Bro · B2C · AI companion app
Pick one everyday moment, texting, as the way into a big AI companion idea
Texting wedge became the winning format; lock-screen versions also did well
Workedpositioning-nichevalidation
What they did
Bro's vision ('always with you') was too unspecific to market, so they looked for a concrete scenario. They tested 5-6 mock-up ad variations: some around the lock screen (e.g. Bro giving morning affirmations when you wake up in a bad mood), others around Bro floating over a texting conversation. They went all in on the floating-over-texts format, then dating apps, then miscellaneous life moments. The lock-screen versions also did well (they showed the 'proactive caring' idea could work) but used outdated designs, so they were dropped to avoid confusing viewers.
What happened
Texting became the main wedge and the format behind the 7.9M-view video and the creator program.
- Stage
- Pre-launch (pre-launch validation)
“even though we found like the whole vision like just super, super exciting, we still need to find a wedge, like a concrete wedge, like a concrete scenario in people's lives.”
“So, we focused on texting first, and then uh a lot of the dating app stuff, and then finally some other like miscellaneous stuff”
“Actually no, it's uh those do pretty well, too. Like that's actually where we got the hunch that um this proactive caring thing could really work.”
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More from this episode
- Bro: Film a clickable mock-up and put TikTok ad money behind it before building7.9M views; proved the concept and found a video format to scale
- Bro: Post lots of TikToks: a real person in a texting mishap, then the app helpingVery top-heavy: a few videos hit 2-3M views; the best one was a surprise
- Bro: Find TikTok creators through topic hashtags like #relationship and email them to post~50 creators at peak, down to 10-20; hits took 2-3 months; hit #1 in US
- Lobby: Add a group photo countdown to video calls that people share to StoriesCredited with more sharing and pulling in left-out friends; #1 in UK, Italy, Germany 3 months later
- Lobby: Track how many new users get 5 friends on day one, then build for it60% vs 20% hit 5 friends in Israel vs elsewhere; D90 25-30%, about double
- Lobby: Invite friends to a 1-minute video catch-up at a random minute each night
- Bro: Carry a tappable fake of the app and use it daily before codingFounder says it cut a lot of wasted engineering; no numbers