BPM · B2C · dating app for sporty singles
Make your first video ads from event footage, then test agency videos against them
An agency's videos worked well; no numbers
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- months 0-6
In their words
$140K MRR Niche Dating App in Just 6 Months
… at the beginning, the numbers are going to look great. You're going to be like, all right, I can scale this up to a million MR. Then the real numbers are going to hit and then it's going to be the real game, you know, starting the real fight. Again, those numbers and those networks. And that's where we are at right now. Hey Gabe, who was creating those creatives, those ads? Did you start off with video only? Like, look like in the beginning?
Where is it at right now? Yeah, it was only me. It's still only me. So basically, my co-founder is taking care of the whole tech aspect. I'm taking care of the whole growth side of things. And I was running the ads. So I had rushes. I had videos from the run club that I could use. I had rushes from me, from friends. And I started running on these. I also had a bit of AI. I was only running on videos. I still didn't do any static. I have to
do it, but I don't have the time. And then when we started, like maybe a month later on, we started working with an agency that started giving us some videos that was working well. Then we started with a second agency, but basically I was always trying to compete those videos against mine and against the other to see what was the best thing um what was the best performers and i just uh iterated like this iteration is a big thing in ua as well
i love it dude and i think it's like you know steve joss said it best you can't you can only connect the dots backwards and it just made sense you're like i launched a wrong make sure i validated some idea i use footage from this run club so that when i i went live and i wanted to scale i had something to go and you can see like you're successful because you did it in a way where it was like step by step versus like rushing it to live well in my …
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Run a singles-only run club to test a dating app ideaDemand confirmed; couples formed; runners became the launch audience
- Make your own Reels and boost a couple of posts to fill an eventGrew to ~500 followers; people signed up for runs
- Build a 3K waitlist before launch and have regulars make profiles early~500 installs on launch weekend
- Launch a dating app in one country only, so users are close together140K MRR in six months from France alone
- Download every competitor app and copy what works in each part
- Launch free, then turn on subscriptions about a month later1K MRR by the next Monday, 10K MRR 30 days later; no before/after comparison
- Start Meta ads at €20/day after week one to keep new users flowingProfitable; main growth driver to 140K MRR
- Set up Meta ad campaigns to get the most installsReached 20K MRR, but founder calls it the worst choice in hindsight
- Test ad tracking with $5, start at $50/day, add ad sets once costs holdStable costs; some ads ran profitably for months
- Split co-founder equity unevenly so one person has the final say
- Ask everyone you know for a technical co-founder; work together a few weeks first
- Run the company with two founders who both use Claude daily
- Build a dating app only for people who play sport every weekPassed App Review; 140K MRR in six months
- Grow a social app only through a big creator program
- Get a brand deal with a sports event like Hyrox for a dating app
- Show the paywall before asking people to create an account+52% sales
Tags: meta, creative, founder-made-ads, video-only, agency, creative-testing