Cardstock · B2C · sports card scanner app
Show the paywall at first open, with a small hidden X
Most subscriptions came from this first paywall, before people used the app
Workedpaywallonboarding
What they did
Cardstock showed a paywall right at first open with no free trial; it could be closed with a hidden X button. Users who closed it got 5 free scans before having to pay.
What happened
Most subscriptions came from people buying at the first paywall, sight unseen.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Kyle Fowler - How I make $42k/mo passively with simple no-code apps (copy me)“'Cause at this time, the product existed as you got five free scans and then you had to pay. But we also showed a paywall off the initial rip, and there was no free trial. And a ton of Most of our subscriptions came from people just seeing the first paywall.”
“But no blocker, there's an X button. It's hidden, and but most people just buy it right then, sight unseen, without even using the product.”
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 Cardstock
All 16 Cardstock tactics- Rebuild your working app for a nearby hobby, built in a day with AI$17K MRR and 3,400 subscribers in a year; more new customers a month than the original
- Build the app you wanted for your own hobby when the App Store has noneGrew into ~$75K MRR over six years
- Give creators TikTok slideshow templates to post and pay them by viewsFounder calls it their biggest success; no numbers given
- Bring in friends for a three-way revenue split and teach them to codeTeam of three grew to five; revenue from a few hundred a month to ~$1.5M a year
- Post on Reddit when the app is finishedFirst downloads came almost immediately; no numbers
More from this episode
- Cardstock: Post your app idea in the hobby's subreddit before building it10-15 people said they'd use it; later drove launch downloads
- Cardstock: Announce the launch in the same subreddit, linking your earlier idea post12 paid downloads (~$60) on launch day
- Cardstock: Make the app free to download and charge $5 a month instead of $4.99 onceBiggest revenue jump ever; growth took off from the 2021 switch
- Cardstock: Spend two weeks on keyword research, then put the best terms in your title#1 for 'baseball card scanner' for 2-3 years; ~$9-10K MRR with no marketing
- Cardstock: Post brand-style TikToks (memes, silent pack openings) on the app's accountFirst videos got ~23 likes; viral ones brought no downloads without the app on screen
- Cardstock: Film a valuable card, scan it with the app in hand, then reveal its priceFirst one hit 184K views; became the repeatable format behind the TikTok growth
- Cardstock: Hire a friend to figure out TikTok with you before paying an agencyFriend became the de facto CMO; knew enough to spot a good UGC agency later
- Cardstock: Switch to a hard paywallRevenue reached ~$30K/month (alongside a Christmas TikTok spike)
- Scanemon: Put the app's name on the scanner screen so every video shows itFounder thinks it lifts conversion; no data yet
- Scanemon: Post card-collecting tips slideshows from an account with an AI-made girl avatarSeveral posts over 100K views; the format then scaled through paid creators
- Cardstock: Pay creators about $1 per 1,000 views to post your slideshow template~7,600 posts in a month for $2,600, about $1 CPM; biggest recent growth driver