How NGL grows

Instagram removed the 10,000-follower requirement for Story links at the end of Oct 2021. Hunter and friends met on Halloween, asked 'what's the most viral thing we can think of?', and built anonymous messaging on top of Instagram (an old behavior: Formspring, ask.fm, Yik Yak, YOLO) in about a month, expecting many clones. The framework: take something that worked on other networks, switch the distribution mechanism to the biggest graph, and improve the product somewhat. Any big graph can work (Snapchat, X, Facebook for older moms).

Tested many versions with different message texts, all funny, controversial or edgy so they stop the scroll. The winner: a girl showing an NGL message like 'I was with your boyfriend last night' and trying to get a hint about who sent it. Each video ties back to the product: you can get lots of messages and maybe find out who sent them.

Keep the app free for most users. Sell a weekly subscription priced per region by GDP per capita, always a low impulse buy ($1-$7). Paid features: hints about who sent a message (phone type, rough location), who viewed your profile, and extra 'link games'. Relies on huge volume.

Onboarding takes 15-20 seconds and drops users on a two-step home screen: copy your link, then share. Share shows animated GIFs: tap the sticker button, tap the link sticker, add it to your story, frame it. NGL auto-creates a share image with the user's profile picture. Received messages can be answered by replying straight onto your Story, which spreads the link again.

Tapping a friend's Story link opens a lightweight web page inside Instagram to send an anonymous message (dice button suggests what to write), with a persistent download button. After sending, the page says 'Get your own messages' rather than asking for a download, then the user can send another or leave.

During the six months with no users, NGL spent purely on 'activating the graph': small tests paying influencers ~$100 each to post the link on Instagram Story or TikTok. About four months in, one paid influencer activated a school on the other side of the world, and it spread to nearby schools but not to other countries.

When the only traction was a school cluster in a lower-income country that stopped spreading, the team concluded the audience was on Android, built it quickly (May 2022), then ran another round of marketing.

Every user posts their NGL link to their Story or keeps it as their link-in-bio. In some countries it is every 17-19-year-old's link-in-bio, so a user who churns keeps seeing friends' links, sends a message, and comes back to make their own.

One flow, one funnel, one north-star metric: how many people post a link and then post at least two replies. After going viral, NGL was refined to be cooler and more engaging but did not add feeds, extra tabs or complicated profile tools, which Hunter says sank earlier anonymous apps after their success.

Hunter puts easy invite flows and share prompts (sometimes forced) into every product where it makes sense; a text or Story post acts as a friend's endorsement. With paid acquisition, the goal is to get a set share of new users to invite someone right away, which lowers effective CPI.

In the slow six months, first redesigned the app, then renamed it NGL (teen slang for 'not gonna lie') and bought ngl.link, the domain shown in every shared Story link.