Sub Club by RevenueCat

Latest Episodes:

Building a Product Improvement Loop — Darrell Stone, Citizen Aug 31, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast I talk with Darrell about going from zero to an 8-figure ARR in just 18 months, building a product improvement loop combining user research and A/B testing, and why expecting failure is one of the keys to success.

Top Takeaways
📈 Going from 0 to an 8-figure ARR in 18 months is doable
🙈 Sharing and selling data isn’t necessary to build and scale subscription apps
🎰 Structuring product development as a “bet” liberates you from needing to be right

About Darrell Stone
👨‍💻 Head of Product & Design at Citizen, the number one public safety app in the U.S.
💪 Darrell defined and scaled Citizen's consumer subscription product with a dual focus on acquisition and retentive, life-saving features.
💡 “Product [development] in consumer tech is very much a team sport. You have to approach it through the mindset that you're building a team that's going to win a thing.”
👋 LinkedIn and Twitter

Links & Resources
‣ Citizen App
‣ Citizen’s Career Page

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‣ David Barnard
‣ Jacob Eiting
‣ RevenueCat
‣ Sub Club

Episode Highlights
[2:03] Leaving Uber to scale a startup: Darrell discusses the reasons why he left Uber to start a subscription app.
[5:20] Making the world a safer place: Citizen is a “moderated safety app.” It has more than 100 people actively listening to police scanners to enable provide real-time information about what is happening in communities.
[10:57] Charging for a public safety app: Darrell discusses the tension between monetization and Citizen’s mission of keeping people safe. He outlines the difference between the freemium and paid products.
[19:15] Citizen on the world stage: Darrell talks about taking Citizen global and how the company “a safety marketplace” to the world.
[22:20] World pricing: Darrell offers potential strategies for global cost and price differences.
[24:52] Understanding users: Darrell gives insight into how user research shapes A/B testing, product development and the improvement loop.
[30:05] Antifragile product development: One of Darrell’s go-to recommendation for people in product is Annie Duke’s interview on The Knowledge Project. Bumps are inevitable during the product development process — it’s how you manage it that matters.
[33:14] Lessons learned for top unlocks: Darrell discusses tips for being more right than wrong to unlock a real value-add, and how this took the company from zero to eight figures in ARR.
[37:45] Buy versus build: David and Darrell talk about how bringing on third party tooling can help achieve long-term company goals.
[41:45] Aligning the team to the bigger vision: Darrell explains how clear goals, rapid feedback loops and celebrating incremental progress help keep teams motivated through the whole process.

Tinder: From Free App to $1B in Revenue — Phil Schwarz, Corazon Capital Aug 10, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Phil about the thesis behind Tinder’s monetization strategy, the importance of product differentiation, and why some companies shouldn’t use subscriptions.

Our guest today is Phil Schwarz, Partner at Corazon Capital, a leading Chicago-based venture fund investing in early stage tech companies. Prior to joining Corazon, Phil served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Tinder during the rollout of subscriptions. He was also previously Head of Growth Initiatives at Match Group.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

3 key innovations that propelled Tinder’s growth
Tips for optimizing your paywall strategy
How Tinder transitioned to a subscription-based model

Links & Resources

Corazon’s website
Follow Corazon on Twitter
Corazon’s LinkedIn page
Contact Corazon

Phil’s Links

Phil’s LinkedIn page

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Brand Marketing, Product-Market Fit, & App Growth — Gessica Bicego, Paired Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Gessica about how to think about brand marketing for apps, finding product/channel/messaging fit, and why you shouldn’t even refer to Bill Gates in an ad campaign.

Our guest today is Gessica Bicego, Chief Marketing Officer at Paired, the #1 app for couples. Prior to joining Paired, Gessica spent 6 years leading performance marketing and growth at Blinkist.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to build a moat around your brand
Paired’s growth stack & favorite data collection tools
Tips for allocating ad spending & measuring advertising campaigns
Why Bill Gates sent Gessica a cease and desist letter

Links & Resources

Albert
Taboola
Runtastic
Fivetran
Amplitude
RevenueCat
Snowflake
Looker
Phiture’s Mobile Growth Nightmares podcast
Sub Club Podcast episode 39: 8 Principles for Sustainable Growth — Sean Ellis & Ethan Garr, Breakout Growth

Gessica’s Links

Get Paired
Current job openings at Paired
Follow Paired on Instagram
Follow Gessica on Twitter
Gessica is on Instagram
Gessica’s LinkedIn page

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Running Effective In-App Experiments — Giancarlo Musetti, Ad Hoc Labs Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Giancarlo about soft vs. hard paywalls, how to think about product experiments, and why removing friction from onboarding didn’t actually help.

Our guest today is Giancarlo Musetti, Growth Product Manager at Ad Hoc Labs. Ad Hoc Labs makes several apps including Firewall and Dialed, but is most well known for Burner, an app that allows you to create multiple phone numbers to protect your privacy and better manage communication.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to make a smooth transition to a subscription-based model
Tips for optimizing your paywall
How to boost your app’s growth and user base
Giancarlo’s three-step process for testing new strategies and features

Giancarlo’s Links

Ad Hoc Labs’ website
Burner app
Firewall app
Dialed app
Ad Hoc Labs’ hiring page
Giancarlo’s LinkedIn page

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A Systematic Approach to Paywall Optimization — Live at App Promotion Summit NYC Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Darrell and Jake about optimizing your app’s paywall, how to increase revenue by giving users a better experience, tips for pricing your app, and how to reduce subscriber churn.

We’re with Darrell Stone and Jake Mor in front of a live audience at the App Promotion Summit in New York City. The App Promotion Summit is America’s leading app marketing conference. Darrell is the Head of Product & Design at Citizen, the number one public safety app in the U.S. Jake is the Founder & CEO of Superwall, the best way to build in test paywalls without having to update your app.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Where to put your app’s paywall
Which features should you paywall?
When to paywall all of your app’s features
A clever way to win back users who cancel their subscription

Links & Resources

RevenueCat
Previous webinar with Jake on YouTube

Jake Mor’s Links

Follow Jake on Twitter
Superwall’s website
Follow Superwall on Twitter

Darrell Stone’s Links

Follow Darrell on Twitter
Citizen’s website
Follow Citizen on Twitter

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Building a Community that Demands an App — Mark Kennedy & Jeff Bailey, None to Run Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Mark and Jeff about community led growth, how they improved trial starts by 25%, and why running ads for a blog post might actually perform better than sending people directly to the App Store.

Mark is an RRCA Certified Distance Running Coach and created None to Run as a blog and personal outlet to stay in touch with his passion for exercise science and healthy living. Jeff has been developing iOS apps since 2009 and teamed up with Mark to build an app as the None to Run community started to take off and requests for an app could no longer be ignored.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to build momentum for your app
Don’t launch your app until you’ve done this
Tips for growing your audience
How None to Run reached an 80% conversion rate

Links & Resources

Mighty Networks
Sub Club podcast episode 35: From Indie Side Project to $1M in ARR — Curtis Herbert, Slopes
Ariel from Appfigures
Lisa Jhung

Jeff & Mark’s Links

None to Run’s website
Follow None to Run on Twitter
Get the None to Run app
Join None to Run’s community
Check out Jeff's fitness app, Intervals
Follow Jeff on Twitter
Follow Mark on Twitter
Contact Mark

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8 Principles for Sustainable Growth — Sean Ellis & Ethan Garr, Breakout Growth May 25, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast I talk with Sean and Ethan about the importance of a north star metric, optimizing for speed to value, and why product/market fit needs to be dialed in over time.

Sean has worked on growth at some of the fastest growing companies in the world, like Dropbox, Lookout, and Eventbrite. He not only coined the term “growth hacking”, but literally wrote the book on it. Today, Sean helps companies around the globe accelerate customer and revenue growth through workshops, keynote presentations, and select advising roles.

Ethan got his start in subscription apps working on product at TelTech, which was acquired by IAC in 2018. He co-invented and led the company's flagship app, RoboKiller and helped to grow TelTech's other top communications apps including TrapCall and TapeACall. Ethan now helps companies improve their growth trajectories through workshops, coaching, and as a trusted advisor.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Sean & Ethan’s proven principles for achieving sustainable growth
Tips for dialing in your product/market fit
What metrics you should track for your subscription app
How to create a better onboarding experience for your users

Sean & Ethan’s Links

Breakout Growth’s website
Check out The Breakout Growth Podcast
Download the Principles of Sustainable Growth PDF
Sean Ellis: Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success
Follow Ethan on Twitter
Ethan’s LinkedIn page
Sean’s website
Follow Sean on Twitter
Sean’s LinkedIn page

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Scaling Without a Marketing Budget — Mike Overell, ClassDojo May 11, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Mike about building a principled, mission driven app, keeping product development focused on the right customers, and how ClassDojo scaled to tens of millions of downloads without a marketing budget.

Our guest today is Mike Overell, Revenue Lead at ClassDojo. Having founded his own company as well as working at McKinsey and Lyft, Mike is now using that experience to help every kid on earth get an education they love with ClassDojo. Mike also invests in and helps foreign founders crack the US as co-founder of investment collective Antipodes.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How ClassDojo reached 50M users with zero marketing spend
Tips for setting up the right paywall for your app
How to monetize your app without impeding growth
ClassDojo’s user-led growth strategy

Mike Overell’s Links

Follow Mike on Twitter
ClassDojo’s website
Follow ClassDojo on Twitter
ClassDojo’s jobs page
Mike’s LinkedIn page

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Creative App Marketing Strategies — Cliff Weitzman, Speechify Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Cliff about the benefits of building for a niche, the one ad that changed things for Speechify, and why Cliff is now hiring comedians.

Our guest today is Cliff Weitzman, the founder and CEO of Speechify. As someone with dyslexia, Cliff built Speechify to help himself learn by having text read aloud. Cliff went on to blitzscale Speechify with an irreverent approach to SaaS norms and a willingness to experiment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Cliff found early traction for Speechify
Unconventional ways to build a great team
How Cliff got marketing tips from the top e-commerce CEOs
The art of successful cold calls

Cliff Weitzman’s Links

Speechify’s website
Speechify for iOS
Speechify Chrome extension
Speechify on Google Play
Follow Speechify on Twitter
Follow Speechify on Instagram
Speechify is on Medium
Check out Speechify on YouTube
Speechify’s LinkedIn page
Cliff Weitzman: Read to You on Spotify
Follow Cliff on Instagram
Contact Cliff

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The Rise of Consumer SaaS — Eric Stromberg, Bedrock Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

On the podcast we talk with Eric about the importance of refining your pitch, how to build a moat in consumer SaaS, and why your month one churn might not be as bad as you think.

Our guest today is Eric Stromberg, the Founder & Managing Partner of Bedrock, a technology investment firm currently managing approximately one billion dollars. The firm has made investments in companies like Flock Safety, Plaid, Cameo, The Athletic, and more. Eric is also the Founder of Check, the payroll infrastructure API and Universe Software, the holding company for Vertical Fintech businesses.

In this episode, you’ll learn: