Crew · B2C · music fan social app
Post creator-style TikToks and Reels to drive app signups
Hundreds of thousands of signups for an earlier app
What they did
What happened
In their words
Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett - COPY this ai app's $6.7m/yr marketing strategy
Zack HargettSo in 2000, right after I left Loom, I started a a company called Scout, very different approach than Coconote. Uh we raised venture. I was a solo founder. Um so, you know, plenty of differences there. No pressure to monetize, which is one of the biggest differences between, you know, raising venture versus not.
Zack HargettAnd so I started Scout. Crew was one of our uh products. It was a uh way to listen to music and connect with other fans. Um and we were one of the first apps, period, to do, quote, unquote, UGC style. So, I've linked to some of the content that we did uh with Crew, but we were going viral on TikTok and Instagram Reels uh to drive, you know, hundreds of thousands of signups uh with with uh Scout as a product studio, and Crew is one of our products.
Zack HargettThere are a couple of things that stand out about this. One, I learned, if you build it, they will not come. That is one of my biggest takeaways. My background is in product and design. I always assumed, if you build a great product, the users and the customers will find you, and I realized, as a founder, that is very much not the case.
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More from this episode
- Build a novelty free tool (text to brainrot video) and push it on TikTok100-200M views and 3,000 trials in days, but only ~$25K revenue
- Post short videos that show the app solving a real student problemSeveral ~20M-view videos, ~99% organic, converting far better than viral novelty content
- Mix a known game (2048) with studying and promote a catchy URL in videosOne video reached ~2M views; no conversion numbers
- Build hidden app screens only creators use, made to look good on cameraUsed in the 18M-view video; no separate numbers
- Keep a small team of 10-12 part-time creators, led by a proven oneLead creator drove hundreds of millions of views; founders say it worked
- Recruit creators who aren't influencers via Handshake, DMs, email and referralsA Spanish tutor with no content experience became a top creator in 9 months
- Double onboarding from 5 to about 13 screens in one big changeTrial conversion up 16%; one-or-two-screen tests had only given small wins
- Let people pay before creating an account; move login after the paywallFounder calls it significant; no separate number
- Let users record a whole lecture before asking them to payCalled a big win; no number given
- Put a little ad money behind organic videos that already went viralNot much success; ~99% of views stayed organic
- Pitch the app as great for ADHD in videos and the first App Store screenshotUsers say it helps their ADHD; no numbers
- When trial users cancel, offer them 7 more free daysKeeps 27% of cancellers in their trial; a smaller share later pay
- Hire an investment bank to run the sale so you keep buildingSold to Quizlet ~18 months after launch; bank ran it end to end
- Hire engineers who can also do backend or a second platformSmall engineering team ships a lot; with 50%+ EBITDA margins
- Track each creator's results with a dedicated tool (viral.app)Only one of 5-6 tools tried that worked for them
Tags: tiktok, instagram, ugc, early-adopter