Opal · screen time and focus app
Sell the app to schools as a phone policy after students asked for it
Grew from one school to many US high schools; front-page LA Times coverage
Workedmarket-selectionword-of-mouthpricing
What they did
Harvard-Westlake emailed after its students, asked how to handle a state phone ban, recommended Opal. Built Opal for Schools: students install Opal; on campus banned apps are blocked while approved apps (texting parents, ChatGPT, calculators, educational apps) stay open; after school students keep using it for sleep schedules and focus timers ('bell to bed'). Charges schools a per-student fee priced below alternatives, since the brand and family reach is worth more than the fee. A dedicated head of Opal for Schools (Andy Bennett) partners with schools, presents at events like SXSW EDU and talks to press.
What happened
Piloted with one school, now scaling across many US high schools; positions Opal inside families and local communities; LA Times front page.
- Stage
- scale
“Students got back to them, and said, "Many of us are using this app called Opal. We're using it on our own. No one's telling us to do that, but maybe you should reach out to them."”
“We do charge schools for deployments, and using this service a per student fee that is very competitive compared to alternative solutions.”
“From a business perspective, it makes sense because it really helps position Opal in the family. People talk about it on a local community level as well because every student uses it.”
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 Opal
All 10 Opal tacticsMore from this episode
- Opal: Drop the hard paywall and give the core app away for freePaying share of users fell 20% to 9%, but organic growth, 1M+ DAUs and revenue rose
- Opal: Test how many app blocks free users get; settle where free users still love it3 free blocks gave free users a great experience while power users still pay
- Opal: License a stranger's viral video about phone overuse and run it as your adSeen by dozens of millions; still running 1-2 years later
- Opal: Hire a user who posted about you to run her own educational channel for you0 to ~700K followers and millions of views in a few months
- Opal: Add focus streaks with an animated flame and gemstone rewards at milestonesBiggest win of the year for retention and growth; no numbers
- Opal: Let users tap to crack open a gemstone when they hit a focus milestoneThe app's most loved moment; users remember it and talk about it
- Opal: Buy a New York billboard saying "Scrolling Kills" with no app linkNo effect on downloads or revenue; helped close one school deal
- Opal: Hand out thousands of "Scrolling Kills" stickers that don't mention the app