Coconote · B2C · AI lecture note-taker
Have one hired creator run the brand's main video account
Hundreds of millions of views
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- launch to scale
In their words
Bootstrapped to $6.7M ARR and an Exit to Quizlet in 2 Years – Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett, Coconote
Zack Hargett… really interesting time where it does not matter, generally speaking, how many followers you have. On short form video, it just matters if you make great content. And so we were trying everything in the beginning. I have some interesting stories. I don't know if I should share them, but maybe we can circle back to those early days. I mean, it is like a true grind and it feels good to be part of that game, but we were trying everything we could.
Zack HargettAnd then I would say we worked with easily 30 content creators of various types in the early days, I would say in the first two months. And really, three of them ended up making a huge difference. One of them in particular ran the main Coconote.app account and generated hundreds of millions of views. And I think I can speak for Brett on this. We're very lucky to have worked with him and started working with him very early on because he was a key part of our growth.
Jacob EitingI know you guys don't want to say it, but that was Mr. Beast.
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
- Launch a basic version fast and charge from day one$100K ARR in 45 days, $1M in 4 months
- Hire creators with 5-10K followers, found via the Gmail in their bio3 of ~30 made a huge difference; main engine to $1M ARR
- Tell creators to show the app as a fix or identity, not a noveltyConverted best, per the founders; no numbers
- Launch a viral 'PDF to brain rot video' side site to funnel users~41M views on one video, but no paying users; shut down
- Aim videos at the parent who pays, not just the studentMany viral Instagram videos used this angle; later scaled back
- Ask customers to describe the app; put their words in the first screenshotFounders call it one of their best moves; no numbers
- Charge students $99/year and push the annual plan~80% chose annual
- Raise the annual price from $99 to $129More users and more revenue at the same time
- Give one free note, then require a free trialCredited with early cash flow; no numbers
- Run paid ads cut by an agency from creators' raw footageBeat boosting viral posts, but never profitable; stopped
- Double onboarding to ~15 screens with more questions and social proof+16% trial starts
- Ask people to log in after the paywall, not on the first screenBiggest onboarding win; removed ~10% drop-off
- When people cancel, offer 7 more free days instead of a discountSaved 25% of cancellers; beat a 30% discount and a 3-month pause
- Put in ~$10K each and reinvest revenue into creatorsCash-flow positive throughout; no outside funding
- Hire a banker to run a buyout so the founders keep buildingSold to Quizlet; revenue roughly doubled during the process
Tags: tiktok, instagram, brand-account