Apollo · B2C · Reddit app for iPhone
Charge the same $2.99 one-time price as the main rival app
Profitable from day one, but founder calls the price too low in hindsight
Mixedpricing
What they did
Picked a $2.99 one-time pro upgrade (possibly $1.99 in the first week) with little thought, because the incumbent Reddit app Alien Blue charged about $2.99.
What happened
Enough for a solo developer from day one, but in hindsight not great; the gap between $1.99, $2.99 and $3.99 matters little to buyers.
- Stage
- launch
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Advantages of Working On an App You Care About — Christian Selig, Apollo“It might have even been $1.99 for like the first week. It it was one of those things where, yeah, it was in hindsight not great”
“I think like Alien Blue was like $2.99 or something, and I was like, "That kind of seems" Like maybe at the time that was like what seemed reasonable to charge for a Reddit app.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Apollo: Post an early beta in a popular subreddit, then launch to the waiting crowdBeta filled up; lots of launch-day downloads and paid upgrades, profitable from day one
- Apollo: Build each month whatever your app's subreddit complains about mostFounder says it shaped the app and worked well for about 9 years; no numbers
- Apollo: Turn down popular feature requests by explaining why, not just saying noUsers mostly agreed once they heard the reasons
- Apollo: Raise the lifetime price from $19.99 to $30-40Take rate didn't change at all
- Apollo: Live cheaply with roommates and build full-time on savings until a set dateMade it to a launch that paid from day one; savings almost gone
- Juno: Build the YouTube app YouTube skipped for Vision Pro, in two weeks, for launch dayStill earns about $100 on some days months after launch