The Superwall Podcast · 2026-02-17
Ryan Thorpe - Meet The Guy Dominating The App Store
Ryan Thorpe ran a portfolio of 30+ health, fitness and productivity apps (Reflectly, Done/Do Habit, Mindfulness App) with 50M+ downloads. Reflectly reached ~$3-4M ARR on Facebook UGC ads at break-even; from 2020 they rolled up 30-35 under-monetized apps instead. Growth came from an in-house army of ~250 TikTok creators with strict briefs, organic-first posting, a 3-level TikTok ad structure, and spending ~75% of the yearly ad budget in January, when installs cost about half. Done hit #1 free app in the US on Jan 2-3 two years running. He sold most apps to Codion and now builds Flowed.
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Numbers mentioned
| Subject | Metric | Value | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflectly | arr Peak ARR around 2020 | USD 3M–4M estimate | “at its peak was probably doing 3, 3, 4 million ARR” |
| Reflectly | ad spend Ad spend roughly equal to revenue at peak, so net break-even | about the same as revenue approximate | “But we were spending the exact same, effectively. So, net-net, we were we weren't making massive progress” |
| Done | payback period Time to recoup the acquisition price of Done (plus 5-6 bundled apps) after improving paywalls and subscriptions | 12–18 months approximate | “we acquired the app and then within sort of 12 to 18 months, we made our money back” |
| Done | count Extra apps that came bundled with the Done acquisition | 5–6 apps approximate | “It came with uh another five or six apps kind of like as a bundle” |
| Reflective Apps | count Apps acquired 2020-2025 | 30–35 apps approximate | “We we acquired another 30, 35 apps in total” |
| Reflective Apps | downloads Total downloads across the portfolio; guest says probably more | 50M downloads approximate | “And you had around like 50 million downloads total for all the apps combined?” |
| Reflective Apps | cpi Average cost per download in the first week of January vs the rest of the year (health, fitness, productivity apps); 'maybe more' | +-50% approximate | “effectively your average price to acquire a download, let's say, is half for than what it is for out the rest of the year. Maybe more” |
| Reflective Apps | share Share of the annual ad budget spent in the first month of the year | 75%/year approximate | “So, we would spend effectively like 70, 5% of our ad budget within the first month of the year” |
| Reflective Apps | ad spend Level 1 test budget per video (each video its own ad set); kill after $5-10 if off-target, graduate after $20-40 over 1-2 days | USD 10–20per video approximate | “Basically, every video would go in as like a separate ad set and we would test each video with, you know, $10 to $20” |
| Reflective Apps | ad spend Level 2 budget per ad set of 4-5 graduated videos | USD 100–500 approximate | “you might be just having an ad set with four or five videos and $100 to $200, maybe even $500 um in that level two campaign” |
| Reflective Apps | share Share of ad spend taken by the 1-2 level 3 'evergreen' videos | 90% approximate | “these become like your your level three campaigns or almost like your evergreen videos that just will take 90% of your ad spend” |
| Reflective Apps | views Organic view level that signals a video is breaking out of the 0-300 view 'jail' and is worth boosting with ads | 5,000–10K viewsper video approximate | “once it starts breaking out into like 5,000 to 10,000 views, you see it, you think, "I've got I've got something here” |
| Done | views Top creator video for Done; same creator hit again back-to-back; 20-40 other creators copying it failed | 66.9M viewsper video | “top left one, 66.9 million” |
| Reflective Apps | views Creator video with an Emma Chamberlain motivational speech in the background (later drew a cease and desist) | 50M–60M viewsper video approximate | “that video just absolutely blew off like 50, 60 million views” |
| Done | rank Top free app, US App Store, all categories, on Jan 2-3 two years in a row | 1 | “it made number one across all apps on the App Store in the US in that on like the 2nd and 3rd of January, cuz we put so much money behind it” |
| Reflective Apps | ad spend January spend on a solid but lesser hook-and-reaction ad, vs ~$100K on a top ad | USD 25Kper ad illustrative | “We rather than spend maybe a 100K on this one ad, we might spend, you know, 25K on this ad, cuz we couldn't push it any higher” |
| benchmarkDaily test spend for health/fitness apps during Dec 26-28 before the New Year peak | ad spend Test spend to find the best ~10 videos; expect them to perform ~2x better on Jan 1-2 | USD 5,000–10K/day illustrative | “26th to 28th of December, you could you start testing, you know. You probably start let's say you're spending 5, 10 grand a day around that sort of time” |
| Reflective Apps | count Creators working regularly with the portfolio (500-700 cycled through; 2,000+ on the books) | 250 creators approximate | “Probably about 250, 250 total” |
| Reflective Apps | count Creators on the books in total; ~10% became regulars and 1-2% of those were 'viral sensations' | 2,000 creators estimate | “we probably had like 2,000 just over 2,000 creators on the books. And then, let's say 10% of those become like people that you regularly work with, but then I would say maybe 1% to 5% 1% to 2% of those are like the viral sensations” |
| Reflective Apps | conversion rate Creators on the books -> regular collaborators | 10% estimate | “let's say 10% of those become like people that you regularly work with” |
| Reflective Apps | followers Preferred follower range when recruiting creators (lower is better; not paying for influence) | 2,000–20K followersper creator approximate | “optimal was like 2,000 followers to like 15, 20,000 followers” |
| Reflective Apps | creator pay Flat fee per video, lower-tier creators | USD 30–40per video approximate | “it's somewhere in the range of like $30 to $40 uh for like the lower tier, and then it can go upwards to 80, 90, $100 for like more reliable uh content videos” |
| Reflective Apps | creator pay Flat fee per video, reliable/experienced creators | USD 80–100per video approximate | “it can go upwards to 80, 90, $100 for like more reliable uh content videos that are being made” |
| Reflective Apps | creator pay Discretionary bonus when a video really took off as an ad; a separate flat bonus applied at 50K-100K+ organic views | USD 200–1,000per video approximate | “we would throw them, you know, couple of hundred extra dollars, $500, $1,000, maybe, if like it really started working” |
| Reflective Apps | team size Core growth team: the guest, a media buyer and a head of content managing creators | 3 people approximate | “It was basically me, a media buyer, and a head of content to manage all the creators” |
| Mindfulness App | arpu Loyal long-term user base with very high engagement | really, really high approximate | “The average revenue per user is is really, really high” |
| benchmarkB2B corporate wellness contracts for health/mindfulness apps | acv One contract can be ~a quarter of yearly revenue; 6-12 months to close one; 12-18 months to wind up the B2B line | a couple of hundred thousand dollars over 3-5 years illustrative | “if you get a B2B contract, uh, you know, it could be a couple of hundred thousand dollars, um and then that could be over a 3, 4, 5-year time horizon” |
| benchmarkSales cycle for a B2B corporate wellness contract | time to milestone Time to close one B2B contract | 6–12 months approximate | “It can take 6 to 12 months to get one contract, but one contract could be, you know, a quarter of your revenue uh in the year if played well” |
| Reflective Apps | share Share of the portfolio's apps sold off, mostly to Codion | 80–90% approximate | “we got rid of uh about 80, 90% of the mobile apps” |