GlamUp · B2C · face-scan makeup app
Start with $10-20K, skip paid ads, and put all revenue back into apps
99% of growth came from organic; funded later apps
Workedfinancingorganic-short-video
What they did
GlamUp started with $10-20K as its entire runway. No paid acquisition: growth came from viral organic content (UGC and faceless accounts). All money is reinvested in the business or new apps.
What happened
~99% of growth organic across her apps; profits funded new apps
“We bootstrapped GlamUp. My first app started with 10 to 20k. And we were just, that's our entire runway. And, yeah, we just keep reinvesting all of the money back into the business or into new apps.”
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
- GlamUp: Interview every creator yourself and accept about half or fewer
- 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
- 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