Flo · B2C · period tracking app
Run over 100 experiments a month
Guest cites it as part of what made it a top health app; no direct numbers
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
Joseph Choi… a decent chunk of the audience that is doing maybe like six figures a year in revenue, and they're probably looking at these things and thinking about like, "Okay, maybe if I want to exit in the future, how can I make some decisions now that will change the trajectory of like how I build the company?" Would you say that there are any levers that you can pull like earlier in the like six-figure ARR journey that can really help optimize for this?
Josh PelegAbsolutely. So number one: the earlier you can fix organic traffic, the better. It's hard, but the earlier you crack it, the much better for you. You don't want to be stuck at 10 million ARR fully reliant on UA. So try and crack organic early, even at the small scales. Second thing is, you should be testing pricing, you should be testing uh UI/UX on your paywall, you should be testing color schemes, fonts early, frequently. I remember seeing a graph of like the Flo team, and they were running like over 100 experiments a month. Like, you need to be pushing the number of experiments you're doing.
Josh PelegAnd I think the final piece of advice I would give is that don't try and do too many distribution channels at once, especially on the paid side. You probably haven't found the ceiling of the distribution channel you're focusing on right now. Push, push, and push until you find the ceiling. When ROAS curves start to be less favorable towards you, then start to find the next channel. But really try and find those ceilings before you jump ship, …
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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
- 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)
- 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
- 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: high-velocity-testing