GlamUp · B2C · face-scan makeup app
Interview every creator yourself and accept about half or fewer
Unknowncreator-ops
What they did
When starting out, her whole day was blocked with interviews of UGC creators. She accepts roughly 50% or fewer, favouring people who take it seriously, so the program's foundation is good.
“I would literally have my entire day blocked by interviews with UGC creators. I won't accept all the people that I that I interview. I would say probably 50/50 or even less, because you want people to take it seriously.”
Related topics
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from GlamUp
All 28 GlamUp tactics- Post the same before/after makeup slideshow with one fixed hook, caption and audioFirst post hit 10M views; millions of views a day at peak
- Let users skip paying by inviting 3 friends with a code1.6M share/code requests; codes flooded TikTok comments; conversion barely dropped
- Triple the weekly price from $3 to $9Conversion rate went up despite the 3x price
- Build the women's version of a hit looksmaxing app for men1M users in 6 months; peak $150K MRR
- Rebuild a hit men's looks app for women, launching a rough MVP in a month1M users in 6 months; ~$150K MRR peak
- Post faceless slideshows and videos on TikTok and InstagramPeak month: 40-50M TikTok and ~200M Instagram views; 1M users in 6 months
More from this episode
- GlamUp: Swap text makeup tips for a face scan showing your before and afterWent viral on TikTok; app hit 1M users in 6 months
- GlamUp: Push a text-only feature through influencers, faceless accounts, own videos, Reddit and DiscordDidn't work over 3-4 months; the feature itself was the problem
- Mock up a new feature in Figma, have creators post it, build it only if it goes viralFounder's default way to test features now; no numbers
- Pay creators $10-30 a post once it hits 500 views, plus bonuses at 10K-50K+ viewsThe standard deal across consumer apps; no results given
- Recruit creators from Discord groups, friends' referrals, and small influencers averaging ~10K views
- Have creators open new accounts and warm them up for 3 days by following small niche accounts
- Give every creator a 30-60 minute video course and a bank of ready scripts
- GlamUp: Make the videos yourself until one goes viral, then hire creators to copy itFounder says it's how every app started; no numbers
- Copy formats from tiny accounts that got one 1M-view video, not from influencers
- Test the same video idea at 10, 25 and 30 seconds with different hooks
- GlamUp: Ask 10+ onboarding questions about the user's goals so the app feels made for themFounder says it primes users to pay; no numbers
- GlamUp: After each answer, show a stat like '80% of our users have acne too'
- Sprout: Make people pay before they can swipe right to apply for a jobFounder says it works well; app reached $250K MRR by month 8
- GlamUp: Raise prices by 20-40% and check whether more people payOften converts better, founder says; no exact numbers
- Re-test the paywall and prices every couple of months
- Delete features and improve the few that matter
- GlamUp: Start with $10-20K, skip paid ads, and put all revenue back into apps99% of growth came from organic; funded later apps
- Pick a niche with lots of TikTok content but few apps, some making $50-100K a month
- Spend day one researching the niche and day two sketching the screen meant to go viral
- Focus on making the product good so people tell friends and familyFriend-and-family users convert about 2x better
- Test $9.99 against $6.99 a week, with a $50 yearly plan$9.99 slightly ahead on small numbers; more people pick yearly
- Lower the price after no one subscribesStill zero subscribers; hosts blame the weak paywall, not the price