Podcast App · B2C · podcast player app
After a YC rejection, raise from insiders, get traction, and reapply
Got into YC a year later; raised only ~$1.5M in total
Workedfinancing
What they did
After being rejected at the YC interview in late 2016 (froze under tough questioning about competing with Apple's podcast app), the founders raised a little from Streema's co-founders, put in their own money, and kept costs low. Reused Streema's acquisition, distribution and monetization skills to get traction fast. Reapplied a year later, prepared for a combative interview.
What happened
Accepted into YC on the second try; total raised about $1.5M, keeping options open.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · VC Funding vs. Bootstrapping for Subscription Apps — Martín Siniawski, Podcast App“So we raised some money from Streema co-founders. We put in some money ourselves. We started doing that. We didn't have a lot of runway, but also we didn't have a lot of costs.”
“Many of the things we were doing that we learned from the Streema days kind of translated well, you know, when it comes to user acquisition and distribution and monetization. So very fast, we were able to start generating, building an audience and growing. Eventually, we got into YC. It was another year.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
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- Streema: Grow a website from long-tail Google searches when you have no budgetBecame the channel that worked; took years to kick in
- Podcast App: Switch from ads to a subscription you actually promoteCompany grew 3-4x; subscriptions now most revenue, ~130K paid subscribers
- Podcast App: Name your app after what people search for: 'The Podcast App'Cohost calls it the perfect search name; no numbers given
- Rest: Promote your new sleep app to your podcast users at night
- Rest: Notice people use your app to fall asleep, then build a sleep appRest launched; no results yet
- Podcast App: Try your own shows, curated playlists and a WhatsApp listening clubDidn't pan out as a growth leap
- RevenueCat: Email batchmates, then install your SDK in their app yourself at a coffee shopLanded early customers like Podcast App; no numbers
- Podcast App: Size your market from the old medium's ad spend and subscribers neededMath showed a $100M/year business needed only millions of subscribers
- Luminary: Raise $100M and launch a paid app with 50 exclusive podcastsNever managed to scale
- Elevate: Email your previous app's users when you launch a new oneA small but meaningful early boost, per the cohost