Each year, members of ACT | The App Association fly into DC for four days of policy education and advocacy on Capitol Hill. This year, AppCon was particularly special; it’s been five years since our last full-scale and in-person conference, and the biggest one yet! With more than 50 members from 41 member companies, we brought back all the traditional elements of AppCon. This included a full briefing day on our key policy priorities, a day on the Hill meeting with congressional offices, an agency-focused day, and four days of incredible food, drink, and conversation.
It was app-solutely amazing seeing our members come together to advocate for a better app economy. Our members brought infectious energy that carried us all through a rewarding advocacy-driven event. If you’re a member who didn’t get to attend or a start-up interested in learning more, keep reading for a full breakdown of the week.
AppCon’24 by the Day
Day One
Our members made their way to Washington, DC, to kick off a week of learning, networking, and ACTivism. On the first night of AppCon‘24, our welcome happy hour and dinner at Nina May gave the members and staff of the App Association a casual opportunity to meet and socialize. Members reconnected and, on some occasions, met one another for the first time. This night was centered around connecting and building excitement for the next three days of critical policy education and advocacy.
“Rotational Labs is in DC for AppCon, working with ACT | The App Association to speak to Congress about issues that affect small tech businesses, including [Sec.] 174 tax issues, privacy, copyright, trade, and more! Thank you so much to ACT for hosting us this week and helping us be heard by Congress!” – Rotational Labs.
Day Two
After filling up on breakfast and coffee at the hotel, we all headed into briefing day to cover a variety of key policy issues affecting small tech businesses. These issue areas included artificial intelligence (AI), digital trade, competition, kids’ online safety, privacy, tax, standard-essential patents (SEPs), the WEAR IT Act, and mergers and acquisitions.
“M&A is a crucially important part of the technology innovation and broader entrepreneurship ecosystem. The M&A process helps entrepreneurs generate returns for their investors, who are often friends, family members, and ‘angels’ or high-net-worth individuals who took massive risks in funding early-stage businesses on the hope and belief that their investments would grow exponentially with the technology company. Access to these early-stage investors and the cultivation of these angel investors are often crucial for technology entrepreneurs, as it’s one of the few ways to access growth capital for early-stage companies that often need it but can rarely access it. Generating returns commensurate to the associated risk taken for early-stage angel investors is crucial to all technology entrepreneurs, as it helps them both grow their company and maintain positive relationships with capital providers that they will often need in their next business venture. The ability for entrepreneurs to successfully ‘exit’ their projects, allowing them (and their investors) to see real, tangible gains from their hard work allows these entrepreneurs to turn around and reinvest these gains into a new startup, thus continuing the ‘serial entrepreneur cycle’ which is essential to the growth of technology innovation in America and the health of small businesses. Without mergers and acquisitions to help founders sell their companies, this cycle of innovation and small business growth would be literally impossible.” – BadVR
During the day, member companies took a deep dive into the policy issue areas that affect them the most and share stories of how these topics had real-life implications for their small businesses. It was also an opportunity for App Association staff to learn about member experiences and stories. One of those stories came from Kontji and Johnita Anthony of member company Youdle. Their app was copied by a bad actor, requiring them to push back the launch of their company while they fought to remove the copycat from app stores. During this time, they worried about the loss of consumer trust, should the copycat app have time to gain users and use data and customer information in nefarious ways. They expressed worry that the timeline of bad actors being in control of their intellectual property could have been even longer if they’d had to reach out to an endless array of app stores, third parties, and decentralized platforms.
“Dealing with intellectual property theft was a nightmare. A contractor we hired stole our intellectual property and created a copycat app. We spent 24 exhausting months navigating back and forth with Apple and Google to resolve the issue while the bad actor continued to make money using our IP. The fear of our brand’s reputation being tarnished, and the potential misuse of consumer data kept me up at night. If this process had involved several app stores or third-party and decentralized platforms, it would have been exponentially more challenging and detrimental to our brand and our bottom line. The risk of copycat apps and eroded consumer trust is a significant concern that must be addressed.” – Youdle
Day Three
Our members took their policy knowledge and stories to the Hill to meet with Members of Congress and their staff for discussions around business and regulatory issues in the app economy. With more than 80 meetings scheduled, our members were able to share their perspectives and stories throughout the day on small business issues like the need for a federal privacy law.
“Workplace innovation requires a secure foundation for all players in the app economy. Inaction around a federal privacy law is putting our essential infrastructure at risk and furthers the innovation gap between the small and large players in the app ecosystem. If America wants to continue to be a global leader when it comes to technological innovation, we need to be able to rely on consistent, clear rules around data privacy.” – CAVU
During Hill day, the App Association team joined members on the Hill to participate in meetings with Members of Congress and their staff. Members gave firsthand accounts of some of the ways regulation and policy affect their businesses. Lucienne Ide of member company Rimidi shared how the WEAR IT Act would benefit patients. She highlighted how the Act, which allows people to purchase wearable devices, like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, using FSA and HSA funds, could empower patients to take a more active role in managing their health. Specifically, it could lead to better preventative care and be a proactive tool to combat health issues, leading to better patient outcomes and a healthier America.
Day Four
On our final day of AppCon‘24, a smaller sampling of our members met with various federal agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Commerce, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the White House. During these meetings, members continued to provide real-life stories of how regulations impact their businesses with a real focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Laraib Khan, of member company Gilly, explained how the United States needs to take a leadership role when it comes to addressing AI. She emphasized that if the United States doesn’t take action, other countries will set the tone and that the App Association’s global AI principles would be a great place to start.
“According to current laws, anything that’s entirely AI-generated is noncopyrightable. Not all of it is defensible. You have no rights and no protection to your work. Anybody can take it and run with it. And you won’t be able to get any protections or income defenses.” – Dogtown Media
Thank You
App Association members create technology that spans across industries. From education platforms to connected health tools and everything in between, they positively contribute to the app economy every day.
Thank you to all of the App Association members who took the time to come to DC and help educate policymakers in the hopes of creating meaningful change. We cannot wait to do it all again next year! If you’re interested in becoming a member and joining us at AppCon‘25, reach out to Brad.