Coconote · B2C · AI lecture note-taker
Ask customers to describe the app; put their words in the first screenshot
Founders call it one of their best moves; no numbers
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- launch
In their words
Bootstrapped to $6.7M ARR and an Exit to Quizlet in 2 Years – Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett, Coconote
Jacob EitingLosing a recording. Ouch.
Zack HargettOne of the best things that we did, we just asked our customers, "How would you describe Coconote?" And a great majority of them, it was shocking how consistent this was. They used Coconote to never miss a key detail, and that is exactly what we put in the first App Store preview screen. And so I think one of the cool things that we did with Coconote that I'd never done in the past is listen to how your customers describe your product and then say that back to them. There are parallels here with even presidential campaigns or government position campaigns where you're listening to what resonates with your voter base and then you're saying it back to them, and I think that's in part what a good marketer does.
David BarnardThat's fascinating. I was just thinking, I actually had a version of this in the '90s by having this amazing study group. And what I did, I didn't take notes. Two girls that I would take every class with who were in my same degree plan would take meticulous notes and then we'd have study groups together where I was like chill, listening, getting the bigger concepts. They were taking notes. I was more relaxed. And then our study sessions were …
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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
- Have one hired creator run the brand's main video accountHundreds of millions of views
- 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
- 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: app-store, customer-language, screenshots, customer-research