Pushcroll · B2C · push-ups to unlock social media
Film a stranger-style 'what is this guy doing?' clip, then demo the app
Kept going viral; the main driver of $30K/month profit
Workedorganic-short-video
What they did
Copied and slightly improved a competitor's format. Hook: filmed over the shoulder 'in the wild' at night or in the rain, the founder doing push-ups next to his phone on the pavement, caption and a female AI voice saying 'My bro is doing push-ups at 2:00 a.m. to scroll Reels' with a skull emoji. Within 2-3 seconds it cuts to him explaining and demoing the app ('every push-up I do gives me 1 minute I can use to scroll'), mentioning a secondary feature, and ending with a CTA. The more bizarre the setting, the more curiosity. Posted as an open ad rather than disguised. Repeated the same hook over and over; recommends having 3-4 formats in rotation because one fatigues, and studying competitors' hooks rather than copying 1:1.
What happened
The format kept working and built the business to $30K/month profit with no ad spend; the first try got 8K views and a later version blew up with a ~19% skip rate.
- Stage
- growth
- Effort
- Dozens of repeated videos
“In our case, we looked at a competitor of ours, and we pretty much found this format, right?”
“My bro is doing push-ups at 2:00 a.m. to scroll Reels.”
“And then also this this caption, right? "Bro is doing push-ups to unlock Instagram, and a skull emoji." And it's a female AI voice.”
“And we just repeated this hook over and over and over and over, and it kept on working.”
“And ideally, you have 3 to 4 different formats, because if you do the same format, it's gonna fatigue at some point.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Pushcroll: Post a 'Should I build this?' video about the app before building itBlew up on TikTok; MVP shipped 2 weeks later to a waiting audience
- Pushcroll: Launch with a video giving free lifetime premium to anyone who installs this week~20K downloads from ~175K views (~10%); only ~$1-2K revenue afterward
- Pushcroll: Move your launch followers into a Discord for feedback, bug reports and videos3-4K members; best feature ideas and user videos came from it
- Pushcroll: Let your community vote on designs, and build what they ask for 20+ timesPicked a better logo and shaped features; 'minute debt' was asked for 50+ times
- Pushcroll: DM 2,000 influencers and pay $800 flat for 4 videosDidn't work: ~138K views drove only 200-500 downloads; lost ~$2K
- Pushcroll: Rebuild push-up tracking to work from the front so faces show on video
- Pushcroll: End videos with 'comment app' and auto-DM the download linkUp to 62K comments on one video; ~90K DMs sent, 33% clicked
- Pushcroll: Sell the app openly in videos instead of hiding the adFull-ad videos converted far better than a cinematic version
- Pushcroll: Put 80% of effort into the hook; aim for under ~18% skippingTheir breakout video had a ~19% skip rate; 30% means switch format
- Pushcroll: Build onboarding as a conversation: goals, pain, past attempts, then your fixConversion rose from ~7% to ~16%; paywall reach ~70%
- Pushcroll: Let people try push-up counting and pick workout times before the paywallFounders say it builds trust and lifts paywall conversion; no numbers
- Pushcroll: Pay founders you admire to review your onboardingFounders call it their highest-ROI spend; 'completely changed our trajectory'
- Pushcroll: Test a 7-day free trial against a 3-day one7-day trial won clearly
- Pushcroll: Test a weekly plan against a monthly oneWeekly won, but only slightly more ARPU
- Pushcroll: Put a short video of someone using the app on the paywallWon its test, but by a small margin
- Pushcroll: Offer about 80% off when someone closes the paywallCalled one of their two biggest tests; no result given
- Pushcroll: Build an Android version if most of your viewers are in EuropeAndroid earns as much as iOS or more; 120K vs 40K users
- Pushcroll: Post from a remote-controlled US phone to reach American viewersDidn't work; shadowbanned even with the remote US phone
- Pushcroll: Pay US students about $1,000 a month to post your winning formatJust started; no results shared
- Pushcroll: Let people close the paywall, then charge when they want more scroll time