B2C · privacy app studio

How Ad Hoc Labs grows

3 tactics and 4 figures from 1 interview.

Ad Hoc Labs is the company behind Burner, and its story here is mostly about how it chose to grow. It skipped a Series A, ran at breakeven and grew Burner from profits, while standalone side apps it launched did not catch on. It now looks to buy nearby apps and fold them into Burner.

Ad Hoc Labs judged it lacked the growth for a Series A, switched to breakeven with insider backing, and reported M at 2.5 years, M at 5 and M about two years later.Ad Hoc Labs
Its standalone apps Firewall, for robocall blocking, and Dialed, for business numbers, never got real traction; Firewall lost out when Apple shipped a feature to silence unknown callers.Firewall
After those launches, the team said it prefers adding features inside Burner, and is in talks to buy apps close to its privacy brand, either as Burner features or as standalone apps fed by Burner.Firewall Ad Hoc Labs

Summary written 2026-09-26 from the tactics below. Figures are as founders stated them.

About Ad Hoc Labs

What it is: Parent company of Burner, Dialed and Firewall
Team: About 30 people
Funding: angelvc
Outcome: Breakeven or meaningfully profitable for 6-8 years; revenue in the multiple tens of millions

As described in the interviews, not independently verified.

Ad Hoc Labs's 3 tactics

Ad Hoc Labs · B2C · privacy app studio

Skip the next VC round and run the app at breakeven instead

Breakeven or profitable for 6-8 years, grew past $10M a year

When the VC cash was running low and the Series A was due, they judged they lacked the metrics (not 200% year-over-year growth). With insider (Founder Collective) support they converted to a breakeven business and have kept growing from profits. Greg advises most one- or two-founder consumer apps not to raise VC; use friends-and-family money (e.g. $20K for test ads) and accelerator SAFEs/notes that don't lock you into the VC path.

Workedfinancing

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-12-10

Firewall · B2C · robocall blocking app

Launch separate robocall-blocking and business-number apps

Neither got real traction; one was killed by an Apple feature

Ad Hoc Labs built Firewall (robocall blocking) and Dialed (business phone numbers) as standalone apps with full launches and hardening, competing against incumbents like RoboKiller. Firewall was sherlocked when Apple shipped Silence Unknown Callers and never reached Android.

Failedportfolio

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-12-10

Ad Hoc Labs · B2C · privacy app studio

Buy small apps that fit your users' needs and sell them inside your main app

In talks to acquire apps adjacent to Burner's privacy/communications brand, either as features inside Burner or standalone apps accelerated by Burner's funnel. Explicitly not an app farm: 'much easier for us to add five million in revenue to our app than it would be to take 500K app and turn into a $5 million app'. Goal is bundle-driven LTV and reaching a broader audience with a higher CAC target.

Unknownportfolioexit-ma

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-12-10

Ad Hoc Labs by the numbers

Metric	Value	Context	Said in
funding raised	USD 500K goal	Angel round target; not fully reached before launch	Sub Club by RevenueCat 2025-12-10
funding raised	USD 2M approximate	VC round raised within about a year of launch	Sub Club by RevenueCat 2025-12-10
profit	breakeven or meaningfully profitable for 6-8 years while growing top line approximate		Sub Club by RevenueCat 2025-12-10
team size	30 people approximate		Sub Club by RevenueCat 2025-12-10

Topics

Running a portfolio of apps2 Buying and selling apps1 Bootstrapping vs raising money1 Upsells and expansion revenue1

Interviews

Pivots, Funding, and Building Apps That Last – Greg Cohn, Burner · Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-12-10