Nicholas Bugara shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Nicholas, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Honestly? There’s no such thing as “normal” in the app world, but I’ll give it a shot. My mornings start early connecting with our offshore teams in India, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Time zones wait for no one, and coordinating across three continents before most people have finished their first cup of coffee is just part of the gig.
Midday is all about my team here in Atlanta. I’m a big believer in small group meetings—they’re way more effective than herding everyone into a conference room where half the people zone out. These focused sessions let us actually solve problems, dive into projects, and keep things moving on the 400+ apps we’ve built.
Client calls are sprinkled throughout the day. The beauty of working with everyday people instead of big corporations is that every conversation is different—one minute I’m talking through someone’s game concept, the next I’m helping a first-time entrepreneur understand the App Store submission process. It keeps things interesting.
I wrap up each day with email management—the glamorous part of being CEO that nobody warns you about—and making sure nothing slips through the cracks. Eight years in, and between juggling time zones, champagne-worthy app launches, and helping people turn their wild ideas into reality, I still wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Nick Bugara, founder of Appsketiers, an Atlanta-based app development company. The whole idea came from a pretty frustrating realization—most development firms only wanted to work with big corporations, leaving everyday people with great ideas completely in the dark. I spent years in corporate IT seeing what didn’t work, and honestly, I just wanted to build something different.
We launched in 2017 with a straightforward mission: help regular people turn their app ideas into reality without needing a tech background or a massive budget. Our three-tier process starts at $495, which makes it actually accessible for someone testing the waters. Since then, we’ve built over 300 apps—everything from games and dating apps to fitness trackers and business tools.
My story’s a bit all over the place—born in Massachusetts, grew up in Brazil, landed in Georgia when I was 10. Studied Economics and International Business at Georgia Southern, then bounced around corporate jobs learning what I definitely didn’t want to replicate. Appsketiers is basically the result of those experiences mixed with wanting to help the underdogs get their shot.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
Honestly, it’s been a collection of people rather than one person. Every boss I had in corporate IT taught me something—sometimes it was what to do, more often it was what not to do. The colleagues who showed up every day and genuinely cared about the work taught me about consistency. And now, my team at Appsketiers teaches me something new constantly—about creativity, problem-solving, and what it means to build something together.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me how to survive when everything’s on the line. I’ve had more than one moment where a challenge hit that could’ve genuinely shut down the company. In those situations, there’s no playbook—you just have to scratch and claw your way out and find solutions fast.
Success teaches you how to grow. Suffering teaches you how to fight. Those crisis moments where everything you’ve built is threatened? They reveal what you’re actually made of in a way that wins never could.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
They think they need to be the smartest person in the room about everything. I’m not ashamed to say I’m not the best at many aspects of running my company—and that’s exactly why I’ve hired people who are.
Smart people get it wrong when they don’t recognize their blind spots. I know mine, and I’ve built a team specifically to cover them. When those people tell me something, I trust their decisions. That’s not weakness—that’s how you survive. Without that self-awareness and willingness to lean on others, you’ll fail. It’s that simple.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Random question, but a house on the beach. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://appsketiers.com
- Instagram: appsketiers
- Linkedin: appsketiers
- Facebook: Appsketiers
- Youtube: Appsketiers
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