Pingo AI · B2C · AI language speaking app
Tie videos to beginner lessons and culture moments, like K-dramas or the TikTok ban
A 'basic Korean quiz' got 77K views; a TikTok-ban/RedNote video got 1M
What they did
What happened
In their words
Morrie Schonfeld - How I built a $500k/mo ai app (so you can just copy me)
Morrie Schonfeld… to Pingo every time and trying different things. The Korean account did a lot better, but like it's again, just like holding the iPad, talking to Pingo at like a random room at Northwestern where we were in school at the time. And every video is talking with Pingo, and we're trying different hooks, and we kind of found that like a few things worked. One thing was basic conversation, like really geared towards learners, like basic Korean quiz.
Morrie SchonfeldThis one got 77,000 views. Things like learning blank in blank language, and like really gearing those towards beginners. We also found like cultural hooks worked really well, like talk about K-drama, talking about cultural events going on. I had one that went really viral in Chinese, I think. This one got a million views. So this was like when TikTok was getting banned, and the whole RedNote thing, so like we ran with that and that worked really well.
Morrie SchonfeldAny like cultural thing we'd run with, and would work really well. And that was kind of one of the first things we did that was kind of a little more humor-oriented, and also culture-oriented. So right, we started with like basic learning and culture, and those worked well, both talking with Pingo. And then we kind of shifted towards the humor stuff, and it went even more viral. And so like in Chinese that worked, so we tried other things. This …
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More from this episode
- Only build an app whose main feature looks interesting on videoTalking to the AI became the core of every video; app reached ~$500K/month
- Film yourselves talking to the app on TikTok, one account per languageReached $20K MRR in about 3 months with almost no outside creators
- Show people using the app in every video, not just talk about the topicLanguage-topic videos without the app flopped; app-demo videos went viral and converted
- Film the AI tutor roasting a learner until they cry on cameraTop video hit 52M views; the format has worked in every language since September
- Let users write their own scenes for the AI so creators can script funny videosCreators found the viral 'mean Pingo' format with it; users now ask for a mean mode
- Post language-tip slideshows that end with a pitch for the appSome hit 1M views, but accounts burned out fast; weak-CTA slides converted far worse
- Have assistants DM small creators learning the language, then move them to emailBuilt a roster of ~100 creators across ~20 languages
- Pay creators a base per video plus bonuses at 50K to 1M viewsKeeps creators paid for their time and chasing viral hits; no numbers
- Treat creators like investments: drop the weakest, keep the stars, train the middleTop 20-30% of ~100 creators drive most views; cut 30-50 who drove none
- Coach creators on lighting, camera angle, sound and doing something on cameraJust started; small tweaks tend to help good creators, no numbers yet
- Scale winning formats through a pay-per-view creator network; test ideas with core creatorsWinning variations get scaled quickly; spend is easy to flex; no numbers
- Make viral videos for learners of RussianAbout half of new users came from Russia and couldn't pay; Russian content killed
- Show a timeline on the paywall: free today, reminder before billing, cancel anytimeBeat social-proof and yearly-vs-monthly paywall versions; no numbers given
- Offer the free trial only on the yearly plan and hide the monthly one
- Test a 3-day against a 7-day free trial, US and abroad separatelyNear-even in the US; 7-day converted ~2% better internationally (early data)
- When someone backs out of a 3-day trial, offer 7 free days at a lower priceConverts better than showing the 7-day trial first; exact lift not given
- Bill US users through web checkout to keep more of each sale
- Join Y Combinator, then raise quickly on strong revenue and CAC/LTV~100 investor meetings booked; round closed in about 3 days
Tags: tiktok, hooks, cultural-trends, beginner-content, humor