How WeWard Hit 20M Users Without Paid Ads — Yves Benchimol, WeWard

With no money for user acquisition, Yves went to a French PR agency he had worked with at his previous company and asked for its retainer (about 3-5K per month) with the first six months' fees deferred until after six months; the agency agreed on trust. The pitch was easy for mass-market media: an app that pays you just for walking. Seven or eight months after launch WeWard appeared on one of France's biggest prime-time TV shows. WeWard kept the agency for at least five years and spent nothing on Meta or Google for its first four years, growing only on press and organic.

After France, WeWard ran the same press approach in other countries, including remote TV/press appearances in Italy and Spain. On moving to the US, Yves hired one of the most expensive PR agencies. US journalists wanted a story beyond 'one of the biggest apps in France' (a notable investor, something crazy), and the unknown French founder and profitable startup was not enough.

After the TV spike, WeWard checked retention, found it very high versus the market average, and only then added ads to the free app. Ads fund the cash rewards; Yves says ads start making money around 100,000 daily users.

WeWard contacted affiliate platforms and brands directly: 'we would love to promote your brands and take commission on the sales we generate.' Brands like it because they pay only on tracked sales. The wellness/fitness setting is part of the pitch, and WeWard turns down brands whose values clash with a healthy lifestyle. Partners include Nike, Adidas, Expedia, Booking.com and Amazon.

WeWard runs several revenue streams (ads, affiliate, surveys, in-app purchases) and launched a premium subscription much later, via RevenueCat, that removes ads and improves the experience. They run many tests on it.

WeWard deliberately does not track time spent in the app, so it never becomes a team target. The main metric is users' step count, and every feature is A/B tested to confirm it increases steps. Rationale: a user whose lifestyle hasn't improved after six months will stop using the app.

The head of growth in New York proposed a walking mode that locks chosen apps (TikTok, Instagram and other social/entertainment apps) and unlocks them as the reward for reaching the step goal. He vibe-coded and shipped it; launched a few months before the episode, now being expanded.

Entering the US, Yves wanted a well-known American sports figure with a healthy-lifestyle image (ideally known worldwide) so the app felt American. He asked VCs and founders for intros to celebrity investors, then happened to sit next to Venus Williams at lunch and pitched her during a lull ('big fan of your career... I'd love to tell you my story'). He sought an ambassador endorsement; she asked for shares, so they did a dual ambassador-plus-investor deal. WeWard can use her image, produces content with her, she appeared on Good Morning America, and pitches to journalists offer a conversation with her.

Now running paid UA, WeWard uses content featuring Venus Williams in ads and shows her in onboarding, so US users see it as 'the app of Venus Williams' rather than a foreign app.

A long, heavily iterated project redoing onboarding, applying advice from top apps and founders on getting users to commit (e.g. a commitment step) and creating emotion through the celebrity and branding.

After many companies emailed asking to run internal walking competitions, WeWard built enterprise community features: employees walk together and give to charities, and companies can add money on top for the charities.

The reward mechanics, social layer and app are identical in every market; per country WeWard adapts the currency, gift/reward catalog and partner brands (which must exist locally to fund payouts). Only countries it has localized are supported. No full local team is needed.

WeWard launched paying a stablecoin on Ethereum per 1,000 steps. Transactions were costly, slow (a minute to receive a coin) and capped users. They asked users whether on-chain security mattered; users said loyalty points in a database were fine. Three to four months after launch they switched to loyalty points convertible to cash or gift cards.

WeWard borrows retail/airline loyalty programs, game mechanics and social-media hooks ('motivational layers', inspired by nudge theory) to motivate walking. Recent additions include a collectible card game with WeWard's own characters/IP and more social features; different users respond to money, charity, beating friends or collecting.

Yves moved to New York about four years ago (co-founders run the Paris office; he visits France for a week every two months). Reasoning: statistically French unicorns had a founder in the US; being there helps hiring US talent, signals commitment to investors and partners, and improves valuation and access to money. He built a network through events and advisors.