Flamme · B2C · couples app
Launch alongside a TechCrunch Startup Battlefield feature
800% organic growth in one month; stopped by a trademark letter
What they did
What happened
In their words
An Nayal - Full App Growth Guide 2026 - How to Make Viral Content to Get Users & Make Your App Retentive
An NayalBut there was nothing at that time for the after part. After you got into a relationship, after you had a partner, after you started, you know, being with someone. So, we decided to build something for the after. We wanted to build something for when people were in a relationship, when they were with each other, when they were facing struggles together, and that is how Flamme was conceptualized.
An NayalTell you a little fun story about it. We launched the initial version of Flamme, and it was a date planning app. So, it didn't have any of these questions, any of these elements. It was just a app to help couples plan dates together. We released with quite a bang. It was October 2022, we got featured on TechCrunch as a Startup Battlefield company, we were invited to San Francisco. Uh things were going crazy, bro.
An NayalWe launched, in one month, we grew 800% organically. I I had no idea about TikTok then, no idea about anything else. So we were just going organically really rapidly, and then we were hit by a lawsuit. Like we got a cease-and-desist letter right into my inbox. I wake up in November, things are going really fucking well, and then there's this letter that lands in telling us, "Hey, you got to pull the app down."
An NayalUh it was a trademark and brand infringement letter which said that because we were using the name Sparks, and there was another player in the dating market which has which had registered the name Spark Networks, that's why we couldn't use their name, and they, you know, we had no choice. Either we could fight it and lose a lot of money doing that or just change the name.
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Relaunch the date planner as an AI relationship coach right after ChatGPT came outDay-30 retention rose from 0.8% to 4.2%, still too low; press but no traction
- Make the daily question for couples the main thing on the home screenDay-30 retention went from 4.2% to ~30%, then 50%, with streak reminders
- Send a friendly morning reminder, then an evening 'your partner will be sad' nudgeDay-30 retention went from 4.2% to ~50% alongside the daily-question redesign
- Hide your partner's answer until you answer the question yourselfCreated a back-and-forth loop credited with lifting retention; no separate number
- Add a home-screen widget showing distance to your partner and days togetherWorked well, per the founder; copied from a competitor; no numbers
- Start charging in a free app when the money runs outBarely survived; the early '15% conversion' counted renewals, so it was inflated
- Pitch big investors on great retention before you have a way to get usersFailed; top firms asked about distribution and no term sheets came
- Scroll TikTok 4 hours a day for 2 months to learn what worksGot the first account getting views, then copied the approach across accounts
- Run 20-30 TikTok accounts on numbered iPhones, 3-4 accounts per phone~50M organic views; host cites ~150K users
- Use one Apple ID on every farm phone to skip repaying for the proxy appFailed: TikTok linked the accounts, one flag hit all; lost 120 work hours
- Under 300 views means a broken account; 300-1,000 means fix the contentTheir working rule for which accounts and formats to fix; no numbers on impact
- Judge app videos by likes and question slideshows by shares and savesLow-like videos rarely drove downloads, even at 1M+ views
- Post slideshows of '5 uncomfortable but healthy questions to ask your partner'Shared a lot, but only 0.05-0.2% of viewers downloaded
- Post videos that show the app in use, not memesApp demos convert 0.5-1% of views vs 0.05-0.2% for memes and slideshows
- Give AI a 10-page brief with product details, winning scripts and a master promptTeam posts ~200 pieces a day from it; winners are fed back in
- Log every post by hand in a spreadsheet and review it every morningForces the team to study why posts fail; no numbers given
- Copy only formats that went viral on small accounts and get 'what app?' commentsAdopted after 50M views brought few conversions; C part learned late
- Run real 'what do I text back?' Reddit screenshots through the app on videoJust started; guest expects 0.5-1% of viewers to download
- Design the app's screens and loading animation to look good on TikTok
Tags: startup-battlefield, press, launch