BPM · B2C · dating app for sporty singles
Run the company with two founders who both use Claude daily
What they did
In their words
$140K MRR Niche Dating App in Just 6 Months
The team. Yeah, so all right. So this is me, all right, Gabriel. I'm going to present to you Clément, which is my tech co-founder. He had way more experience in consumer than I had. He had already made a few, you know. None was really a big app. Maybe a few had a few hundred customers. But, you know, we were beginners in the consumer app business. And we just started this way.
We are both extremely fan of sports, of course. I'm doing a lot of cycling, running, triathlon. He's doing a lot of CrossFit. and we couldn't have done this without Claude. So I do know it sounds a bit cliche, but still today we are two people, two co-founders, and we couldn't have done it without it. Of course, Clement uses it daily to code. I use it daily as well on my operation, on my growth, on my UA, on everything.
So we couldn't have done it. Gabe, finding a co-founder is so difficult. Like, how did you know Clement was the right? How did you guys meet? And how did you know he was the right person to pursue this with? Yeah, it's definitely one of the hardest things during this whole adventure. Basically, I was alone trying to do the app. So I was, you know, figgling stuff on Figma. It was really horrible. And I was like, all right, I'm going to do a tech …
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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
- Make your first video ads from event footage, then test agency videos against themAn agency's videos worked well; no numbers
- 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
- 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: ai-tools, small-team