Locked · B2C · gamified self-improvement to-do app
Try Reddit, X, paid ads and influencers, then go all in on influencers
Influencers won clearly; no numbers given for the other channels
What they did
What happened
In their words
Evan Yadegari - The 14-Year-Old Who Built a $14k/Month AI App
Joseph ChoiUh but you came from the content space cuz you were building, you're making the TikTok account for um for Totally Science, and then the person who acquired it. So it seems like this was like a very marketing-led app. So I want to just walk through step-by-step like, how did you actually figure out what marketing to do and then how did you execute it?
Evan YadegariWhen I got started with Locked, I te- I tested out a bunch of different acquisition channels. I tested out Reddit marketing, X marketing, influencer marketing, and even paid ads. Quickly, I realized that influencers were the most effective channel. So let's uh we can break down that one. First, you want to send DMs to influencers. You go on Instagram or TikTok, search something related to your niche, like gym or self-improvement, or day in the life, if that applies to your app. Then you scroll through the creator's profiles, click message, paste, send, and then you just keep scrolling, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Joseph ChoiYou're It's primarily influencer-marketing driven. Yeah, can you talk a little about the outreach process? Like how many people do you need to reach out to? What What kind of influencers are you looking for?
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More from this episode
- Pay day-in-the-life creators to check off each task in the app on cameraOne ~1M-view video made $3K+ and the first $1,000 and 1,000-download days
- DM 500 creators a day from several verified accounts with 1,000+ followers3-4% reply rate on Instagram, ~2% on TikTok; 5-10K creators contacted
- Start creator DMs with 'Paid promo?' and always move the deal to a callFounder says it stands out in flooded inboxes; no numbers
- Pay creators a flat fee, but they keep posting until a view target is hitBest of four deal types; works out to $1-2 per 1,000 views
- Pay creators $1-2 per 1,000 views with a cap, below what 1,000 views earns$1-2 CPM paid vs $3-4 revenue per 1,000 views
- Pay a flat $500 a video ($1,200 for four) only to reliably big creators
- Pay creators $250 per video plus $250 more at 250,000 views
- Post 'What's the app called?' under the video; creator replies with the name and pins itFounder says curious viewers find the app through it; no numbers
- Have creators show the app within 15 seconds; approve posts, then re-sign winners biggerProfitable creators renewed and moved to bigger deals; no numbers
- Pick creators by real comments and 5K+ views per video, not followersEarly follower-based picks with weak comments were the biggest mistake
- Reuse your old TikTok account for each new app and pitch it head-onOne 200K-view 'finish homework in 10 seconds' video drove ProblemPal to $2K/month
- Turn a to-do list into a game with XP for Gen ZBecame his best app at $14K+/month
Tags: reddit, x, instagram, tiktok, channel-testing, focus