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David Barnard, Jacob Eiting
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Interviews with the experts behind the biggest apps in the App Store. Hosts David Barnard and Jacob Eiting dive deep to unlock insights, strategies, and stories that you can use to carve out your slice of the 'trillion-dollar App Store opportunity'.
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3 days ago
Growth, Revenue, and Marketing Strategies for Your App — Lisa Kennelly, Fishbrain
On the podcast we talk with Lisa about marketing an app with no revenue, the challenges of adding new revenue streams, and the importance of brand marketing in a post IDFA world.
Our guest today is Lisa Kennelly, Chief Marketing Officer at Fishbrain, the #1 app for people who love fishing. At Fishbrain, Lisa manages a team of 20 people, and is responsible for everything from brand positioning and product marketing to business development and e-commerce. Lisa also mentors startup founders on marketing and strategy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How to make the transition from growth to revenue
* Finding additional revenue opportunities beyond subscriptions
* Tips for balancing brand awareness marketing and performance marketing
Links & Resources
* VSCO
* Clue
Lisa Kennelly’s Links
* Lisa’s LinkedIn
* Follow Fishbrain on Twitter
* Fishbrain’s website
* Fishbrain Is on Instagram
* Fishbrain’s Facebook page
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
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Jan 5, 2022
How To Not Screw Up Switching Your App to Subscriptions — Matt Ronge, Astropad
On the podcast we talk with Matt about how to not screw up switching your app to subscriptions, why offering lifetime subscriptions might not be a great option, and what it’s like when Apple ‘sherlocks’ your product.
Our guest today is Matt Ronge, co-founder and CEO of Astropad. Having worked at Apple, Garmin, and founded several companies of his own, Matt is an experienced engineer and entrepreneur with a passion for building creative tools.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How to switch your app from paid to subscriptions
* Should you offer lifetime subscriptions?
* Why you should be charging more for your app’s subscription
* Tips for limiting subscriber churn
Links & Resources
* Garmin
* Giovanni Donelli
Matt Ronge’s Links
* Follow Matt Ronge on Twitter
* Matt's blog
* Matt’s blog post: How NOT to screw up switching your app to subscriptions
* Matt’s podcast
* Astropad
* Luna Display
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
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Dec 13, 2021
The 4 Foundational Frameworks of Consumer SaaS — Robbie Kellman Baxter, Peninsula Strategies
On the podcast we talk with Robbie about finding your super users, the real reasons for subscription fatigue, and why pricing isn’t as important as you might think, especially early on.
Our guest today is Robbie Kellman Baxter, consultant, keynote speaker, and author. She’s advised many of the world’s leading subscription-based companies, including serving on the advisory board of Strava. Her most recent book, “The Forever Transaction” is a deep dive into everything consumer subscription, and a must read for anyone in the space.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Identifying and attracting lifetime value customers
* How to get and maintain customer loyalty
* Three causes of subscription fatigue
* Why customers cancel their subscriptions
Links & Resources
* Strava
* Intuit
* Survey Monkey
* Oracle
* The Subscription Economy
* Tien Tzuo: Subscribed
* Eric Crowley
* Seth Miller
* CrossFit
* Shopify
* Calm
* Matthieu Rouif
* PhotoRoom
* GoPro
* Elevate
* VSCO
Robbie Kellman Baxter’s Links
* Robbie Kellman Baxter’s website
* Follow Robbie on Twitter
* Robbie’s book: The Forever Transaction
* Robbie’s book: The Membership Economy
* Robbie’s LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 David:
Hello, I’m your host, David Barnard, and with me, as always, RevenueCat CEO, Jacob Eiting.
Our guest today is Robbie Kellman Baxter, consultant, keynote speaker, and author. She’s advised many of the world’s leading subscription-based companies, including serving on the advisory board of Strava. Her most recent book, “The Forever Transaction” is a deep dive into everything consumer subscription, and a must read for anyone in the space.
On the podcast we talk with Robbie about finding your super users, the real reasons for subscription fatigue, and why pricing isn’t as important as you might think, especially early on.
Hey Robbie, welcome to the podcast.
00:00:58 Robbie:
Thanks for having me. I’m excited to chat with you both.
00:01:00 David:
I was introduced to your work by somebody recommending your book, The Membership Economy, and it really struck me. I was so excited that you agreed to be on the podcast, because here’s a book written in 2015, and we’ll talk about your other book that was written more recently, but written in 2015. I was looking through it, scanning the chapters, so I bought the book. I was like, this is everything we’re talking about now, thinking it’s all so novel with subscription apps, but really consumer subscriptions have been around for decades. You’ve been working in this space way longer than any of us.
So, I thought it would be really fun to have you on the podcast to talk more broadly about these principles of consumer subscriptions that apply equally to D to C subscriptions, as well as the app space that we work in. That’s where I wanted to kick things off.
So, how did you get your start in consumer subscriptions?
00:01:57 Robbie:
A couple of threads came together. I was in product-marketing for what is now called SaaS, for five years, right before I hung out my own shingle and started consulting. So, I had that background as a product manager working with software products that were being sold as subscriptions, and then as an independent consultant.
My fifth client was Netflix. I fell in love with their business model, and I was wondering why isn’t everybody else falling in love with their business model, too? This is amazing. Recurring revenue, predictable cashflow, the amount of data they were collecting on their customer. The fact that they’re offering was just a much better way of delivering on a promise that many of us wanted delivery for, which is a professionally created catalog of video content delivered in the most efficient way possible. It meant not having to put a raincoat over your jammies to go pick up a movie, with cost certainty and no late fees.
I was consulting with Netflix. I was already a customer, and a few people started calling and saying, “Hey, we heard you worked with Netflix. We want to be the Netflix of our space.” Whether that was news, or music, or bicycles, or dental pain management products, or clothes, there was a lot of interest in what it was that Netflix was doing.
So, I started trying to create frameworks, trying to say, what are they doing? Which parts are applicable to other businesses, and which parts are just unique to that group of people solving that particular problem?
That’s really where I got started, and it turns out to be big enough and deep enough that it’s kept me really busy for, it’s been 20 years, 20 years.
00:03:55 David:
Fifth client to, to land as a consultant. That’s a. Really great. And so you were with them before they even introduced the, video on demand on the internet, right. You started with them when it was DVDs in the mail,
00:04:09 Robbie:
Yeah.
00:04:10 David:
Traditional D to C subscription service.
00:04:13 Jacob:
But, but even then was satisfying a lot of those, almost all of those conditions. Right. I didn’t have to go outside just to my mailbox, not too bad price certainty. I didn’t have late fees. and then like, you know, insanely large catalog. Right. you know, it was, it was, it wasn’t. We tend to wait for the technology to get that right.
And then, then we had VOD being,
00:04:33 Robbie:
Yeah. And they were already thinking, I mean, it was amazing to me. So I was there, you know, the time that I worked most actively with dev 2001, 2003, even during that time, which was all DVDs, all three DVDs out at a time, they were already thinking about streaming versus, you know, should they let you download it?
And then have it explode after, you know, you know, some duration. What was the best way to deliver it? Should they come through your, you know, for awhile? I remember I think it came through your PlayStation or your, your we, were thinking like,
00:05:06 Jacob:
My first like set top box experience with Netflix would have been on Nintendo. Yeah.
00:05:10 Robbie:
Yeah. I mean, so they, they were already thinking about it and I think that’s a really important part of any subscription is even if your subscription works great today and it’s good enough to get people to sign up the product team has to be thinking, how are we going to continue to evolve it in particular fringy? Right. How do we continue to stay relevant to these people while also having those new and improved features that bring new people in? And I think a lot of organizations. I have been taught to over-index on acquisition benefits and not thinking as much about those, the sticky engagement benefits that often are really hard to talk about credibly. Right? If I say to you, you know, sign up for my subscription, my, my video subscription, because it’s the most, it’s the easiest to find the next piece of content. And you’re going to love our algorithm, right? People aren’t going to believe you. You don’t have credibility. So, all they’re going to say is, oh, you have Hamilton, I’ll sign up for that.
And then I’ll cancel. And then it’s still up to you, you know, if you’re Disney plus to get them from Hamilton to princess movies, national geographic titles, ESPN, all the other great stuff that they have. Star wars.
00:06:26 David:
I’m
00:06:26 Robbie:
Yeah.
00:06:26 David:
My son right now. Yeah.
That’s great. And then I do want to kind of step back and you’re kind of right into the weeds with some really actionable advice, but I want to, I want to step back a little bit and talk more broadly. So after working with a few, companies in the subscription space and Netflix so early eventually wrote this book, The Membership Economy, which I love.
Phrase and wanted to ask actually, did you, did you coin that phrase then how did you at the…
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Dec 1, 2021
How to Thrive Despite Apple’s ATT — Eric Seufert, Mobile Dev Memo
On the podcast I talk with Eric about the value destruction of App Tracking Transparency, the limitations of SKAdNetwork, and how to thrive as an app developer in this new paradigm.
My guest today is Eric Seufert. Eric has deep operating experience, having worked in growth and strategy roles at consumer tech companies such as Wooga and Rovio, but he also founded and sold a marketing business intelligence company, Agamemnon, and is an active investor in the mobile gaming and ad tech categories. Eric has a depth and breadth of experience with mobile apps and games that few can match. Over the past year Eric has written extensively about App Tracking Transparency and the future of mobile advertising on his trade blog, Mobile Dev Memo.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Will Apple’s ATT be a net loss for Apple?
* Can SKAdNetwork be saved, and does Apple want to save it?
* Is focusing on organic traffic a flawed strategy?
* What does the future of app install ads look like?
Links & Resources
* Rovio
* Snapchat
* Apple’s Private Relay
* Tim Cook
* Outbrain
* Taboola
* AllTrails
* SubClub AllTrails podcast episode
* Stitcher
Eric Seufert’s Links
* Follow Eric on Twitter
* Mobile Dev Memo
* Heracles
* Freemium Economics: Leveraging Analytics and User Segmentation to Drive Revenue
* Eric is on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 David:
Hello. I’m your host, David Bernard, and for the first time ever, I’m flying solo today. RevenueCat CEO, Jacob Eiting is busy CEO’ing.
My guest today, is Eric Seufert. Having worked in growth and strategy roles at consumer tech companies such as Wooga and Rovio, Eric has a depth and breadth of experience with mobile apps and games that few can match. He also founded and sold marketing business intelligence company Agamemnon, and is an active investor in the mobile gaming and ad tech categories.
Over the past year, Eric has written extensively about App Tracking Transparency and the future of mobile advertising on his trade blog, Mobile Dev Memo.
On the podcast, I talk with Eric about the value destruction of App Tracking Transparency, the limitations of SKAdNetwork, and how to thrive as an app developer in this new paradigm.
Hey Eric, thanks for being on the podcast.
00:01:09 Eric:
Thank you for having me on the podcast.
00:01:11 David:
So, we’re going to start off with a bit of a dead horse that’s been beaten over and over again. Apple’s motivation in enacting App Tracking Transparency, but I did want to take kind of a different perspective on it. The most interesting thing to me personally about Apple’s motivation with App Tracking Transparency is what it says about what they are going to do in the future.
Did they build SKAdNetwork purposely handicapped, or did they not really understand how handicapped it was? Were they really trying to kill Facebook, or was that a kind of a side benefit? I think that their motivations are important, because it forecasts what changes they may or not make moving forward as they start to see the impact.
So, I think the first thing I wanted to ask you is, how do you see Apple’s reaction and how they perceive ATT to be going, now that we’re seeing snap drop 25% after the quarterly earnings report, and see more of the disruption that you and others were predicting, but maybe Apple didn’t quite see coming? How do you think Apple sees this going currently? And what does that say about the future of privacy on iOS?
00:02:42 Eric:
I think Apple’s primary motivation was not to capture mobile advertising market share. I don’t think that was a primary motivation. I think that’s happened, and I think they expected that to happen, but I don’t think that was the primary driver of this decision.
What I think they wanted to do was, there’s kind of like a big picture idea here, and then an immediate consequence idea. I think what Apple did not like, was that they had kind of lost control over content discovery on the iPhone.
When the App Store was first launched, that was how you discovered apps. It was through going to the App Store, and some small part search, but then in large part just like the editorial curation that Apple exposes there. That changed over the years, and up until the announcement, or the enactment of of ATT, the way that people discovered apps was through advertising, and primarily Facebook advertising.
Apple totally lost control. The content that people interacted with on their phones was not the result of any deliberate decision on Apple’s part or some deliberate consideration. It just happened to be whatever could scale ads the best. Whatever companies could scale their ads the most efficiently, that’s what people interacted with. That’s what became dominant on the platform, and Apple really had no say in that.
Short term, narrow aperture view of this, they just wanted to regain control of that. They wanted to be the kingmakers. They wanted to be the tastemakers; the people that decided—the party that decided—what became popular on the iPhone and how the iPhone was used.
And I mean, that’s, it’s, if you’ve worked in, in gaming, especially, but if you’ve worked in mobile apps at all and you’ve ever had to go and, you know, go, go through the whole process of pitching your app to Apple, and pleading for featuring You know, that that’s what they want.
They, they like to having that control because that allowed them to percolate their new iOS features into the app community through almost horsetrading it’s like, you want featuring, We’d be happy to give you featuring, but you’ve got to integrate X, Y, Z thing into your app.
Once you do that, we’re happy to feature you. that, that was sort of the, that was the, the, the negotiating process. You know, that that process, even that process itself became less important and less prominent in the life of a developer over the last few years, In 2012 to 2015 that’s what you did every time you were launching a new app, or even if you’re doing a major update, you flew, you flew to San Francisco, you went to Cupertino, you went into a, conference room at Apple HQ and you pitch somebody.
That just stopped being something that people did. Like just people realized that, even if we get featuring, it’s not going to be that meaningful for our business, what we really need to be able to nail what we, what we have to do. Our success is dependent on our ability to scale the product with paid advertising, you know, and explicitly, you know, specifically through, through Facebook.
So, I think that was the primary motivation to regain that control right now. I think there’s a bigger picture idea here. There’s a bigger picture motivation or, or like, projection here, which is that, you know, we’re, we’re moving into a paradigm where, you know, the phone you have, the, the device you have that you consume content with is totally unconstrained, in terms of what it accesses, right?
Like, and, and how it accesses content. And that’s what that’s, that’s the sort of, that’s the behavioral, norm that, that people are moving into, they just expect their favorite stuff to be available from whatever device they have in their hand, at that moment, as long as it’s connected to the internet, they expect to be able to connect to Disney to Hulu, to Netflix, to Facebook, to anything, they use every day.
You get to a point where, you know, if you run this gatekeeping platform, like at the App Store or Google play If, if, if users have leapfrogged that paradigm into no, my favorite content is always available. It’s, you know, sort of like, it’s just, just persistent in the cloud and I should be able to access it however I want at any, at any given point in time.
Then you’ve lost control of that sort of, of that gatekeeper positi…
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Nov 17, 2021
Growing an App to 1M Paid Subscribers — Ron Schneidermann, AllTrails
On the podcast, we talk with Ron about the magic of consumer subscriptions, experimenting with freemium strategies, and how private equity isn’t always as bad as you’ve been led to believe.
Our guest today is Ron Schneidermann, CEO at AllTrails, the ultimate guide for outdoor adventures. AllTrails was early to the consumer subscription space, launching a $3/month premium tier way back in 2012. Ron joined as CMO and COO in 2015, and then took over as CEO in 2019, helping to grow AllTrails to over 1 million subscribers and tens of millions of active users worldwide.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How to refine and optimize your freemium strategy
* Two things you need to keep an eye on as a founder
* The pros & cons of outside funding vs. organic growth
* How Ron fast-tracked AllTrails’ profitability
Links & Resources
* Accenture
* Hotwire
* Yelp
* Liftopia
* Alex Honnold
* Spectrum Equity
Ron Schneidermann’s Links
* Ron Schneidermann’s LinkedIn page
* AllTrails Celebrates 1 Million Paid Subscribers! (January press release)
* AllTrails’ website
* AllTrails is hiring
* Follow AllTrails on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 David:
Our guest today is Ron Schneidermann, CEO at AllTrails, the ultimate guide for outdoor adventures, AllTrails was early to the consumer subscription space, launching a $3 per month premium tier, way back in 2012. Ron joined as CMO and COO in 2015, and then took over as CEO in 2019, helping to grow AllTrails to over 1 million subscribers and tens of millions of active users world.
On the podcast, we talk with Ron about the magic of consumer subscriptions, experimenting with freemium strategies, and how private equity isn’t always as bad as you’ve been led to believe.
Hey, Ron! Welcome to the podcast.
00:00:59 Ron:
Thanks for having me.
00:01:00 David:
Yeah. Really looking forward to the chat today. I wanted to kick it off, and most people know what AllTrails is, and it’s a fantastic brand. It kind of tells you what it is right there on the tin. What’s your pitch? We’re in 2021, post pandemic.
Give us the short version of what AllTrails is. What does it mean?
00:01:21 Ron:
Yeah. So AllTrails is a free app and website that helps you find trails all over the globe, so you can spend more time enjoying the outdoors, and spending time in nature.
00:01:34 David:
That’s awesome.
00:01:35 Jacob:
That’s a very nice mission. That’s way more beautiful than helping developers make more money. Both are important, but I can smell that. It smells, “piney” and I like it.
00:01:46 David:
Yeah, it smells like the Colorado forest. I haven’t been hiking forever, and doing all the research to chat with you today was like, oh man, I need to go hiking more.
00:01:55 Ron:
I heard there’s a great app for that.
00:01:57 David:
I heard that.
So, I did want to also ask about your journey to AllTrails. You got there fairly early, and then grew in, and you’re now CEO. Tell me, off the bat, what led you to AllTrails way back in 2015 when it was just six people?
00:02:20 Ron:
Yeah. To answer that I’m going to go a little bit further back in time. My first job right after college was at Accenture, at a global management consulting firm. It was great. A good jumping off point, and I learned a ton. I didn’t know anything going into that job. You know, you get the rubber stamp and it opens doors.
By the end of my third year there, I kind of had a realization. Epifany is a little too strong a word, but I just kind kinda realized I can’t take a job just for money again. The amount of time and energy that I was putting into it, and the lack of work-life balance, it really made me rethink who I want to be. Who does working Ron want to be?
So, I was able to parlay that Accenture job into a biz dev role over at Hotwire, an online travel company. That was really where it opened my eyes. Like, I am so much happier, and I am honestly so much better when I’m working at something that I’m just personally passionate about.
That guiding principle has really held through throughout my career trajectory. From Hotwire, I want to do my own startup in the ski space. I love to ski. So, I did that for nine years. It was a ton of fun. Then I was over at Yelp, doing growth for a bit. I love finding non-chain restaurants, and supporting mom and pop businesses, and stuff. I live in Yelp, so that was great.
Then, when the opportunity for AllTrails presented itself, it was just kind of a no-brainer. Of course I’m going to take this.
I’ll say this to you, one little addendum, one of the things I learned along the way, too. I am not a zero to one guy. That is not when I am at my best. It just causes me stress and anxiety, and just, figuring out how to keep the lights on for another day.
So, again, knowing kind of that sense of self knowing. Like, alright, I’m best at B to C. I’m at my best when I’m using products I personally want to use and like talking about. I like hypergrowth, and I think that’s probably my sweet spot.
So, it starts to all align when AllTrials showed up.
00:04:34 David:
Yeah. And then how did that go from? You joined the company as COO, right? And then, what was the progression inside the company to eventually taking over as CEO?
00:04:45 Ron:
Yeah. So if you want to demo and COO, I dunno why I really wanted to have both, like, I didn’t want to just be CMO in a vacuum, but not have any ownership or agency over kind of team composition and strategy and stuff. So I thought that it was really. Really important. And when you’re a six person company, it’s pretty easy to grab titles.
It’s not like how to take it from anyone.
00:05:08 Jacob:
I was going to ask, like, I mean, it’s, it’s not like you see this a lot where it’s like a six person company and they had like five C-levels and you’re like, okay. Yeah, sure. Like, like my title, for example. But like, I’m kind of curious, like, you know, you like your background, you founded a company, like you were like a real CX whatever.
Right? Like it’s not like it was fake. So how did, how did that, how did you go as like an executive, like choosing your next thing? That’d be a hell of a pitch to get you to like join a tiny little like, team like that.
00:05:36 Ron:
You know, I think I, I spent a lot of time thinking through again. I don’t know, I, to be perfectly honest, I was, I was a little bit bored at the end of my tenure at Yelp. I love Yelp. It’s a great company, but it was just, it was too big for me. And so I spent a lot of time thinking through what’s next again?
That whole question, like zero to one. Do I need, do I need to start something myself or what? So the smallness didn’t bother me. I actually really liked the smallness cause it was almost like, it was almost like a cheat code. Like I got to do a startup, like basically from scratch, but I didn’t have to do it from scratch.
And then.
00:06:09 Jacob:
They had, they had a kernel of something at
00:06:11 Ron:
They did, they did. And you know, it was actually to, to give my predecessor credit. It was, it was actually more than that. Like they had, they had solid product market fit from a monetization perspective. And then what really got me across the line with their product channel. And I feel like that’s often overlooked and that’s something you kind of pick up in time.
Like it’s not just like, is this a product people are willing to pay money for, but just straight up, how are you going to get this out to market? And can you, can you do it in a way that is, you know, viable and scalable and, and ultimately, you know, going to be, be more efficient than, you know, it’s kind of like net out, right?
Like the whole LTV to CAC thing and everything that
00:06:49 Jacob:
Yeah. It’s, it’s somethi…
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Oct 27, 2021
Optimizing Your Subscription App for Growth — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound
Our guest today is Eric Crowley, a tech investment banker with GP Bullhound. With investments in companies ranging from Spotify to Whoop, and clients such as AllTrails, Pinkbike, and Lingoda, GP Bullhound provides transaction advice and capital to many of the leaders in the Consumer Subscription Software space.
On the podcast we talk with Eric about his 2021 report on Consumer Subscription Software, the truth about LTV calculations, and the new era of organic user acquisition.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Was 2020 just a “COVID Bump,” or a shift in consumer behavior?
* Are the Bumble & Duolingo IPO multiples justified?
* How savvy developers are adapting to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency
* The truth about LTV
* The new era of customer acquisition
Links & Resources
* Spotify
* Whoop
* AllTrails
* Pinkbike
* Lingoda
* Bumble
* Duolingo
* Instacart
* Match Group
* Netflix
* Noom
* Weight Watchers
* Tinder
* The Dyrt
* Day One Journal
* Automattic
* Tech Crunch
* Scribd
* Pandora
Eric Crowley’s Links
* Follow Eric on Twitter
* GP Bullhound
* GP Bullhound insights
* Eric’s LinkedIn
* GP Bullhound 2021 CSS survey
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 David:
Hello, I’m your host. David Bernard. And with me, as always, RevenueCat CEO, Jacob Eiting.
Our guest today is Eric Crowley, a tech investment banker with GP Bullhound. With investments in companies ranging from Spotify to Whoop, and clients such as AllTrails Pinkbike, and Lingoda, GP Bullhound provides transaction advice and capital to many of the leaders in consumer subscription software.
On the podcast, we talk with Eric about his 2021 report on consumer subscription software, the truth about LTV calculations, and the new era of organic user acquisition.
Hey, Eric, welcome to the podcast.
00:00:56 Eric:
Hey, David, Jacob. Thanks for having me back. It’s always a pleasure.
00:00:59 David:
Yeah. Every year you release this report, so we had to get you back. This is the third annual Consumer Subscription Software Report, and I wanted to kick off just asking you a little bit about the motivation, and where your headspace is in thinking about creating this. Who the target is, and what kind of questions you’re asking yourself as you prepare this report.
00:01:24 Eric:
Yeah. The report is the GP Bullhound Consumer Subscription Software Report. I call it CSS, which is kind of a playoff SaaS. This is the third year I’ve been writing it, and it started back in 2018. I worked with a company called AllTrails that was starting to monetize really well by selling subscriptions.
It was like a light bulb went off in my head. I was like, this is a phenomenal way to provide a consistently improving product to consumers, where the margins are pretty good. It’s easy to access a ton of different people globally through the app stores or through the web, and I just got really excited about it.
I started putting some notes down on my own, and then GP Bullhound really supported me in saying like, “Hey, this is actually a pretty big trend. There’s gonna be some amazing companies built around this space,” and companies like RevenueCat, that are supporting CSS companies, are just as exciting.
So, we’ve been slowly educating ourselves. The goal behind the report is really just to force me to do some thinking about the space. What it looks like. What it will be. As a banker, you can quickly focus on transaction, transaction, transaction, and not really do any long-term thinking about where the world’s going.
It’s putting myself in your guys’s shoes. You guys are building RevenueCat not for what the world looks like today, but for what the world looks like in three to five years. I try to take the same approach with CSS, and think about where’s the world going to go. So I talked to a lot of smart people as I put the report together. Entrepreneurs, investors, get their opinions.
You guys can see their interviews in the report, and then ultimately we publish it. The audience I like to think about is entrepreneurs, people that are thinking about starting a CSS company, or already launched one, and they’re looking to improve their metrics, or think about their target audience as entrepreneur-rich.
By partnering with them, investing in their businesses, it takes them to the next level. The other way I like to think about it, it’s my own personal scoreboard. I love to flip back two years ago and see, was I right about this company? You’re publishing in public, so people can always come back to you and say, “Man, you were way off.” So, I look forward to that.
00:03:26 Jacob:
I remember the F finding the first one, the 2018, I guess, reporter 2019, whenever the first one you put out,
00:03:33 Eric:
2019, I think that’s how we met actually.
00:03:36 Jacob:
Did you reach out to me or? I think I found it, or I don’t remember what it was, but
00:03:39 Eric:
We’ve had a mutual friend, Nico introduced us and said, Hey, you guys should talk about this. and then I think we just went off on a two hour tangent.
00:03:47 Jacob:
But yeah, I remember being, it’s still, there’s still not a ton of like really focused research or writing on this space. and I think that, that, you know, this will probably won’t be true for very long, right. As long as it continues to grow, but like going back to like who it’s for. I mean, I imagine it as some, you know, end of the day, if you’re employing.
Pushing into some kind of lead gen. Right. But it does provide a lot of value for, you know, even if you’re not interested in a transaction or whatever, just. Some like holistic data on a space. Cause like, I, the same, I mean, Eric, you said we’re, we’re thinking three and five years in the future. It’s like, I wish like a lot of times I’m thinking like three to six weeks in the future.
Right. and so it’s even useful, I think, you know, even if you’re, you know, I, you know, we’re, we’re in a bit of an interesting place as a infrastructure provider to be at kind of a bird’s eye view, but it. Founder on one of these CSS apps, you know, like it is useful for you to know, like what’s the meta environment, how’s it evolving, you know?
And if nothing else to like connect you with other people who have experimented with things and stuff like that. So, yeah, I think it provides beyond, beyond the, the, the lead gen aspect of it. It provides a lot of value for people. So I’m glad, I’m glad you’re, you’re still doing it.
00:05:04 Eric:
Yeah. And just for any of the listeners, it is free. So you just go to the GP, bullhorn.com website. It’s all easy to download and then you can see all our past reports as well. So
00:05:12 David:
Yeah, and we’ll drop it in the show notes. but, yeah. And, and, and speaking of all that, you know, it, it’s something we as RevenueCat want to get more into as well. I mean, just seeing how much value you’ve created in producing these reports, and we’re kind of sitting on a, you know, Processing over a billion dollars a year in, subscription revenue.
We’ve got a lot of interesting data that, that we, that I’m very personally excited to share that we haven’t, kind of had the infrastructure to, to do yet, but are, are getting there. And, so hopefully we’ll, we’ll have our own kind of, state of subscriptions that dives into the data and some of the trends and stuff in a different way than, than your kind of, strategy and higher level look at things.
But when one thing that has happened, in the actually. It was announced before your last report, but actually implemented since your last report. And that’s the app tracking transparency and iOS 14, which didn’t actually ship till iOS. What was it? 14.4 or five or something. So, so we’re kind of just now st…
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Oct 6, 2021
From Bootstrapping to Partnering With Sony — Seth Miller, Rapchat
Our guest today is Seth Miller, Founder and CEO at Rapchat. Seth is on a mission to democratize music creation with Rapchat’s mobile app. Rapchat takes the friction out of making music, and has helped millions of artists unleash their creativity.
Seth earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis on management information systems, from Ohio University. Before founding Rapchat, Seth worked as a consultant for Adidas, and an IT Systems Engineer.
On the podcast we talk with Seth about bootstrapping his way to signs of product market fit, raising money from strategic partners like Sony Music, and what it’s like to have Facebook completely rip off your app.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Finding the right niche for your app
* Bootstrapping and early funding
* Using the right marketing channels for your app
* Filtering out the wrong users for your app's paid features
* How to transition your app from free to paid
Links & Resources
* Sony
* Nico Wittenborn
* Twitter
* Adjacent
* Complex
Seth Miller’s Links
* Follow Seth on Twitter
* Rapchat
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 Seth:
We would be dead for sure if I didn’t learn how to code. It’s an invaluable skill that I’ll have in this organization and future organizations. It also just helps me think about things. It’s a really great way to look at the world sometimes.
00:00:31 David:
Hello, I’m your host, David Bernard. And with me as always, RevenueCat CEO, Jacob Eiting.
Our guest today is Seth Miller, founder and CEO at Rapchat. Seth is on a mission to democratize music creation with Rapchat’s mobile app. It takes the friction out of making music, and has helped millions of artists unleash their creativity on the podcast.
We talk with Seth about bootstrapping his way to signs of product market fit. Raising money from strategic partners like Sony, and what it’s like to have Facebook completely rip off your app.
Hey Seth, welcome to the podcast!
00:01:06 Seth:
How’s it going? Thanks for having me.
00:01:07 David:
It’s been a long time coming. You and I first chatted way back in 2019. You were the first office hour call I ever took at RevenueCat.
00:01:18 Seth:
Oh, wow.
00:01:19 David:
Yeah, going way back in my RevenueCat days.
00:01:22 Jacob:
It tells you how bad of a CEO I am that we’ve never actually spoken on the phone in those two years.
00:01:30 Seth:
Or how good David was!
00:01:31 Jacob:
Yeah.
00:01:32 Seth:
I was sold after one call. I’m like, all right, dude, where do I sign up? How do I get this going?
00:01:37 Jacob:
We have a lot of cross connections, because you’re an Adjacent portfolio. Nico is a co-investor. We’re also both Ohio-based. So, yeah, lots of cover today.
00:01:54 Seth:
We got to hang out.
00:01:55 Jacob:
We should. It’s beautiful in Ohio today, but I’m not going to make an Ohio podcast.
But, maybe kickoff and tell us, what is Rapchat?
00:02:07 Seth:
Yeah, absolutely. So, Rapchat is the easiest way to make music on your phone. We have an iOS and Android app. You really just like tap in, and open the app. We have hundreds and thousands of free beats on the app. So, you just pick a beat, you can record over it, and then you can share that anywhere.
We have people making full-length studio-quality songs from their phone and sharing it to Instagram and SoundCloud. And then also on the platform, we have a social layer as well. Which is really cool. Pretty much a recording studio in your pocket, with a community, with a social layer.
Similar to Visco, or Instagram for music. Our mission is really to democratize music by providing access and tools to the next billion music creators.
00:03:01 Jacob:
How did you get on this idea?
00:03:05 Seth:
Well, like just scratching my own itch in the early days. Almost eight years ago when I was in college, apps were really starting to become a thing, and same with social networks and you-do-see platforms that let you create content and share it. You know, the golden era of Vine, Snap, all of that. But there was nothing for music.
I also had a hobby of freestyling with my friends. So, we’d get together, throw on beats, and rap, and some people would sing and just create all sorts of stuff. It was something that I noticed that was like, yeah, this should exist on your phone. I should be able to do this with my high school buddies that are on a different campus that I used to do it with.
That was really it, just scratching my own itch. Then over time, I think we’ve really come to realize that there’s just this massive opportunity to do this at scale for those that really want to make music and take it seriously.
So, I’ve kind of outgrown my own use case a little bit, even though we have people that come and have fun, but really we’re focused on providing tools for the everyday artist that historically has been kind of gatekeeped out of participating in music. So, we try and give them everything we can in their pocket, and still feels like we’re only getting started.
00:04:26 Jacob:
It’s not as easy to pirate logic these days I imagine, like it used to be.
00:04:31 Seth:
Yeah. Right.
00:04:32 David:
What did those early days look like? Did you learn to code? Did you have a coding background? What did those early days look like, and when did you get the app out?
00:04:43 Seth:
Yeah, I mean, pure chaos and it’s not too much different today, you know, it’s just a little more organized. yeah, the first version of the iOS app was June, 2014. I think it was June 7th and that was really. I wouldn’t even pass as an alpha version think especially with how good some of the test flights are, but, you know, it was very basic.
It was, you could open the app record one track over like 10 predefined beats that had to come with the app store bundle, like would even have server side, like beats, and. Like, we just wanted to test that people would do it. And you know, of course the first couple of months, is just getting friends off Facebook and family to download it.
But then, I started to notice like, you know, a little bit of traction and then more traction and then basically quit my job. I was like, all right, I gotta, I gotta really go after this. And it, that exactly. That’s when I taught myself how to code too, because, I had a lot of help in the early days, just from like friends, faculty members, anyone I could get to work on it But then after, you know, I noticed there’s just like basically early signs of product market fit, I guess, if you will now, but people sharing it. I was like, I really want to make updates to this thing and I can’t afford any engineers and I don’t know anything about fundraising. So it was like the only way I could make any updates and then wrote really shitty code for like three years.
And, but got enough traction improved to kind of, you know, enter the startup space, the fundraising space. Now, luckily we have really amazing engineers and I still write some code here and there. That’s probably not that great, but, you know, I love it. So,
00:06:22 David:
Did you have any co-founders?
00:06:24 Seth:
Yeah, so we, I mean, we had a team on campus in the early days, that, you know, we’re helping out. We’ve had a lot of people along the way, help out in different parts of the journey it’s been. An epic journey, you know, and, lots of ups and downs, but yeah, we’ve had lots of different people help us out.
And, now we have a fully distributed team, and still relatively small 10 people, but, lots of great product builders and, yeah, it’s a lot of fun
00:06:54 Jacob:
Yeah. David can, can probably talk more to the pain of not like having on staff. Like it’s not so much. I mean, yeah. I mean, the cost is a thing for sure. But like, I think a bigger thing often is…
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Sep 15, 2021
Finding Product Market Fit by Unbundling Photoshop — Matthieu Rouif, PhotoRoom
Watch the video version of this show on YouTube »
Matthieu Rouif is the co-founder and CEO of PhotoRoom. PhotoRoom enables anyone to create studio-quality photos on their iPhone. Before founding PhotoRoom, Matthieu was the Senior Project Manager at GoPro. Matthieu is also the co-founder and CTO of HeyCrowd, and co-founder and CEO of As-App.
Matthieu earned his graduate degree in materials science and engineering from Stanford University, and his bachelor’s degrees in economics, and physics from École Polytechnique. While at École Polytechnique, Matthieu was a member of the skydiving team and debate team. Matthieu also served as a Parachutist Commando Officer in the French Air Force.
Matthieu started developing apps in 2009 as a student at Stanford, and subsequently started two iPhone app companies. He was part of the Replay app team when they won App of the Year in 2014. Matthieu started PhotoRoom after leaving GoPro in 2018.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Matthieu’s retention strategies for keeping app users subscribed
* Innovative and clever ways to get users to demo your app
* Balancing your app’s pricing and features
* How churn can be an asset
Links & Resources
* YC
* HeyCrowd
* GoPro
* Photoshop
* Zenlea
* Shopify
* Poshmark
* Depop
* Corel
Matthieu Rouif’s Links
* Matthieu on Twitter
* Matthieu on LinkendIn
* PhotoRoom is hiring!
* 10 Tools to Ship an iOS App in 2 Weeks
* PhotoRoom’s Website
* PhotoRoom API
* PhotoRoom on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
00:00:00 David:
Hello, I’m your host, David Barnard. And with me as always, Jacob Eiting, RevenueCat CEO. Our guest today is Matt Rouif, co-founder and CEO at PhotoRoom, the app for removing backgrounds and creating studio quality photos right from your phone.
On the podcast, we talk with Matt about how his time at GoPro led to founding PhotoRoom, how churn can actually be an asset, and how being locked in Apple’s basement led to one of PhotoRoom’s biggest marketing wins.
Hey, Matt. Thanks for joining us on the podcast today. How are you doing?
00:00:48 Matthieu:
Great. Hey David, Hey Jacob.
00:00:51 Jacob:
Hi, it’s nice to finally meet internet/virtual face-to-face. We’ve known each other for a little while. I’ve become fortunate to know you kind of through RevenueCat, but not actually know-know you. So, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.
I was looking back through my email and I think the first I ever heard of you was from our mutual friend, Cisco, if I say that correctly?
00:01:23 Matthieu:
Yeah, Francisco.
00:01:24 Jacob:
Francisco, who shared with me a blog post that I had seen that you wrote where you talked about RevenueCat as part of your stack. Since then, I think we talked as you were thinking about going into YC, and then after YC, I put in a little bit of money, so this is a good opportunity to check in on my investment.
I’m super excited to dive in, because there’s a lot of questions. I kind of have followed you guys and kind of seeing some of the stuff you’ve been doing, but I don’t know, like the behind the scenes decision making processes and like, and all that stuff. So yeah, I’m excited to hear the story firsthand.
00:02:04 David:
Yeah, but before we get into PhotoRoom, you’ve got quite a history in app development. So, I want to go back to the beginning and talk war stories. A lot of people were in the industry way back when. Jacob and I both started really early as well. So, you got your start during the Stanford class and you were actually a teaching assistant at Stanford at the time, right? I’m kind of stealing your story, but yeah. Tell me, tell me how you got into it.
00:02:34 Matthieu:
Yeah. Actually I wasn’t a teaching assistant in physics. I was doing a master’s in physics at Stanford, right at the moment of the first iPhone class. And, I actually went to Stanford because I was fascinated by the entrepreneurship. And I had this business idea of printing photos and sending them.
And that seemed a lot easier not to buy hardware, but just use the iPhone which just started at that point. So, I was at Stanford, there was the iPhone class. I wanted to do a photo app. So, see, 12 years later....
00:03:05 Jacob:
A 12 year overnight success.
00:03:07 Matthieu:
That’s what they say. Exactly. And, yeah, I got, I actually, I got started, programming.
I was doing physics before, and I didn’t know anything about programming. So I took a class with a friend that went through the basics, and I just wanted to push products on apps. And I found that the iPhone was the best at that point. And actually the photo app became something else.
The first company I started back in grad school and they became like a ski resorts app. I shipped, we had all of the major ski resorts. And, It was a great, I did that for two years and a major ski resorts and, yeah.
I started an apps company after that, one called HeyCrowd around a social network. So like we had surveys that you could answer to with polls, like, a bit like Instagram stories now, and that didn’t work so well compared to the ski resort, but, yeah, I got into iPhone apps right since the beginning.
00:04:18 Jacob:
I remember the Stanford course. It was on iTunes U that was mass disseminated or was it the later one?
00:04:25 Matthieu:
No, it was the one that it wasn’t Stanford U. There was a, the guy from Fitboard during the class. I don’t know if it was doing that.
00:04:42 Jacob:
Yeah. I remember. I remember it being like the moment when we were like, oh, this is going to go mainstream. Right? Like, because up to that point, you had to learn iOS by doing basically Mac OS. That was like the one point there was the big nerd book you learned Mac OS, and then the SDKs came and you like tried to learn quickly, like what worked and what didn’t.
But, if you were like me who came from no Mac programming, there was really no iPhone entry into it. I remember when the Stanford course came out. It was like one year too late for me. Because like at that point I had already done a lot of stuff, but it was still really great.
I still watched the whole thing. I remember watching it. But it’s interesting. We have the same path. I don’t know if we ever talked about this, but I was studying physics in undergrad as well. Yeah, I didn’t go to Stanford, but I went to a small state school instead, just cause, you know. But yeah, kind of similar story where like I was in, I wasn’t in grad school, but I was physics, undergrad.
Didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I really loved physics and the math and all that stuff, but like, there’s a stronger economic pull, let’s put it that way, to work on apps. That was the same story for me. Like took a little bit of what I had learned, writing code for experiments and things like this, and then kind of started making apps.
And then, yeah, the rest is history.
00:06:06 Matthieu:
Yeah. I think one of the introduction to physics is like how fast data applies to the real world from science to real world. And you don’t find that in a, like a physics job where you kind of find that back in, like a software development where you like, can we solve a math problem, a computer science problem, and you can directly apply it to real
00:06:25 Jacob:
Yeah. Or like, even with business modeling and stuff too, you know, you think about how a business moves and like what number moves this number. And there’s no physics there. You’re not approximating a physical system, but some of the same principles apply. Right. You’re like trying to find some laws that are underlying it and work from there.
So yeah, I found it hasn’t been terribly unrelevant, but, but yeah, that’s interesting. What else, what else do we have in common? Let’s keep going.
00:06:48 Matthieu:
Yeah, s…
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Sep 7, 2021
Apple’s App Store Conundrum — Ben Thompson, Stratechery
On the podcast, we talk with Ben about all things app stores. From Apple’s revolutionary launch of the App Store in 2008 to the monopoly-like powers both Google and Apple now wield today. With multiple lawsuits filed, government investigations ongoing, and developer sentiment at an all-time low, we take an honest look at the challenges and trade-offs in trying to bring two of the world’s largest companies to heel.
Ben Thompson's Links
* Stratechery
* Ben’s Twitter: @benthompson
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
RevenueCat: https://twitter.com/RevenueCat
Sub Club: https://twitter.com/SubClubHQ
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Aug 25, 2021
How Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Affects Developers — Shamanth Rao, RocketShip HQ
Watch the video version of this show on YouTube »
Shamanth Rao is the founder and CEO at Rocketship HQ. Shamanth also hosts the Mobile User Acquisition Show podcast, and is the lead instructor for the Mobile Growth Lab workshop series.
RocketShip HQ is a boutique growth marketing firm with 8 figures in managed spend. Before founding RocketshipHQ, Shamanth led growth marketing resulting in 3 exits: Bash Gaming (sold for $170mm), Puzzle Social (acquired by Zynga), and FreshPlanet (acquired by Gameloft). Shamanth has also helped many other mobile apps grow and scale.
Shamanth is passionate about teaching and sharing everything he’s learned about mobile growth. Much of his time and energy goes into the Mobile User Acquisition Show. Shamanth strives to ensure that the wisdom he’s gained reaches as many people as possible.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* The history of user acquisition and algorithmic targeting
* How Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency has shifted users to Android
* What Apple’s new tracking policy means for developers
* Are subscription apps impacted more than other apps by Apple’s tracking policy?
Links & Resources
* A Brief History of App Store Monetization episode – with David Barnard
* A Brief History of Device Identification episode – with David Philippson
* iOS 14 & IDFA Deprecation How App Marketers Must Adapt - YouTube
Shamanth Rao’s Links
* RocketShip HQ’s website
* The Mobile User Acquisition Show
* Mobile Growth Lab
* Follow Shamanth on Twitter
* Shamanth Rao’s website
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
Shamanth: 00:00:00
The more signal you give to the algorithm, the better the algorithm performs, right? You know, in the post AppTrackingTransparency world, if you gain more purchases, the better the algorithm performs, obviously that would take purchases from you and everybody in the world, and it would just do better. Now, obviously it’s just taking your trial and doing much, much better.
David: 00:00:38
Welcome to the sub club podcast. I’m your host, David Bernard, and with me as always Jacob Eiting.
Hello Jacob.
Jacob: 00:00:45
David, glad to be here with you, as always.
David: 00:00:48
Our guest today is Shamanth Rao, founder and CEO at RocketShip HQ, of the podcast Mobile User Acquisition Show, and lead instructor at the workshop series Mobile Growth. Shamanth’s company, RocketShip HQ is a boutique growth marketing agency with eight figures in managed spend. Prior to founding RocketShip HQ Shamanth growth marketing, to three exits. Hey Shamanth.
Welcome to the podcast.
Shamanth: 00:01:16
Honored to be here.
Thank you for having me, David and Jacob.
David: 00:01:19
Yeah. So, I wanted to start with a little bit of a history lesson. You’ve been in mobile advertising and working on mobile apps for, since very early. So, could you take just a couple of minutes and step us through the history of kind of what led us to today with app tracking transparency, and all the different ups and downs and changes that have happened over the past?
Shamanth: 00:01:48
Yeah. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, as you said. I see two overarching trends, but for folks who want to go into the weeds, I would actually recommend two podcast episodes. One was mine with you, David. A brief history of App Store monetization. You provide a very great perspective into how the App Store itself has changed over the years.
The other one was an interview I did with David Phillips, A Brief History of Device Identification You know, we are all about brief histories, but, I think to what we talking about ATT and how essentially disrupted growth in today. There have been two forces that have led up to this point, the last decade or so I think it’s important to know and understand both of these, just to know how we got here and why it’s important, right.
Because ATT just did not happen overnight. There were signs for a decade. And, you know, I think obviously a lot of this is evident in retrospect. but I think it’s helpful to know and understand what those breadcrumbs were.
Trend number one has been increasing accumulation of particular data platforms over the last decade.
You know, I remember, you know, David, as you pointed out, I am a really old person who, which around then, but we don’t advertise. It took off, with all this gray hair. But you know, when I started that we were doing CPC buys, CPM buys. I started doing mobile advertising before Facebook even had mobile ads, app ads.
There is no conversion tracking. you know, I give it like no conversion tracking. If you, would buy installs, and you’re like, oh, we bought 70 stops. We got so many touches that we are profitable and spent like millions on games the time. And suddenly the level of sophistication that emerged in mobile advertising. I don’t think we could have posted in 12, 20 13, 20 14. But like I said, from the TPC buys gradually they have a CPI buys as ad networks that now are billion dollar companies. And so it’s an app love and have a tiny ad networks at the time.
A lot of others basically fell out of the side. know, they, they like, we have enough confidence to be able to build. Rather than just a or impression we have that kind of data, that kind of confidence the next time AEO or purchase optimization. This is 2016, right?
It’s just, it seems so recent. And it’s staggering to think that they could not optimize like athletes if they six, years ago. And that was just the biggest game changer in it. I still remember having a lot of skepticism that this would even work and I’m like, how are they going to find out who’s going to purchase?
They’ve never done it, nobody’s done it. But clearly, if somebody could do it as a Facebook, they had the budget for data. I can only to that point the time I think it became evident to me, myself, that as to why Facebook was so successful. basically have the IDFA that IDFA on Google ID.
They had that idea, with print from on Facebook audience network. So for diva able to predict with ed accuracy, who the purchaser’s book, obviously they took it a step further with relapse optimization, So obviously the more data Facebook’s SDK gun. The better it got predicting who the purchaser as well.
Obviously more data the pixels on the web got the better, the better the accuracy of the SDK became other way around that, because they had, you know, if you made a purchase on a beauty of that site, you would make a purchase on, an e-commerce app. So they put all of that data together.
Right? So obviously Google had a very, very similar trajectory. I don’t want to go too much into the weeds. Over the last decade, increasing amount of data accumulated by Facebook, by Google folks like apple. And then I am so all add Netflix, everybody got increasing amount of data about users, spectator. they just, weren’t doing this in isolation, apple licensed up to this, you know, Google, Google had a bit of a conflict because they were also making money off of this.
They are also making money off of this. these less active in pushing back, but you know, apple, the apple, again, not to go too much into the weeds that it’s corporate strategy. Two, but for apple to say a hobby, a privacy minded, but it’s also very, very much about profits for them. the opera motive.
Oh, an ad network. No, I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of confidence to how they would do anything. Right. So apple said, know, look, we have this beauty ID, which is not great. Let’s phase it out. Let’s have an IDFA, which is reset the vote, which wasn’t too much and improvement. they said, oh, let’s make this, idea phase zero, but physio, which means how to use it goes on and off the lab.
idea of it becomes and advertisers could not cannot target people. Shockingly enough, to idea, phase zero, which was, I think 20…
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Aug 11, 2021
The TikTok Marketing Playbook — Maddie Kirby, 1 Second Everyday
Watch the video version of this show on YouTube »
Maddie Kirby is currently the Senior Social Media Manager for the video journal app, 1 Second Everyday. Maddie started her social media marketing career at Ozwest. Ozwest is an exclusive distributor of Zing branded toy products and the Ozwest toy line in the USA and Canada.
While working at Ozwest, Maddie started growing her personal social media presence. Maddie has almost 400k followers on TikTok. Since joining 1 Second Everyday in 2019, Maddie has been instrumental in leveraging TikTok to organically drive millions of downloads.
Maddie has a bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Oregon, and has also worked for companies such as Bytedance, Inc., Egg Strategy, Transition Productions, and Atomicus Films.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How to promote your app with user-created content
* Clever tricks to get your app noticed
* Why TikTok is a great place to market your app
* A great strategy for growing your app’s follower count
Links & Resources
* Maddie and David’s App Promotion Summit USA panel discussion
* Cesar Kuriyama’s Twitter
* Cesar Kuriyama’s TED Talk
* David Smith on The Sub Club Podcast
* Widgetsmith app
Maddie Kirby’s Links
* Maddie Kirby’s TikTok
* Maddie Kirby’s LinkedIn
* 1 Second Everyday’s website
* 1 Second Everyday is on Twitter
* 1 Second Everyday’s Instagram
* Zing Toys website
Follow us on Twitter:
* David Barnard
* Jacob Eiting
* RevenueCat
* Sub Club
Episode Transcript
Madison: 00:00:00
I like to think of them as content buckets or pillars. You pick three and stick with those for a little bit. Try a few ideas in each bucket. See what's working, what's not. Scrolling through the app is the best way to kind of keep on top of things. And then you have to be able to think really fast and post really fast because these trends come and go.
Jacob: 00:00:39
Welcome to the Sub Club podcast. Our guest today is Maddie Kirby, Senior Social Media Manager at 1 Second Everyday. She began her career in social media marketing at toy company, Ozwest.
While working there she also started growing her personal social media presence, accumulating almost 400,000 followers on TikTok.
In 2019, Maddie joined 1 Second Everyday where she has been instrumental in leveraging TikTok to organically drive millions of downloads.
Maddie, welcome to the podcast.
Madison: 00:01:08
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Jacob: 00:01:10
I'm also here with David, my guest, which I forgot to introduce in our freaky Friday intro swap.
David: 00:01:16
I usually do the introductions, but that was great. Jacob.
Jacob: 00:01:19
Hey, you know what? I'm very, very, very versed at...
David: 00:01:21
You gotta mix things up.
Jacob: 00:01:23
I'll pass back to David because he's the one who preps all the questions.
David: 00:01:29
Nice.
Maddie and I were on a panel together earlier this month, at App Promotion Summit, which is a great thing to watch. We can link it in the show notes.
It was four of us on the panel and it went really quick, but she shared a lot of really interesting stuff about what she's working on in social media marketing, and working with 1 Second Everyday on their TikTok presence.
So, I wanted to bring her on the podcast to actually give her time to talk a little more about it in the context of promoting apps, because she's been on a couple of other podcasts where they're talking more specifically about social media.
I'm super excited to have you, Maddie.
I do want to dive in. We typically do have more developer focused guests, you know, people that are doing the coding or focused on user acquisition, spending 50K a month on Facebook. And so that's another reason I was excited to have you on the podcast is to just get a really different perspective.
I think that there's a lot of potential in social media marketing. But not a lot of people talking about it in the app space and then...
Jacob: 00:02:40
Or just knowing how to do it, right?
How do you even start, especially if you're a developer-turned-promoter. I think a lot of app creators tend to do the things you were talking about. David does technical channels about buying ads on Facebook or whatever, where's a lot of leverage in social media stuff. If you can do it.
David: 00:03:02
Yeah, absolutely. So, I did want to start with, you got your start in social media marketing, not with an app, which is another thing. It's like you came to the app marketing with such a different perspective, which I think is is really good. There's too many people who are just so narrowly focused in the kind of existing playbook for marketing apps.
So, are there any lessons from your time at of all the places a toy company? Any particular lessons from being at a toy company that you think helped you grow and learn this form of marketing and specifically that apply to subscription apps?
Madison: 00:03:41
Yeah. I don't know if it's necessarily a lesson or lessons that I've learned. But I think coming from the toy industry, which is also an industry where people don't leave it. They have a lot of people that started in the industry and then just stayed there forever. You have a lot of people that aren't really thinking beyond just what they are normally, what they're used to, I guess, is what I would say.
Jacob: 00:04:05
Is what they're used to, like ads on Nickelodeon.
Madison: 00:04:08
Yeah, it's definitely commercials. Like when they were still talking about TV and trying to transition out of that, that's really funny that you brought that up, but that's kind of what we were talking about at the time. So I got really lucky and I had a great manager who really wanted me to push people outside of their boxes.
And I feel like I wouldn't have found TikTok unless I was at a toy company, because we were so focused on trying to connect to Gen Z and young people. And I heard some kids talking on our public transportation about TikTok, which was musically then. And I was like, oh, and I just had like my feelers out about it because I was just so focused on kids at the time, and like trying to find this like cool new way that we can connect to them.
And I downloaded it and I was a content creator, too. So I thought it was super cool.
Getting onto TikTok at that time and super early, I feel like wouldn't have happened without being in the toy industry. Also then I was able to take that into 1 Second Everyday and already had experience, which I feel like a lot of people don't really have TikTok experience coming into a company.
David: 00:05:16
Yeah, that's really cool. and so then what, what was the leap like? what, what, yeah, how'd you land the gate hit 1 Second Everyday and decide to jump into that the app.
Madison: 00:05:24
I was using 1 Second Everyday already, before even looking for a job. so i had already, and i had known about the company the company is amazing and they have a lot of great benefits and they care so much about the people. in the company itself and it's small and, remote. so i was already hoping that they would have a job opening.
Right.
And I, so I didn't necessarily have my sights set on an app. really. it was just, i was interested in 1 Second Everyday, cause i use it. and i also like it because it's content creation and i have a background in that. so i feel like i was able to kind of have this weird experience coming into it.
David: 00:06:04
Yeah, i do want to pause real quick and maybe talk a little bit about the app. and i should have researched, i should have read up on this before the podcast, but it'd be fun to just ask. 1 Second Everyday has been around like 10 years, right? like this is the, like, i think i bought this as a paid app in, in 2009 or 10 or something.
So tell us a little bit about the history of the app itself. and what the app does.
Madison: 00:06:30
Yeah. so our founder has been recording his lif…
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Jul 28, 2021
Growth Tactics from the Top Apps in the App Store — Andy Carvell, Phiture
Watch the video version of this show on YouTube »
Andy Carvell is the Partner & Co-Founder of Phiture, a mobile growth agency. Here he has worked with some of the biggest apps on the App Store, including Headspace, Spotify, Triller, and VSCO.
Prior to founding Phiture, Andy worked on the marketing and growth teams at SoundCloud. His team built SoundCloud's activity notification system, which delivered over 500 million pushes per month, and increased M1 retention by five percentage points in its first few months of operation.
Andy has been in the mobile industry since the late ‘90s, when he started working at Nokia. Andy has a deep interest in technology, strategy and the execution of ideas.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Andy’s user retention techniques
* The most overlooked component in marketing your app
* How to optimize your customer’s App Store experience
* Andy’s formula for maximizing your app’s notification strategy
Links & Resources
* SoundCloud…
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Jul 14, 2021
Next-Level App Marketing Tips and Strategies — Alex Ross, Greg
Watch the video version of this show on YouTube »
Alex Ross is the co-founder & CEO at Gregarious, Inc. Gregarious is the company behind Greg, an app dedicated to helping people grow healthier and happier plants. Greg’s community has grown from 100 beta users in August 2020 to over 50,000 monthly active users today.
Alex graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied data science and statistics at MIT. Alex has worked for companies such as Cisco, The Daily Aztec, and Cannon Trading.
Prior to founding Gregarious, Alex spent 4 years as Director of Engineering at Tinder. Alex also co-founded Enplug, a digital signage company that was acquired earlier this year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* The two critical steps in making a successful app
* An ingenious strategy for partnering your app with retail companies
* Why you should involve your customers in content creation
Links & Resources
* Tinder
* Enplug
* fitbod app
* Y Combinator (YC)…
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Jun 30, 2021
Lessons Learned From 50 Million Downloads — David Smith, Widgetsmith
David Smith is a full-time independent app developer. Since 2006, David has owned and operated a small company focusing on creating applications for the iPhone and Apple Watch.
David has built many successful apps over the years. His most recent app, Widgetsmith, went viral and hit #1 on the App Store. It has over 50 million downloads. David’s other successful apps include Watchsmith, Pedometer++, and Sleep++.
David also co-hosts a weekly podcast called Under the Radar, where he and his co-host Mario Arment discuss Apple-related topics.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How to transition from a hobbyist to a full-time app developer
* Two big mistakes to avoid when starting out as an app developer
* How customers find new apps in 2021
* The biggest waste of time and money for an app developer
Links & Resources
* The LibriVox project
* Mirror app
* Launch Center Pro app
David Smith’s Links
* David’s Website
* Audiobooks app
* Widgetsmith app
* Wa…
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Jun 23, 2021
Quantifying Apple’s Developer Sentiment Problem — Ben Bajarin, Creative Strategies
Our guest today is Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies. For the past 20 years, Ben has been studying the consumer tech market and providing actionable insight and strategic recommendations to many of the top technology companies in the world.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
* The results from Ben’s survey of iOS developers
* Why positive developer sentiment is invaluable to platform owners
* How much developers think is fair for Apple to charge
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Ben Bajarin: https://twitter.com/BenBajarin
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May 19, 2021
How to Sell Your App — Eric Owens, App Business Brokers
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
* The pros and cons of selling an app on your own versus going through a broker
* What to watch out for during negotiations
* What to expect after selling your app
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Eric Owens: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericowens/
Here’s the Outline of Our Interview with Eric:
(1:00) Eric and David have worked together before!
(1:25) How Eric became an app broker.
(5:09) The top reasons app developers decide to sell their businesses; capital gains taxes; David’s experience selling his first app.
(8:03) Why people buy app businesses.
(10:11) Do app buyers typically purchase successful apps or fixer-uppers?
(13:35) The benefits of selling a successful app “prematurely;” David’s Mirror app.
(15:25) The challenges of selling iOS apps: iCloud, Passbook, Sign In with Apple, Catalyst; Gas Cubby.
(19:13) How app business valuations are calculated…
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May 5, 2021
From Sleep Devices for NFL Athletes to a $500k ARR Subscription App — Leon Sasson, Rise Science
Our guest today is Leon Sasson, Co-Founder & CTO at Rise Science, a company dedicated to helping people overcome sleep challenges, feel better, and be more productive.
Since its inception in 2014, Rise has primarily focused on elite athletes, helping some of the top NFL, NBA, and college football teams with their sleep. But in 2019 they decided to enter the consumer subscription space, which became even more important in 2020 as COVID challenged their B2B model. Leon and the team at Rise went from no experience in consumer subscriptions in late 2019 to over $500k in ARR today.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
* The blurring line between B2B and consumer SaaS
* A/B testing and subscription lifestyle analysis
* How to create a fantastic onboarding experience for your users
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Leon Sasson: https://twitter.com/leonsasson
Here’s the Outline of Our Interview with Leon:
(1:25)…
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Apr 22, 2021
Revisiting the Fundamentals of App Marketing Post IDFA — Thomas Petit
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
* Why most apps should do at least some paid user acquisition
* How paid user acquisition has evolved over the past decade
* How to think about marketing in the post-IDFA era
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Apr 8, 2021
Building an Apple Design Award-Winning Photo Editing App — Majd Taby & Jasper Hauser, Darkroom
Our guests today are Majd Taby and Jasper Hauser, co-founders of the Apple Design Award-winning app, Darkroom.
Prior to founding Darkroom, Majd spent time at Apple, Facebook, and Instagram working as a product-focused engineer. Alongside Darkroom, Majd has also published a photobook documenting the Syrian Refugee Crisis.
Jasper is a 3-time Apple Design Award winner, with 18 years of industry experience in creating digital products and mentoring people. Prior to founding Darkroom with Majd, Jasper founded Sofa, which was acquired by Facebook in 2011.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
* What Apple looks for in a featured app
* Why getting press isn’t always great for conversions
* The benefits and drawbacks of bootstrapping your app
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Majd Taby: https://twitter.com/jtaby
Jasper Hauser: https://twitter.com/jasperhauser
Here’s the Outline of Our Interview with Majd and Ja…
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Mar 24, 2021
Going All-In on Indie App Development — Ryan Jones, Weather Line & Flighty
Our guest today is Ryan Jones, long-time indie developer of Weather Line and Flighty. Before going full-time on his apps in 2019, Ryan spent time in operations at Apple and as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at McGarrah Jessee, a full-service product marketing agency.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(3:53) Ryan’s background in mechanical engineering and the oil industry.
(6:35) Ryan’s first app, Weather Line, hit #12 in the App Store
(11:09) Weather Line’s Super Forecast
(16:21) Networking with famous app bloggers as a growth hack; the “reply guy”
(34:41) The fine line between zero tracking and anonymous tracking.
(44:31) Integrating customer feedback into your app; user studies.
(46:22) Ryan’s controversial opinion on customer support.
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Ryan Jones: https://twitter.com/rjonesy
Quotes:
“When I talk to people about apps… the first thing that they say is, ‘What makes…
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Mar 10, 2021
How to Pitch Your App to Tech Journalists — Ed Zitron, EZPR
Our guest today is Ed Zitron, the founder and CEO of EZPR, a media relations company based in San Francisco. Ed has worked with everyone from drone-maker Skydio to game-maker PUBG to app-maker SmartNews. He has a unique approach to media relations and is quite effective at helping his clients get results.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(4:41) Why PR is so much more difficult these days; Facebook; Cambridge Analytica; Theranos.
(11:37) Joanna Stern may be the best tech journalist working today; The Verge; Engadget.
(12:55) Does cold emailing tech journalists still work?; DoNotPay.
(16:42) How to pitch your app to a tech journalist; Sarah Perez.
(18:38) Getting press coverage in large vs. niche publications; catering to journalists’ interests; Skydio.
(26:40) Make it super easy for tech journalists to write about your app; hero images.
(27:57) You should hire a PR agency if you truly have a special app; Wyze; Meater.
(30:04) Don’t waste money on a press release—you…
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Feb 17, 2021
Pioneering a New Genre of Audio App — Faye Keegan, Dipsea
Our guest today is Faye Keegan, co-founder and CTO of Dipsea. Part technology company and part story studio, Dipsea is the first audio platform for women's sexual wellness. Prior to founding Dipsea, Faye spent time at Neighborly as a software engineer and Bridgewater as an investment associate. With a background in economics and investment analysis, Faye isn’t your typical startup CTO.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(4:16) The growing popularity of audio as a medium; Headspace; Calm.
(11:21) Building a content library for a SaaS app; content analytics; Elevate.
(17:00) The challenges of building a sexual wellness app for the app stores; HBO’s Game of Thrones; the Showtime app.
(22:59) Dipea’s tech stack; Firebase; RevenueCat.
(34:29) Scaling a SaaS app team; hiring for different strengths and a shared product vision.
(36:55) How Dipsea is expanding into new uses cases: self-improvement and sleep.
(38:28) User engagement; getting feedback from users on what to build…
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Feb 2, 2021
The Next Big Opportunity in Software — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound
Our guest today is Eric Crowley, a tech investment banker with GP Bullhound, focusing on consumer subscription software (CSS), enterprise software, and financial technology. With investments in companies ranging from Spotify to Fishbrain, and clients such as AllTrails, Partnerize, and Motif, GP Bullhound provides transaction advice and capital to many of the leaders in the consumer subscription software space.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(8:52) Prediction: There will be 50 more publicly-traded CSS businesses in 10 years.
(25:38) Web 3.0 is subscription-only CSS services.
(32:30) Cost structures for CSS vs. SaaS; Calendly.
(49:08) The evolving investment ecosystem: what does the future of CSS look like?
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
Eric Crowley: https://twitter.com/crowxu
Quotes:
“An easy bet to make is that there will be 50 more CSS publicly-traded businesses in 10 years than there are today.”…
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Jan 20, 2021
Building a Lean Growth Machine for the World’s Largest Journaling App — Darius Mora, Reflectly
Darius Mora is the Chief Marketing Officer at Reflectly, the world’s largest journaling app. Reflectly is consistently in the top 5 Health & Fitness iPhone apps in the US, competing with companies 10X its size. Over the past 6 months, Reflectly has broadened its scope, acquiring 8 new apps in the mental fitness space.
Darius has been in the app space for almost a decade and founded 4 app startups prior to joining Reflectly in 2018. He’s been focused on ASO, free marketing, paid user acquisition, and retention for both Android and iOS apps.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(2:58) How Darius joined Reflectly.
(4:48) How Reflectly added subscriptions and grew to 12 million users.
(13:40) 3 solutions for getting past the growth “glass ceiling;” second product-market fit.
(18:57) User retention and churn; the “leaky bucket;” Apple’s 85/15 revenue split.
(24:52) A quick and easy hack for boosting retention: add paid subscriptions.
(29:28) Split-testing strategies;…
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Jan 12, 2021
Transitioning a Free App with Millions of Users to Subscriptions — Vu Pham & Nick Robinson, Zero
Today on the podcast we have two guests from Big Sky Health: Vu Pham, who works on the product team, and his colleague Nick Robinson, Chief Business Officer.
Big Sky Health was founded to help people live healthier, longer lives with the help of technology. They are currently working on 3 apps: Zero, the world's most popular fasting app, Less, an app for more mindful drinking, and Oak, a meditation and breathing app.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(6:07) Zero helped create the “fasting app” category.
(9:17) How Zero is scaling health advice to millions of patients; Dr. Peter Attia.
(13:13) Striking a balance between free features and paywalled premium content.
(25:44) Data tracking; long-term revenue goals and retention.
(32:38) Balancing a mission-driven mindset with paid conversions and return on ad spend.
(41:33) Business success metrics; ARR; volume vs. conversion.
(46:15) Forecasting ARR with auto-renewal status; A/B tests; churn.
Follow Us:
David Barnard: ht…
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Dec 16, 2020
Building a $100k App Business in 6 Months — Zach Shakked, Hashtag Expert
While in college Zach built Hashtag Expert, an app for finding top-performing hashtags. After growing it organically for a bit, he started doing paid acquisition and quickly scaled it to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in revenue. You can see exactly how much Zach spent to grow Hashtag Expert to that level because he publishes an interactive dashboard that shows the past couple years of income and expenses. Zach is now writing an email newsletter on his process of building a new app business with the goal of earning $100k in profit within the first 6 months.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(2:28) How Hashtag Expert was born.
(7:58) Reporting in Facebook ads; Zach’s ad strategy as a bootstrapped app company.
(19:40) Pricing and paywall placement experiments; the elastic demand curve; Jake Mor.
(35:10) Zach’s latest project: a meal planning app that helps with weight loss; Weight Watchers; MyFitnessPal.
(41:11) The status of the $100k app challenge 3 months in.…
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Dec 2, 2020
Performance Marketing in a Post-IDFA World — Eric Seufert, Mobile Dev Memo
Since Apple’s big announcement about upcoming privacy changes in iOS 14, mobile app developers have been scrambling to understand how these changes will affect their businesses. With IDFA effectively dead in the water, developers will no longer be able to use device-level attribution and high-resolution tracking to send targeted ads to their users. So what can they do?
In this week’s episode, we asked mobile marketing expert Eric Seufert for his take. Eric has had quite a career in mobile. From VP of user acquisition at Rovio to his recent consulting projects with subscription app companies, Eric has a depth and breadth of experience with mobile apps and games that few can match. He’s also a prolific writer. He wrote a book on freemium economics and has written hundreds of insightful articles on his site Mobile Dev Memo.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(1:07) Managing user acquisition at Rovio; freemium app dynamics at scale.
(6:30) Why it’s hard to determine the effe…
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Nov 18, 2020
Hot Takes — The New App Store Small Business Program
In This Episode
Apple recently shocked the App Store developer community with news that small developers with revenue of less than $1M per year will pay a commission of 15% instead of 30%. Within hours of the news dropping, David and Jacob recorded this episode with the hottest of takes, exploring what this means for the future of the App Store.
Here's what we cover in the episode:
(1:32) Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (For once, David takes the cynical view!)
(4:39) 97% of developers using RevenueCat qualify for the program.
(7:13) What this means for ad spend, CAC, and LTV ratios.
(9:26) Doing the math: How much of a difference can this really make?
(14:16) 97% of developers are affected by this change — representing only 5% of all App Store revenue.
(18:56) What happens if you cross the $1M revenue threshold?
(26:00) The $1M “magic number”; the 85/15% split.
(36:35) How Apple could help different types of businesses succeed in the App Store; Kindle.
Follow Us:…
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Nov 13, 2020
Taking a Fitness App to Y Combinator and Beyond — Jake Mor, FitnessAI
Starting a mobile-first subscription app business can be tough — there are a lot of decisions to make. Should you bootstrap or raise investor funding? How will you classify your business? When is the right time to monetize your app?
Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone! One of the best ways to chart your course is to learn from the experiences of developers who’ve been through the process before. And one of the best ways to do that is to go through an accelerator like Y Combinator.
This week, David and Jacob caught up with Jake Mor to find out how he navigated the process of building a subscription app from the ground up. Jake is the founder of FitnessAI, an app that builds personalized weight lifting plans to help people achieve their goals without having to hire a personal trainer. The app was released in early 2019 and quickly grew to over $85k in MRR! Based in part on that growth, FitnessAI was accepted into the Y Combinator Winter 2020 batch and raised a seed round c…
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Oct 30, 2020
The Trillion-Dollar Subscription App Opportunity — Nico Wittenborn, Adjacent
We’re at an interesting point in the evolution of the subscription app ecosystem. Mass adoption of smartphones, consumers’ increasing willingness to pay for digital services, and a better business model — Personal SaaS — are all coming together to create a huge opportunity for mobile-first subscription app developers. Just how big is this opportunity?
(Full disclosure: Nico is so bullish on the future of subscription apps, he recently invested in RevenueCat!)
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(4:10) The formula for a breakout SaaS business: engaged users.
(5:00) Stickiness, engagement, and churn: B2B SaaS vs. consumer app businesses.
(6:56) Identifying nascent markets before they become mainstream; meditation apps (Headspace & Calm).
(14:00) The lines between consumer and business use cases are getting blurry.
(19:51) We’re in the early stages of figuring out subscription app pricing; Salesforce.
(24:46) Pricing your subscription app: balancing adoption, data coll…
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Oct 29, 2020
Introducing the Sub Club Podcast — Jacob Eiting & David Barnard
Welcome to the Sub Club podcast: a deep dive on building and growing subscription app businesses. Hosts David Barnard and Jacob Eiting will guide you through the ins and outs of subscription apps — sharing insider tips, predictions, and insights from industry experts.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
(00:58) Meet your hosts David Barnard and Jacob Eiting.
(05:11) Sub Club is the first podcast focused on subscription apps.
(05:15) Personal SaaS is a nascent industry.
(6:18) The first billion-dollar mobile subscription companies; Lightricks, Calm, Headspace.
(16:50) How to submit feedback and suggestions for the Sub Club podcast.
(37:19) New platforms and form factors; AR
(44:15) The “AWS-ification” of mobile app development.
Follow Us:
David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard
Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting
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