GlowUp · B2C · AI makeup try-on app
Read TikTok comments in a big niche, post about the idea, then build
Content went viral; MVP hit 100K users in about 3 days. ~10 build-first apps had failed
Workedvalidationorganic-short-videomarket-selection
What they did
Picked a niche by looking at the biggest TikTok hashtags (makeup was one): check how many videos are posted and how many views they get. Read comment sections on makeup videos to find what people were asking for, then made content around the idea (getting a makeup look and the products you need) before building. Only after the content went viral did he build a quick MVP. His earlier ~10 apps were built first and marketed after, and got no views or users.
What happened
Content went viral before the app existed; the quickly built MVP reached 100K users in ~3 days. Previous build-first apps all failed
- Stage
- Pre-launch (Idea and validation, pre-build)
“So we just kind of started looking at TikTok makeup videos, and looking at the comment section. And with these comments, we kind of started doing content around this idea of like getting your makeup look and the products that you'd need.”
“So, we did content first, because for most of my other apps before, we were just building and building without showing to users what we had, and it always failed.”
“So really, if you're thinking of a niche, just look at the hashtags of that niche, how many videos are posted, how many views are getting”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- GlowUp: Set up a US TikTok account on a new iPhone and scroll your niche for 3 days firstPart of the playbook behind ~$800K; no separate numbers
- GlowUp: Copy a trending TikTok format with your app, once a day, then 4-6 times a dayMain acquisition engine; marketing cost can be $0
- GlowUp: Run 2-3 TikTok accounts per phone, up to 7 accounts at the peakFounder says more videos meant more money; no per-account numbers
- GlowUp: Add a download button to TikToks only after they pass 1,000 viewsMost downloads came through the link; adding it too early kills the video
- GlowUp: Give a free makeup look for 3 invites, so users post codes under your TikTokViral video hit ~48M views; ~$12.5K sales and 60K downloads in a day
- GlowUp: Ask for an App Store rating during onboarding, right before showing resultsUsers usually leave 5 stars, keeping ratings high; no numbers
- GlowUp: Charge $9.99 a week or $39.99 a year for unlimited use~70K paying customers; ~$800K in year one; no pricing test reported