Runify · B2C · ranked running app
Copy a proven app's viral Reels format for your niche before building
Millions of views; one copy hit 2M; ~50 videos drove the whole waitlist
Workedorganic-short-videovalidation
What they did
Picked Liftoff (ranked gym app, $100K+/month for 12+ months) as the model and studied how it acquired users. Adapted its rank-ladder video (rank icons with times, icons generated in ChatGPT) to running times per distance. Each video took ~30 minutes to make and was scheduled with a scheduling tool. Posted fewer than 50 in 2 weeks, before any app existed. Race distances were varied; track and field distances went most viral. Three Figma app mockups were pinned on the Instagram profile.
What happened
Millions of views in the first weeks (one video ~2M); 2,000 waitlist signups and 90+ $5 payments from this traffic.
- Stage
- Pre-launch (pre-launch validation)
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Caleb Dean - I speedran an ai app from 0 to $100k exit in 26 days“but then I came across, yeah, this video right here, where it just has their rankings, and we're like, "Oh cool, like I can just do this for running."”
“So if you like legit look at the other video that we made, I think this one got 2 million views, so it's pretty much like a copy, and like those icons are just like ChatGPT generated.”
“Like the the actual content took me 30 minutes to to make, and then we just scheduled it on like a scheduling tool”
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More from this episode
- Runify: Charge $5 for early access on a one-page site before writing any code2,000 waitlist emails and 90+ paid $5 in about 2 weeks
- Runify: Post 9 Reels a day on Instagram instead of flooding TikTokInstagram held 5-10K avg views, 1 in 10 over 500K; TikTok views fell to ~5
- Runify: Build a tool that turns one video template into thousands of versions10,000 variations in a minute; fed ~5M views in month one
- Runify: Put your app up for pre-order so thousands download it on launch day3,000 pre-orders in ~2 weeks; leaderboard hit its 1,000 cap in an hour
- Runify: Rewrite onboarding to promise a result (becoming a better runner), not just ranksChanged because first onboarding converted poorly; no after numbers given
- Runify: Email your waitlist two updates, then a launch video with a half-price codeDiscount codes brought most launch-day revenue; 32% of emails hit spam, 20% opened
- Runify: Message every paying early adopter yourself and make them your beta testers~20 testers on WhatsApp; founder says their feedback was invaluable
- Runify: Ask your Instagram followers in Story polls which features to buildTracking answers split evenly across Garmin, Apple Watch and Strava, so they built all three
- Runify: On launch day, tease on Instagram Stories, post on Reddit, and tweet a demo videoFounder's X demo got ~50K views; mostly exposure, not core users
- Runify: Tweet openly and confidently about your app's goals, even from a tiny accountCold acquisition DM 1-2 weeks after launch, from a ~200-follower account
- Runify: Sell a month-old app at ~5x yearly revenue but keep 30% of itSix-figure sale ~26 days after launch, plus 6-month earn-out and cash bonus
- Runify: Design every screen and button in Figma before developers startCore design done in 3 days; CTO built it in about 6 weeks
- UriBrave: Rank in App Store search for a rare condition's name (shy bladder)Most users and revenue came from search; 30%+ conversion; $5-10K lifetime
- Runify: Pick a space where 1-3 apps already make $100K+ a month, then twist the ideaLiftoff at $200-300K/month led to Runify; sold within a month of launch