App Masters · 2026-09-22

The Viral App Idea Framework That Got Her 1M Users

Short clip from a longer App Masters conversation with Nicole Cheung. She picks niches by watching TikTok/Instagram rather than her own needs, explains how GlamUP only took off after pivoting from a text-based face scan to a visual before/after makeup preview, and describes prototyping features in Figma or a creator content portal and letting her creator network test virality before building them into the app.

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3 tactics

GlamUP · B2C · face-scan makeup app

Swap text makeup tips for a face scan showing your before and after

Started going viral on TikTok; founder gives no numbers

“I remember the the first feature was probably, you scan your face and we give you certain like tutorials or it's very text-based. And we realized that doesn't really work on social media”

Workedproduct-viralityfeature-development

App Masters · 2026-09-22

GlamUP · B2C · face-scan makeup app

Push a text-only feature through influencers, faceless accounts, own UGC, Reddit and Discord

Didn't work over 3-4 months; the feature itself was the problem

“I've literally tried for like 3-4 months at that point, doing influencers, or faceless account, doing being my own UGC creator, Reddit marketing, Discord. I've tried everything.”

Failedorganic-short-videoinfluencer

App Masters · 2026-09-22

A stealth app · B2C · guest's newest app

Mock up new features in Figma and have creators post them before you build

Only features whose posts go viral get built; no numbers given

“a lot of the times if we want to experiment with a new feature, we will build it out in Figma, or our own content creation portal first, have people do it. If it goes viral, then we can put it into the app instead of wasting time building it out”

Unknownvalidationugc-creators

App Masters · 2026-09-22

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
GlamUP	time to milestone Time spent trying to market the first text-based version across channels before pivoting to the visual feature	3–4 months approximate	“I've literally tried for like 3-4 months at that point, doing influencers, or faceless account, doing being my own UGC creator, Reddit marketing, Discord.”
Nicole Cheung's newest app (in stealth)	count Active creators working on her newest (stealth) app	800 creators approximate	“So, for the newest app we work with, probably like active 800 creators.”
benchmarkRevenue of existing apps in a niche that signals the niche is worth entering (e.g. cooking apps)	mrr If existing apps in an under-served niche make $50-100K MRR, the niche is probably good to follow	USD 50K–100K/month illustrative	“And like, if you see any cooking apps out there doing anywhere between 50 to 100k MRR, then it's probably a good niche to follow.”
benchmarkPerformance of a viral feature vs non-viral features in organic social	growth rate A viral feature works ~10x better than the others; you know within the first week	10 x illustrative	“And once you do find a viral feature, usually it will work like 10 times better. You'll You would know within the first week if it works.”