Praktika · B2C · AI English tutor app
Launch everywhere, but focus marketing on one country with high need
Brazil became the launch market behind early growth; founder gives no market-level numbers
Workedmarket-selection
What they did
Used a report on English language penetration ('English first report', likely EF's proficiency index): Brazil was among the least English-proficient countries, English is a big income multiplier there, the population is large and people already learn English. Main worry was weak purchasing power and low willingness to pay for consumer subscriptions; went anyway, believing most early adopters were there. The app launched worldwide with no geo limits, English only, but all distribution effort focused on Brazil.
What happened
Brazil was where the go-to-market (and the viral creator format) took off; no Brazil-specific numbers.
- Stage
- launch
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Praktika Built a Profitable $50M ARR AI Business — Adam Turaev, Praktika“So we looked into, I think it was English first report on English language penetration, and we saw Brazil was one of the lowest penetrated markets. At the same time, income multiplier for these countries as English is insane.”
“Yeah, we launched worldwide. We didn't limit it anywhere, but just from the distribution perspective, we just focused on Brazil as the key market.”
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More from this episode
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- Praktika: Search for creators under 5,000 followers whose videos still get huge viewsFound the creator whose video took ARR from ~$1M to $10-12M
- Praktika: Spend a month full-time messaging creators yourself, DMing those with no emailA few creators out of a long list worked out, including the breakout one
- Praktika: Let creators post the video they believe in, even if you don't like it30M views across three platforms; ARR from ~$1M to $10-12M, about a month per host
- Praktika: Copy a viral video format with creators in other countries right awayPart of the jump from ~$1M to $10-12M ARR; no split by country
- Praktika: Put a small ad budget behind a creator video that's already going viralNear-zero CPMs, CPIs and cost per trial in the first days
- Praktika: Hire the creator behind your breakout video as an employeeHe became the face of the brand and still runs its social media
- Praktika: Hire former creators to run your creator program, one coach per country100+ creators in the program and still growing
- Praktika: Pay creators a fixed fee plus a bonus based on views
- Praktika: Keep creators and paid ads separate; have the ad team remake viral creator videosCreators keep finding new angles; no numbers given
- Praktika: Put the cursing characters from your viral ads inside the appFailed: users were unhappy and confused; called the year's biggest fail
- Praktika: Write product rules on one page, but let creators make almost anything
- Praktika: Use animated avatars so learners can rehearse the stress of talking to a personFounder says users then find real conversations easier; no numbers
- Praktika: Hand-write conversation scripts to fake the AI before the technology can do it
- Praktika: Have your AI tutor offer to set the daily reminder instead of a settings screen
- Praktika: Rebuild your cross-platform app as a native iOS appConversion and engagement improved across the board; biggest win of the year