FbStart: Facebook is Offering $30,000 of Resources to Devs

Towards the end of April, Facebook announced FbStart, a new program providing mobile developers with a ton of free tools and resources. Somehow, we missed the initial announcement, but this is such a great opportunity for developers that we felt it would be prudent to mention it, even if we are more than a month late. Anyhow, FbStart has two different tracks designed to, “provide developers the essential services needed to either get their business up and running or take it to the next stage of growth.”¹ Facebook has partnered with 14 companies to offer up to $30,000 worth of tools to help app developers. These partner companies include:

Adobe – Creative services

Appurify – Mobile app testing

Asana – Project management

Blue Jeans – Cloud-based video collaboration service

Desk.com – Customer support app

HootSuite – Social media monitoring

MailChimp – Email marketing

Proto.io – Mobile app prototyping

Quip – Mobile productivity suite

SurveyMonkey – Online survey platform

Transifex – Localization

UserTesting – Usability testing

Workable – Recruitment ²

There are some pretty loose requirements:

Any mobile developer with an app that’s been live at least 30 days can apply to participate in FbStart—there’s no need to be integrated with Facebook to participate. If you’re selected, you’ll receive credits for Facebook and Parse, plus free tools and credits from our partners to help you with product testing, recruiting, customer care, video conferencing, document management and more.³

As noted above, developers have to choose between two different tracks: the “Bootstrap Track,” and the “Accelerate Track.” The Bootstrap Track is aimed at those developers just starting out, and looking to grow their app. The Accelerate Track is aimed at the more seasoned app developer who’s app has shown some initial traction. The Bootstrap Track comes with around $6,000 worth of resources, while the Accelerate Track comes with around $30,000 worth of resources. Below is a more detailed breakdown of the resources for each track. To apply to the FbStart Program, head on over the the landing page.