Praktika · B2C · AI English tutor app
Use animated avatars so learners can rehearse the stress of talking to a person
Founder says users then find real conversations easier; no numbers
Workedfeature-developmentonboarding
What they did
In onboarding, 'fear' was one of the most clicked reasons for wanting to practice, so Praktika built avatars to simulate talking to another person: they don't need to look fully human, just create the feeling that someone is watching. Pixar-style cartoons avoid the uncanny valley. Not built for marketing, though the avatars also show well in content. It was the most questioned part of the product during the first fundraise.
What happened
Adam says users who rehearse with avatars find speaking with real people much easier; now seen as obviously needed.
- Stage
- product
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Praktika Built a Profitable $50M ARR AI Business — Adam Turaev, Praktika“One of the most clicked button was fear is the reason why I want avatars to teach me language, or I want to rehearse. So that's why we built them to simulate this environment of you talking to another human.”
“So that's why when people work with Praktika and then they have to speak this language in other cases, but with real human, it's much easier for them.”
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More from this episode
- Praktika: Launch everywhere, but focus marketing on one country with high needBrazil became the launch market behind early growth; founder gives no market-level numbers
- Praktika: Sell a better job, not English lessons, and compare your price to a tutorSold a $100/year plan in a low-spending market; the claim became the category standard
- 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: 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