BlueThrone · B2C · buyer of consumer apps
Buy apps that get lots of downloads but lose users, then fix the product
A couple of such deals brought outsized returns for founder and buyer, per the guest
Workedexit-maretentionproduct-activation
What they did
BlueThrone targets apps with a working distribution engine (e.g. tens of thousands of organic downloads a month) whose users don't stick, and applies its product and monetization specialty to improve retention. Favorite deals: founder brings distribution, BlueThrone brings product resources, often with the founder staying on.
What happened
'A couple of deals like that' produced really outsized returns for both founder and BlueThrone. No figures.
- Stage
- Exit (post-acquisition)
“if your app is bringing in the users, but struggling to retain them, a lot of the value we've brought to apps in the past is actually doing a lot of hard work on the product to make sure the users you've worked hard to bring in are actually hanging around.”
“we've done a couple of deals like that where we end up getting really outsized returns for both the founder and us um by combining those two things together.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from BlueThrone
All 8 BlueThrone tactics- After buying a music app, hire a GM from Spotify and triple the teamMAU grew from 200K to almost 6M; still near the top of its category
- Buy about 100 small utility apps valued mostly on profitMany had been pumped before sale and died; shallow products didn't last
- Buy only a few apps with strong organic traffic and invest in their teamsPortfolio cut to 5 apps, each a category leader or on its way; guest says it works
- Build an in-house team making cheap UGC TikTok videos for the appsFirst viral video took 6 months and several people; gets faster with practice
- Stack category downloads over time to see if new apps grow the marketScreen time market grew with each new entrant; buying a non-leader looked OK
- Before buying an app, compare its return per dollar with more ad spend
More from this episode
- Flo: 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
- Runna: Aim the app at first-time runners doing couch to 5K, not all sportsEarned a strong valuation; Strava bought it to reach beginner runners
- Waking Up: 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)
- Waking Up: 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
- Flo: Run over 100 experiments a monthGuest cites it as part of what made it a top health app; no direct numbers
- Strava: Buy a beginner running app so new runners later move up to your app
- MyFitnessPal: Buy a viral food-scanning app for its knack for pulling in new users
- MyFitnessPal: Sell the app again after its growth has already slowedResold for over $100M less than the $475M paid five years earlier
- BlueThrone: Buy apps that already found fans, then add a full team to grow themWorked really well, per the guest; no portfolio numbers given
- 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