Shot Pattern · B2C · golf strategy GPS app
Pay golf creators $750-$1,500 per video and run the videos as ads
Creator ads were not the winner at first; still used as ongoing ad content
Mixedinfluencerpaid-socialugc-creators
What they did
Offered free app access to golf video creators; those who wanted payment for a video got paid: about $750 to one with a small following, and $1,500 to sponsor a TikTok creator (50-100K views per video) entering a golf tournament in exchange for a video. Videos go to the creators' audiences and are repurposed as ads. Eric continues to pay creators for content.
What happened
The $1,500 creator was expected to be the unlock but the founder's own screen recording beat both creator ads; creator content remains a way to have others work on his behalf.
- Stage
- growth
- Effort
- Two paid creator videos initially ($2,250); ongoing since
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Turning a Side Project into a Six-Figure Subscription Business – Eric Duffett, Shot Pattern“So, I paid two creators: one, I paid I think 750 bucks because his follower count was somewhat small, and another one was a creator who had done really, really, really well on TikTok”
“I do pay some content creators to help me create content, both goes to their audience, but I repurpose it as ads.”
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More from this episode
- Shot Pattern: Build an app for something golfers already do by handEarly trials and paying strangers with little effort, unlike the first app
- Shot Pattern: Post helpful golf tips on X with app screenshots, starting before launchA few trial starts after each helpful post; slow steady growth
- Shot Pattern: Pay $5,000 for golf course data, then dig through it for new featuresFound data for a new expected-value feature that went viral
- Shot Pattern: Tweet a teaser of a feature you are still building25-40K impressions from ~1,000 followers; influencer calls and a buyout offer
- Shot Pattern: Compare your trial numbers to public benchmarks before selling, then say noDeclined $75K; 2024 revenue ~$185K and $500K+ ARR a year later
- Shot Pattern: Add features users already want, then double the price to $75 a yearPrice now ~$75/year; no separate conversion impact reported
- Shot Pattern: Run image-only ads for a couple of weeksAbout break-even; switched to video
- Shot Pattern: Make a quick screen recording of the app with auto captions and run it as an ad$0.70 installs vs $3.50-4 revenue per download; drove 2024 to ~$185K
- Shot Pattern: Use an interest-free credit card to spend more on ads that pay back2024 revenue ~$185K; founder paid himself $100K
- Shot Pattern: Give golf video creators the app for free and ask them to mention itMany posted once; no numbers given
- Undaunted Golf: Email all 300+ college golf coaches one by one about the appAbout 5 replies: 2 'unsubscribe', 1 hostile, 2 asked for Android
- Undaunted Golf: Try a few Twitter adsDidn't work; founder calls it a weak effort
- Shot Pattern: Answer support for 30 minutes each morning and 30 minutes each night