B2B · venture firm with growth financing

How General Catalyst grows

1 tactic and 2 figures from 1 interview.

About General Catalyst

What it is: Offers cohort-based user acquisition financing to large apps

As described in the interviews, not independently verified.

General Catalyst's tactic

Ladder · B2C · strength training app

Borrow up to 80% of ad spend, repaid from each month's new users

Used by Ladder; 10% yearly interest, no equity given up; only for big proven apps

General Catalyst's growth fund finances up to 80% of a month's user acquisition spend (e.g. $8M of $10M in January), tracks that cohort, and is repaid from that cohort's earnings at ~10% annualized interest, however long it takes (e.g. 3 years). Non-dilutive and not a recourse loan. Available only to much larger, proven apps. Ladder used it.

Unknownfinancingpaid-social

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-07-08

General Catalyst by the numbers

Metric	Value	Context	Said in
share	80% approximate	Max share of a cohort's user acquisition spend financed by General Catalyst's growth fund (example: $8M of $10M January spend)	Sub Club by RevenueCat 2026-07-08
debt	10%/year approximate	Annualized interest on the UA financing, repaid out of the financed cohort's earnings (can take ~3 years); non-dilutive, non-recourse	Sub Club by RevenueCat 2026-07-08

Topics

Bootstrapping vs raising money1

Interviews

The Bootstrapper's Path to $10M ARR – Andrew Maguire, Volo Ventures · Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-07-08