Sub Club by RevenueCat
Sub Club by RevenueCat is a podcast that features interviews with experts behind the most successful apps in the App Store. Hosts David Barnard and Jacob Eiting explore insights, strategies, and stories to help listeners succeed in the app economy. The show focuses on unlocking the secrets of top app developers and their journeys.
Episodes
How Cal AI turned creators into a growth machine — Jake Castillo, Cal AI
On the podcast: the “magic moment” test for whether creators can sell your app, the one number that caps what you can pay them, and why cloning hit apps like Cal AI rarely pays off.Top Takeaways:🥊 Choose creator niches by what the viewer wants, not what the creator does UFC fighters track every calorie, but their audience is on the couch with pizza, and thousands of dollars of posts produ
How WeWard Hit 20M Users Without Paid Ads — Yves Benchimol, WeWard
On the podcast: growing for four years on press and organic alone, affiliate deals as an underexplored revenue stream, and why deciding to pivot is the hardest part.Top Takeaways:🗞️ A PR retainer can beat paid UA for a mass-market app A $3–5K monthly retainer produced months with half a million downloads and four years of growth with zero Meta or Google spend.🤝 Affiliate deals are the rev
Why BoldVoice Charged From Day 1 and Ignored the Duolingo Freemium Playbook — Anada Lakra
On the podcast: scaling to $10M ARR with a team of ten, having every employee do two user interviews a week, and why their hard paywall "win" backfired.Top Takeaways:🧪 Trial-start rate is the wrong scoreboard A hard paywall and a no-exit discount both lifted trial starts, then refunds spiked by more than the gain; judge paywall tests on net revenue after refunds, on a matured cohort.🗣️ Ev
Scaling Meta Ads from zero to $100K a month — Ethan Ethier, Built With Science
On the podcast: scaling Meta ads from zero to $100,000 a month, why they waited a year after launch before buying ads, and how a pricing page experiment shifted users toward annual subscriptions.Top Takeaways:📉 A big audience buys you a launch spike, not a growth engine Even 7 million subscribers produce a bump at launch and a steady trickle after; durable growth still came from paid ads,
$10M ARR Without Ever Testing A Paywall — Luke Martin-Fuller, Visible
On the podcast: hitting $10M ARR without ever testing a paywall, paying their own customers to help make video ads, and why you might want to turn away some potential customers.Top Takeaways:💸 You can reach $10M ARR with the growth playbook still in the box $1M to $10M in subscription ARR in two years, with no lifecycle email, no paywall test, and no SEO, TikTok, or AdWords. The precondit
Why He Crowdfunded Millions Instead of Raising VC — Jelte Liebrand, Savvy Navvy
On the podcast: crowdfunding millions of dollars to accelerate growth, the two-year subscription that transformed his CAC payback, and why removing signup friction backfired.Top Takeaways:💰 Raising money means selling your business Equity crowdfunding turned 10,000 engaged users into 2,500 investors, and the smartest founders still raise half of what they think they need.📈 A 2-year subscr
Make Ugly Ads to Grow Your App – Yuliya Lennox (Solid Starts)
On the podcast: why founders belong in the marketing trenches more often, what makes ‘ugly’ ads perform so well, and why stable ad performance is actually a red flag.Top Takeaways:🚨 Stable ad performance is a warning sign, not a win A $30 acquisition returning $50 can feel safe enough to scale, but that comfort may stop the search for the breakthrough creative that halves CPA or triples p
The Bootstrapper's Path to $10M ARR – Andrew Maguire, Volo Ventures
On the podcast: the bootstrapper's path to $10 million in ARR, what's actually investable in consumer in 2026, and why product taste is the new bottleneck, not engineering.Top Takeaways:🎨 Product taste is the new bottleneck, not engineering Build costs have collapsed, but the number of great apps is still capped by the rare ability to make hundreds of small product decisions well.💰 There
How Simply Finally Cracked Facebook Ads with Web Funnels – Yoav Sharon, Simply
On the podcast: reaching brand-new audiences through web funnels, how they created their own ‘Big Mac index’ for global pricing, and why monthly plans can beat annual for LTV.Top Takeaways:🌐 Web funnels unlock audiences that app stores can't reach Moving users from a lean-back social scrolling mindset to an active download requires an intermediate web flow to build intent and explain valu
WWDC 2026: What Subscription Apps Need To Know
Every year, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference introduces updates that ripple through the App Store economy for years to come. In this special post-WWDC edition of Sub Club Live, host David Barnard sits down with RevenueCat developer advocate Charlie Chapman and world-renowned growth expert Thomas Petit to cut through the keynote hype. Together, they analyze the technical realities a
How Removing the Free Trial Grew Monthly Subs 2000% – Nancy Anderson, Natal
On the podcast: why authentic founder-led content outperforms, tapping into HSA payments to unlock a whole new audience, and the growth lever no dashboard can measure.Top Takeaways:🗣️ Authentic founder-led content consistently outperforms manufactured UGC Real expertise and genuine personality compound over time in a way no UGC agency can replicate — and it shows up in your conversion met
Freemium at Scale: Why Life360 Protects its Free Users – Giordano Contestabile
On the podcast: about making growth everyone’s job, protecting the free experience even when it hurts conversion, and why an inconclusive experiment is the only kind he hates.Top Takeaways:🎯 An inconclusive experiment is the only true failure A losing test teaches you what doesn't work, but an inconclusive one wastes time and yields zero learnings.💰 Protecting the free tier can be your bi
Why Opal Stopped Chasing Revenue – Kenneth Schlenker, Opal
On the podcast: why retention is the only real moat, how dropping paid conversion from 20% to 9% increased revenue, and why he sees the rise in competition as a net positive for Opal.Top Takeaways:🔄 Retention is the only real moat While revenue and acquisition grab headlines, the ability to keep users coming back is the ultimate proof of value and the only sustainable foundation for a con
12 AI Growth Lessons for Subscription Apps – Phil Carter, Elemental Growth
On the podcast: how AI can turn your onboarding from a chore into magic, hyper-personalized experiences that drive both retention and revenue, and why your value-to-noise ratio matters more than how many features you ship.Top Takeaways:⏱️ AI can make the first 60 seconds of onboarding feel like magicWhen a new user experiences a personalized, interactive setup rather than a generic questi
How the World's #1 VPN App Reached 1 Billion Downloads – Tanuj Chatterjee, Super Unlimited
On the podcast: the product-driven growth loop behind the #1 VPN app in the world, why they intentionally leave money on the table, and how the prettiest design often loses in their A/B tests.Top Takeaways:📐 Your top-of-funnel is a product decision, not a marketing oneThe apps that dominate app store search aren't winning because of ad spend; they're winning because frictionless, high-qua
Bootstrapped to $6.7M ARR and an Exit to Quizlet in 2 Years – Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett, Coconote
On the podcast: hitting $1M ARR in four months with no paid ads, why trial extensions beat discounts for saving cancellations, and why you should be hiring content creators, not influencers.Top Takeaways:📈 Momentum is oxygen — get to revenue fast Reaching your first dollars quickly, even with a minimal product, creates a flywheel of confidence and capital that compounds over time.🎯 Frame
How ElevenLabs Turns Feature Launches Into a Growth Engine – Luke Harries
On the podcast: how ElevenLabs turns every new feature launch into a growth engine, how they're deploying over a hundred million dollars in paid ads, and why directing AI agents is quickly becoming a core skill for marketers and solo founders.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will exp
Why App Economy Disruption Won’t Happen As Fast As Everyone Thinks – Eric Seufert
On the podcast: why app economy disruption won't happen as fast as everyone seems to think, how AI is just as useful for defending against copycats as creating them, and why the real barrier to app success is still distribution, not code. This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore
The Art of Driving Retention Through Product – Ben Gammon, Ladder
On the podcast: product-driven retention as the foundation for lifecycle marketing, working backwards from results to nail activation, and why talking to individual users can lead you astray.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share actionable insights
The 2026 State of Subscription Apps Report
On the podcast: what the explosion in new apps means for the market, how the top 10% of apps grew 306% while the median barely beat inflation, and why hard paywalls convert 5X better than freemium.This conversation is focused on RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Head to https://www.revenuecat.com/state-of-subscription-apps to download the report.Top Takeaways:📊 The app econo
How To Repurpose Offline Events Into Millions Of Online Impressions – Larissa Morimoto, PhotoRoom
On the podcast: breaking free from the paid acquisition treadmill, how to repurpose offline events into millions of online impressions, and why a celebrity partnership can go viral but still completely flop.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share act
Why Web Onboarding Should Sell The Problem, Instead Of The Solution – Leon Sasson, Rise Science
On the podcast: why web onboarding should sell the problem instead of the solution, how discounted paid trials are beating free trials, and why creative that flopped for app ads might crush it for web funnels.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share a
Dynamic Paywalls That Drove Millions in New Revenue – Shawn Gong, Tinder
On the podcast: how Tinder's ML-powered paywalls drove millions in new revenue, the art of selling features à la carte without killing subscription revenue, and why Tinder Select flopped despite users saying they'd pay for it.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial
The Hidden Cost of Underpricing Your Subscription – Patrick Rills, Lose It!
On the podcast: testing prices from $5 all the way to $120 per year, why rising CACs forced a pricing rethink, and how raising the price allows them to discount more aggressively.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share actionable insights from top su
How Clarity and Personalization Help Drive Duolingo’s Growth – Anmol Tiwari, Duolingo
On the podcast: how Duolingo prioritizes clarity over persuasion on their paywalls, why they offer users multiple free trials instead of just one, and how adding friction to their trial reminder flow actually boosted conversions.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one cruci
How Mojo Increased ARPU 60% In Just Five Months – Michal Parizek, Mojo
On the podcast: the experiments behind Mojo's 60% lift in ARPU, why a winning paywall in Japan completely failed in the US, and why not relying on day one for most of your revenue is actually a strength.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share actiona
Stop Celebrating Conversion Wins Before Checking Renewals – Sara Grana, Yousician
On the podcast: about the cost of not tracking your experiments and decisions, how refunds and chargebacks quietly erase your paywall wins, and why stacking A/B test wins should compound your growth, but almost never does.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topi
The Boom In Non-Game App Revenue And What's Driving It – Olivia Moore, Andreessen Horowitz
On the podcast: the tailwinds driving a boom in non-game app revenue, how vibe coding and AI workflows are fueling growth in categories that have nothing to do with AI, and why people predicting the "death of apps" have never been more wrong.This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will expl
How Skylight Balances Growth and Profit for Sustainable Success – Michael Segal & Mark Ungerer, Skylight
On the podcast, I talk with Michael and Mark about the boom in hardware-enabled subscriptions, why nothing worked until they stopped optimizing and started building a better product, and how they doubled their price to $79 even though the data said they could charge more.Top Takeaways:📱 Hardware-enabled subscriptions need daily usage to work Devices that sit unused make subscription value
How ElevenLabs Builds, Prices, and Grows AI Consumer Apps
On the podcast we talk with Tanmay and Jack about how earned media can drive paid performance, building features that make for good tweets, and why stripping out your onboarding quiz might beat optimizing it.Top Takeaways:📊Pricing should match how users think — not how AI worksOne of the biggest wins came from simplifying pricing. For ElevenReader, selling listening time instead of tokens
Why Your Free Users Are Your Real Growth Engine – Cem Kansu, Duolingo CPO
On the podcast, I talk with Cem about the premium trap many apps fall into, why free trials work even for freemium products, and how ‘try for $0.00’ actually outperforms ‘try for free’.Top Takeaways:💡 Protect the free moat — always Short-term revenue tricks like paywalling free features make metrics spike — then stall. Sustainable freemium growth depends on preserving free value. It’s not
How a Single Paywall Experiment Generated $50M – Jeff Morris, Chapter One, Ex-Tinder
On the podcast, I talk with Jeff about Tinder's $50 million paywall win. Why now is such a great time to build apps, and how hard paywalls can mislead you about product-market fit.Top Takeaways:💡 Focus on Product-Market Fit First Before jumping into monetization, ensure your product truly resonates with users. Building a product that solves a real problem and captures genuine interest is
Creative Misfires, False Positives, and Meta's Auction Flaws — Alper Taner, Stealth-Mode App Studio
On the podcast, I talk with Alper about the competitive advantage of ignoring (some) best practices, the risk of drawing false conclusions when researching competitor ads, and why poor metrics are just facts until proven problematic.Top Takeaways:📊 Challenge Best Practices Test what works for your app and market, even if it goes against common advice. Adapt best practices to your data and
Pivots, Funding, and Building Apps That Last – Greg Cohn, Burner
On the podcast, I talk with Greg about knowing when to pivot, why most consumer apps shouldn't raise VC, and why making free trials optional outperformed making them the default.Top Takeaways: 📉 Know When to Pivot Wrangle struggled because it wasn’t solving a real problem. Burner succeeded because it met a clear need. Don’t be afraid to pivot when the product isn’t working.💭Most Consumer
How Tinder Captures More Value With Tiered Pricing and Consumables — Ravi Mehta
On the podcast we talk with Ravi about subscriptions as a force multiplier for consumables, why narratives matter more than metrics in goal-setting, and why you might want to try a longer onboarding, or a shorter one.📊 Stack the demand curveTinder didn’t just offer one price—it built a staircase of value. Low-tier subs, premium upgrades, and microtransactions filled in the gaps of user wi
Why AI Probably Won’t Kill Your App (But Ignoring It Will) — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound
On the podcast, we talk with Eric about the opportunities and challenges of AI for consumer apps, what you can learn from Strava acquiring Runna, and the flawed thinking around ‘subscription fatigue’.Top Takeaways:💸 Value Overcomes FatigueConsumers would rather not pay for anything, but when a product delivers real value, they are happy to pay, even via subscriptions. Whether it’s trainin
How Condé Nast Experiments, Bundles, and Wins — Michael Ribero, Condé Nast
On the podcast, I talk with Michael about the blessing and curse of having a brand, why post-purchase is the perfect upsell moment, and why partnerships are hard to pull off but can be well worth the effort.Top Takeaways:🌱Growth is Built on ValueSustainable growth comes from consistently adding value, not just short-term tactics. Success lies in constantly evolving your product to meet u
Buying vs. Building: Scaling Beyond a Single App — Josh Peleg, BlueThrone
On the podcast I talk with Josh about red flags that tank app valuations, why subscription-only apps are leaving money on the table, and how bootstrapped founders are cashing out for millions in months, not years.Top Takeaways:🎯 Build to sell, but build smartFlipping an app in under a year is still possible, but the skill that matters most now is marketing. With AI lowering the barrier to
What Subscription Apps Can Learn About Monetization From Gaming — Mathias Gredal Nørvig, Subway Surfers
On the podcast we talk with Mathias about running Subway Surfers' marketing machine on salaries, not ad spend, leaving money on the table to protect player experience, and why more apps should try rewarded ads, season passes, and other tactics from gaming.Top Takeaways:🎨 Viral flywheels can out-perform massive paid campaignsRelying on salaries instead of ad budgets, a lean team can ship c
Value-Driven Growth: LinkedIn's Billion-Dollar Subscription Strategy — Ora Levit, LinkedIn
On the podcast we talk with Ora about LinkedIn’s value-driven growth philosophy, how they personalize experiences and plan offerings based on user intent, and the complexity of running over a thousand experiments a year.Top Takeaways:🌱 Growth follows valueThe surest path to long-term growth is adding features and benefits that genuinely help people achieve their goals. Growth tactics may
The Post-Attribution Playbook for Growth — Eric Seufert, Mobile Dev Memo
On the podcast I talk with Eric about how measurement dysfunction paralyzes growth, why diversifying channels for the sake of diversification actually hurts performance, and the futility of trying to interpret why ads win.Top Takeaways: 📊 Broken measurement kills growthThe biggest pitfall isn’t creative or channel choice—it’s disorganized measurement. When finance, product, and UA each us
Signal Engineering: Strategic Data Filtering for Better Ad Performance — Thomas Petit, Independent Consultant
On the podcast I talk with Thomas about using signal engineering to optimize ad spend, how AI is changing creative testing, and why most people should avoid app2web… for now.Top Takeaways:🧠 The biggest AI opportunity in ads is smarter analysis, not faster productionAI is now good enough to produce ad-quality video and variants at scale — but that’s where 95% of the industry focus stops. T
Optimizing Funnels, Pricing, and Retention at Zumba — Nicole Page & Lucy Levy, Zumba
On the podcast I talk with Lucy and Nicole about how customer-driven iteration led Zumba from VHS tapes in 2001 to launching an app in 2024, their app2web experiments that boosted LTV by 17%, and how they are able to charge for content when countless Zumba classes are available for free on YouTube.Top Takeaways:🗣️ Listening has driven 24 years of product evolutionEvery Zumba breakthrough
The Past, Present, and Future of Building on Apple — John Gruber, Daring Fireball
On the podcast I talk with John about the fascinating 40-year history of Apple’s developer relations, how almost going bankrupt in the 1990s shaped today’s control-focused approach, and why we might need an ‘App Store 3.0’ reset.Top Takeaways:🕹️ The 1980s: Apple’s developer DNA was born Apple’s earliest wins came from nurturing third-party developers, even spinning off its own apps to av
Turning a Side Project into a Six-Figure Subscription Business – Eric Duffett, Shot Pattern
On the podcast we talk with Eric about his journey from a failed first app to success with his second, the advantage of building for problems people are already talking about, and why he turned down a lucrative acquisition offer to keep building.Top Takeaways:🔍 Demand-first discipline winsTesting for willingness to pay before writing a line of code can spare you five years of false starts
WWDC 2025: What Subscription Apps Need to Know
On the podcast, I talk with Charlie about why Liquid Glass represents a big opportunity for new and existing apps, Apple’s new on-device AI models and their practical limitations, and why the improved App Store Analytics complement rather than replace third-party tools like Appfigures and RevenueCat.Top Takeaways:🫧 A style refresh is a growth hackA major UI overhaul—like Apple’s new “liqu
Building Apps Faster: How AI and React Native are Changing the Game – Charlie Cheever, Expo
On the podcast we talk with Charlie about why React Native has become the default for VC-funded apps, how AI is accelerating development cycles, and why speed of iteration matters more than programming language.Top Takeaways:⚡ Instant iteration cycles unlock agility React Native and Expo supercharge development by collapsing long build times into mere seconds. With tools like Expo Go enab
What Reading.com Learned Testing Prices and Funnels — Tim Dikun, Teaching.com
On the podcast I talk with Tim about the importance of trust in web2app funnels, replacing free trials with money-back guarantees, and how they’ve found success with contractors after struggling with in-house marketing hires.Top Takeaways: 🔁 Replace trials with trust to attract high-intent usersA 30-day money-back guarantee can outperform traditional free trials—especially in web funnels.
Freemium Done Right: Lessons From a Multi-Billion-Dollar App — Chris Hulls, Life360
On the podcast we talk with Chris about how to do freemium the right way, drafting a customer “Bill of Rights” to guide product decisions, and why blindly following A/B test results can lead to short-term gains but undermine your business long-term.Top Takeaways:🧮 Data has limitsShort-term data can lie. When every experiment looks like a win in isolation, it’s easy to miss the slow erosio
Boost Conversion and Retention with Jobs to Be Done — Daphne Tideman, Growth Advisor
On the podcast, I talk with Daphne about why skipping user interviews is costing you growth, how to bring your product’s ‘aha moment’ forward into your marketing, and why your assumptions about why people use your app might be wrong.Top Takeaways:🎯 Your app is a means to an endUsers don’t care about how many features you have — they care about achieving something in their lives. Apps that
The Subscription Growth Formula: Churn Math, Retention Wins, and Smart Product Bets — Dan Layfield, Subscription Index
On the podcast, I talk with Dan about estimating the ROI of product changes before building them, calculating your subscription app's growth ceiling, and why you shouldn’t make assumptions about what is and isn’t working in other apps.Top Takeaways:💸 ROI-first thinking helps teams prioritize what actually moves the needleEvery project has a cost - whether or not you calculate it. Estimati
Fueling Growth with AI and Viral Product Features — Ajay Mehta, Portola
On the podcast, I talk with Ajay about the fresh opportunities AI is creating for app developers, how they built a cost-effective TikTok growth engine, and why being forced to monetize helped improve their product decisions.Top Takeaways:🤖 New tech, new apps – AI isn’t just making apps smarter. It’s enabling new categories entirely.Apps built around real-time interaction, emotional contex
The 2025 State of Subscription Apps Report
On the podcast we discuss how AI is changing both what apps do and how they’re built, the relationship between price and retention, and why React Native apps monetize better than native.Check out RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps 2025 report here: https://revenuecat.com/reportTop Takeaways:📊 AI apps: Higher revenue per user, but differentiation is keyAI-powered apps don’t convert us
How to Build More Successful Paywalls — Sylvain Gauchet
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: top strategies for paywall optimization, how storytelling during onboarding impacts conversions, and why framing the user journey leading to the paywall is more critical than the paywall itself.Top Takeaways:🔐 Your paywall is only as good as the story leading up to itA
How to Optimize User Acquisition Across Major Ad Channels — Shane Ly, AppsFlyer
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: The state of major acquisition channels in 2025, how improved measurement is boosting confidence in ad spend, and why Reddit might be your next top-performing user acquisition channel.Top Takeaways:📡 Signal recovery is improving ad efficiencyiOS signal loss made UA har
How to Maximize Web Subscriptions for Sustainable Growth — Lucas Lovell, Paddle
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: maximizing success with web subscriptions, how payment flexibility creates better user experiences, and why making cancellations difficult can do more harm than good.Top Takeaways:💳Web subscriptions aren’t just a cost-saving play - they’re a growth opportunityMany apps
How to Unlock Revenue Growth on Google Play — Tammy Taw, Google
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: diversifying revenue beyond subscriptions, what Google Play’s data reveals about buyer behavior, and why lower price points can actually increase total revenue. 📈Expand beyond subscriptions to capture new buyersMany users in emerging markets prefer one-time purchases o
How to Succeed on iOS vs. Android — Matt Rouif, Photoroom
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: why some apps see 30 times higher revenue on iOS versus Android, the challenges of running a business on multiple platforms, and why you should consider offering a free Android device to employees.📱 Android expands global reach, but iOS drives early tractioniOS dominat
How to Use Segmentation to Maximize LTV — Greg Stewart, Ladder
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: why optimizing for user success drives more revenue than conversion hacks, how to maximize the impact of annual plans, and why relying too heavily on discounts is a trap.Top Takeaways🏋️♂️Segment early to acquire the right usersLong-term retention starts before users e
How to Re-Engage Churned Users — Caroline Walthall, Quizlet
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: the power of cancellation surveys, how social proof can re-engage churned users, and why making it easier to cancel might actually boost retention.Top Takeaways:📦Deliver personalized value through lifecycle marketingReconnect with churned users by personalizing content
How to Increase Monetization with Targeted Upsells — Brandon Gador, onX Maps
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: how onX Maps tailors freemium and trial strategies to different user needs, the role of user education in driving upgrades, and why experimenting with features and tiers is essential for subscription growth.Top Takeaways:🔎Educate users about paid featuresDon’t assume u
How to Time Reactivation Campaigns for Maximum Impact — Jackson Shuttleworth, Duolingo
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: Keeping users engaged through habit-forming experiences, Duolingo’s approach to reactivating churned users, and why building daily habits is the foundation for long-term retention success.Top Takeaways:🏎️ Act fast - most users don’t come back after a weekThe best time
How to Turn Gamification Into a Retention Powerhouse — Anton Derlyatka, Sweatcoin
On the podcast, I talk with Anton about building sustainable viral growth loops at scale, how to effectively gamify user incentives, and why emotional connections drive more value than economic ones.Top Takeaways: 🚀 Building sustainable virality through strategic growth loopsSweatcoin’s explosive growth didn’t happen by chance. Anton detailed how they engineered a viral engine through a c
How to Maximize Revenue with Regional Pricing — Dmitry Gurski, Flo
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: why the Big Mac Index falls short for app pricing, how Flo Health’s regional pricing strategy drives profitable user acquisition in emerging markets, and the importance of aligning pricing with long-term user retention for sustainable growth.Top Takeaways:💭 Know your a
How to Optimize Trial-to-Paid Conversions — Rachel Chukura, The Weather Company
This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report.On the podcast: balancing freemium and premium experiences, how The Weather Company uses AI to predict subscriber behavior, and why focusing on user value rather than monetization is the key to subscription success.Top Takeaways🎯Target high-value users with personalized experiencesIde
The Right (and Wrong) Way to Grow with Google App Campaigns — Ashley Black, Candid Consulting
On the podcast I talk with Ashley about what makes Google App Campaigns so effective for growth, proven optimization strategies, and why lower CPMs can sometimes be a warning sign rather than a win.Top Takeaways:📈 Google App Campaigns: Big reach, but fewer levers to pullGoogle’s ad platform delivers massive scale - search, YouTube, the Play Store - but hands much of the control to machine
Level Up Your App Marketing: Measurement, Brand-Building, and Taking Risks — Sherina Khalidi, Deezer
On the podcast I talk with Sherina about why performance marketing eventually hits a ceiling, how to think about measure brand marketing, and why sometimes ignoring A/B test results leads to better outcomes.Top Takeaways:📈Freemium can’t feel cheapDeezer once took a hardline approach to converting free users – limiting features to push them toward paid plans. The result? Users didn’t upgra
Bootstrapping a Subscription App to 5M MAU and 2X+ Revenue Growth — Bruno Virlet, Genius Scan
On the podcast we talk with Bruno about putting customers ahead of metrics, why there’s still massive opportunity to build successful apps today, and how a server crash turned into an accidentally successful A/B test.Top Takeaways:📈 The app ecosystem still holds massive opportunitiesDevelopers often assume the app market is saturated, but it continues to evolve with new possibilities. Tec
Making Web2App Work: From Basic Landing Pages to Complex Sales Funnels — Nathan Hudson, Perceptycs
On the podcast we talk with Nathan about the strategic opportunity of web2app, how and when to use web2app, and why one app found success using webinars in their web2app funnel.Top Takeaways:🔑 Web-to-app opens up opportunities for small appsSmaller apps can use web-to-app strategies to improve cash flow, gain better attribution data, and test acquisition campaigns with smaller budgets. It
Using Subscription App Benchmarks to Make Better Growth Decisions — Phil Carter, Elemental Growth
On the podcast we talk with Phil about how to effectively use benchmarks to aid decision making, the limitations of benchmarks, and why even the best companies aren’t top quartile in every single metric.Top Takeaways:📏 Benchmarks are a starting point, not a roadmapTreat benchmarks as directional indicators to uncover growth opportunities and prioritize actions, but don’t chase them blindl
Why Most Apps Hit a Revenue Ceiling (and How to Plan for It) — Patrick Falzon, The App Shop
On the podcast: estimating the revenue potential of an app, crafting an exit strategy, and why LTV is such a terrible metric.Top Takeaways:🎯 Finding the right market fit – Not all apps have billion-dollar potential, and chasing massive markets often means competing with big players. Instead, focus on markets where your app has room to stand out. By positioning yourself in a "Goldilocks zo
How V1 Sports Doubled Revenue with Bold Bets — Alex Prasad, V1 Sports
On the podcast: the power of user segmentation, executing bold strategic shifts, and why imaginary customer conversations are sometimes better than real ones.Key Takeaways:💡 Simplification drives growth - Alex shares how transitioning from a freemium to a free trial model simplified V1 Sports' monetization strategy, aligning better with their users and discovering new revenue opportunitie
How to Go Viral on TikTok (and Profit From It) — Joseph Choi, Viral App Founders
On the podcast: what’s currently working for apps on TikTok, how to create viral content, why you should try working with influencers who don’t have many followers.Key Takeaways:🔍 Getting noticed: How TikTok’s algorithm amplifies reach - TikTok’s “For You Page” prioritizes engaging content over follower count, so apps can go viral without a big audience.📈 E-commerce strategies that work f
Building Trust with Users to Drive Revenue and Retention – Ryan Beck, Pray.com
On the podcast: the risk of ad creative concentration, how to reach older, high-value demographics, and why the ultimate KPI is revenue.Key Takeaways: 🛠️ A unified roadmap eliminates silos - Operating with one shared roadmap ensures alignment across product, marketing, and engineering, promoting collaboration and agility.💡 Monetization might require more than just subscriptions - Post-IDF
How to Reduce Churn & Boost Growth with Fast, Empathetic Customer Support — Eli Winderbaum, Captions
On the podcast: effectively scaling support for an app, why the time to first response is so important, and why you should treat support more like a concierge experience.Key Takeaways:💡 Personalized customer support is a competitive advantage - Eli emphasizes that providing fast, personal responses to customers sets brands apart from competitors. Even in a world of increasing automation,
The Subscription App Industry Rebound — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound
On the podcast: the rebound of consumer subscription valuations and investor interest, how to generate Net Revenue Retention in consumer, and why you should pinpoint where your app sits on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.Key Takeaways:📈 The subscription app industry is rebounding in 2024 - After setbacks in 2022 and 2023, surviving companies are now leaner, more focused, and showing strong pr
The Advantages of Working On an App You Care About — Christian Selig, Apollo
On the podcast: The benefits of building something you personally care about, how to balance user feedback with product intuition, and why process, frameworks, and outside advice are often worth ignoring. Key Takeaways:🚀 You don’t need complex processes to build a successful productBuilding something meaningful doesn’t always require elaborate processes or formal business structures. With
Marketing Your App More Efficiently with Apple Search Ads — Dilip Reddy, Search Ads Optimization
On the podcast: The impact of Apple Search Ads on organic search, how to save money on brand defense, and why ROAS shouldn’t be the only thing you optimize for.Key Takeaways:📊 Optimizing brand keyword bids can protect traffic and reduce costsRunning ads on brand keywords helps protect your traffic from competitors. By experimenting with lower bids, you can often maintain visibility while
Understanding When to Use Web2App and How to Do It Well — Thomas Petit, Independent App Consultant
On the podcast: How to find success with web2app, the value (and challenges) of “owning the transaction”, and why avoiding app store fees isn’t a great reason to experiment with web2app, but might work out anyway.Key Takeaways:💰 There’s much more to web2app than avoiding app store fees - In fact, looking at app store fees alone disregards the benefits of going via the app store, such as a
Marketing an Award-Winning Language Learning App through Offline Channels — Steven Meyers, Babbel
On the podcast: Implementing effective offline marketing campaigns for acquiring, engaging, and retaining paid subscribers in the app space. Key Takeaways:📢 Look beyond digital channels for app growth. Consider offline advertising channels such as radio, linear TV, and podcasts to reach untapped demographics. These channels can help you target non-digital audiences, particularly older, hi
