief, VentureBeat)

Discovery 2.0: Moving to the next level

The social app companies, those successful application companies that came of age on Facebook and the iPhone, have created their own ecosystems with successful titles that feed on each other. Now what do they do?

• How many different types of monetization schemes do they need? What can they learn from the bigger companies?
• Should they recruit executives from the “old world” companies, to help with partnering or organizational discipline?
• What sort of analytics process should they have in place?
• Can anyone catch up with them?
• What will the social/mobile/gaming look like in two years?

Panelists:
• Sebastien De Halleux (COO, Playfish)
• John Pleasants (CEO, Playdom)
• Roy Sehgal (GM, Zynga & Executive Producer of Cafe World game)
• Neil Young (Founder & CEO, ngmoco)

Moderator:
Dean Takahashi (Lead Writer for GamesBeat, VentureBeat)

Discovery 3.0: Bringing in the big guys

Established video game companies and entertainment giants are eyeing the social networking and mobile platforms as a source of future growth. For success, the big guys need to apply the secret ingredients in different proportions.

• How much should they invest in these areas, and how should they do it?
• Which kinds of partners should they recruit? Which business models are the best?
• Who has made the transition already?
• What’s the right mix of social networking, marketing, analytical measurement, advertising and web design ingredients they should apply?

Panelists:
• Jon Vlassopulos (CEO, Moderati - maker of the virtual light Zippo iPhone app)
• Alex St. John (President & CTO, hi5)
• Michael Chang (Founder & CEO, Greystripe)
• Lisa Marino (VP Sales, RockYou)

Moderator:
Roy Bahat (President, IGN Entertainment)

Networking reception to follow.

150-200 mobile and gaming applications developers and entrepreneurs, VCs, top executives from telecom and technology infrastructure companies, content and social media executives, marketers and media. The open invitation will be promoted on VentureBeat.com and through our partners.

                  

          

Sponsor:

Strategic Partners:

For sponsorships, contact Andie Rhyins at andie@venturebeat.com.

Full refund available for cancellations before December 6, 2009.