Coconote · B2C · AI lecture note-taker
Hire creators with 5-10K followers, found via the Gmail in their bio
3 of ~30 made a huge difference; main engine to $1M ARR
Workedugc-creatorscreator-ops
What they did
Reached out to creators via the email in their bio. Target: Gmail address in bio, ~5K-10K followers, good engagement. Skip anyone whose contact is an agency domain ('@sunsetagency.com') - agencies capture the alpha. Rationale: interest-graph feeds make follower count matter less than content quality. Tried ~30 creators in the first two months; kept the ~3 that drove results; creators are part-time contractors.
What happened
3 of ~30 early creators 'made a huge difference'; primary growth engine to $1M ARR in 4 months without relying on ads.
- Stage
- Scale (launch to scale)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Bootstrapped to $6.7M ARR and an Exit to Quizlet in 2 Years – Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett, Coconote“If they have a Gmail in their bio and they have 5k, 10k followers, good engagement, that's great. That's a really nice sweet spot.”
“if you reach out to a content creator and their email is, it's @sunsetagency.com or something, any agency sounding, you're too late. Those agencies exist to eliminate the alpha that you are trying to create.”
“we worked with easily 30 content creators of various types in the early days, I would say in the first two months. And really, three of them ended up making a huge difference.”
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- When trial users cancel, offer them 7 more free daysKeeps 27% of cancellers in their trial; a smaller share later pay
- Build a novelty free tool (text to brainrot video) and push it on TikTok100-200M views and 3,000 trials in days, but only ~$25K revenue
- Post short videos that show the app solving a real student problemSeveral ~20M-view videos, ~99% organic, converting far better than viral novelty content
- Keep a small team of 10-12 part-time creators, led by a proven oneLead creator drove hundreds of millions of views; founders say it worked
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More from this episode
- Coconote: Launch a basic version fast and charge from day one$100K ARR in 45 days, $1M in 4 months
- Coconote: Have one hired creator run the brand's main video accountHundreds of millions of views
- Coconote: Tell creators to show the app as a fix or identity, not a noveltyConverted best, per the founders; no numbers
- pdftobrainrot.com: Launch a viral 'PDF to brain rot video' side site to funnel users~41M views on one video, but no paying users; shut down
- Coconote: Aim videos at the parent who pays, not just the studentMany viral Instagram videos used this angle; later scaled back
- Coconote: Ask customers to describe the app; put their words in the first screenshotFounders call it one of their best moves; no numbers
- Coconote: Charge students $99/year and push the annual plan~80% chose annual
- Coconote: Raise the annual price from $99 to $129More users and more revenue at the same time
- Coconote: Give one free note, then require a free trialCredited with early cash flow; no numbers
- Coconote: Run paid ads cut by an agency from creators' raw footageBeat boosting viral posts, but never profitable; stopped
- Coconote: Double onboarding to ~15 screens with more questions and social proof+16% trial starts
- Coconote: Ask people to log in after the paywall, not on the first screenBiggest onboarding win; removed ~10% drop-off
- Coconote: When people cancel, offer 7 more free days instead of a discountSaved 25% of cancellers; beat a 30% discount and a 3-month pause
- Coconote: Put in ~$10K each and reinvest revenue into creatorsCash-flow positive throughout; no outside funding
- Coconote: Hire a banker to run a buyout so the founders keep buildingSold to Quizlet; revenue roughly doubled during the process