Waking Up · B2C · meditation app
Charge $20 a month or $150 a year for a meditation app
~25K downloads a month bring in over $1M a month (Sensor Tower estimate)
What they did
What happened
This shipped together with other changes, so the result can't be credited to this alone.
In their words
Josh Peleg - $172M of App Building Advice in 50 Minutes
Josh Peleg… A few interesting things here: first of all, it's a great example of an app that essentially launched with distribution first. You had Sam Harris's podcast, his videos, etc., so he could push the app anyway. But what this is, it's a meditation app, but it's able to sit at the top of the category on price, and it proves that a consumer app can sustain real revenue with a small, premium payer base. Let me throw you some numbers here, okay?
Josh PelegThis app charges 20 bucks a month and 150 bucks a year. That is super premium. They're able to do that because ChatGPT reset the month, reset the anchor at 20 bucks a month. When I look on Sensor Tower at the numbers this app's actually doing, this app only gets around 25k downloads a month, according to Sensor Tower, but it's pumping over a million dollars in revenue a month, because it's charging at such a premium price point.
Joseph ChoiThat's one of the biggest ratios I've ever seen. Usually, like one to one is like standard. Maybe one to two or one to three is like pretty good. This is like off the charts.
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More from this episode
- Pitch the app as #1 in women's health instead of competing in all of healthBecame the first women's health unicorn: $200M+ raised at a $1B+ valuation
- Aim the app at first-time runners doing couch to 5K, not all sportsEarned a strong valuation; Strava bought it to reach beginner runners
- Build the app around a trusted podcaster, and put his voice in the first sessionTiny download numbers earn $200K-$1M+ a month; creator-dependence makes the app harder to sell
- Run over 100 experiments a monthGuest cites it as part of what made it a top health app; no direct numbers
- Buy a beginner running app so new runners later move up to your app
- Buy a viral food-scanning app for its knack for pulling in new users
- Sell the app again after its growth has already slowedResold for over $100M less than the $475M paid five years earlier
- Buy apps that already found fans, then add a full team to grow themWorked really well, per the guest; no portfolio numbers given
- Buy apps that get lots of downloads but lose users, then fix the productA couple of such deals brought outsized returns for founder and buyer, per the guest
- If you charge under $10 a month, test $20 on 10-20% of users
- Use weekly plans for apps people need for a short time, like datingWorks well in dating and follower-tracking apps; fine for cash flow, weaker for an exit
- Pick a buyer type, study its last 5 deals, and start talking a year earlyGuest's favorite deals came from founders he'd messaged with for ~12 months
- Once a TikTok works, spin up 20 to 100 more videos on the same ideaBuyers value a repeatable viral machine over one-off hits; no numbers given
Tags: premium-pricing, price-anchor, monthly-plan, annual-plan