Shot Pattern · B2C · golf strategy and GPS app
Post a teaser of a feature you're halfway through building
First viral tweet; reached a pro who won a tournament and led to a $75K offer
Workedfounder-brandpr-launch
What they did
After buying a $5,000 golf course data API, the founder found it enabled a new feature: simulating 1,000 shots on a hole (Mark Broadie's method) using the golfer's own data and the course they're traveling to. Halfway through building it, he posted a teaser tweet on X saying the feature was coming, with a cheeky hook that it 'would be highly illegal' to use during play. The audience already believed in this way of thinking about golf.
What happened
His first tweet with any virality; landed in the right hands, including a player who won a professional tournament using the app, which led to an acquisition offer
- Stage
- Growth (early growth)
- Effort
- One tweet
“When I was halfway through in building it, I decided to throw this teaser out on X as a tweet.”
“Like, uh, I tried to be a little bit uh risque with saying like, "Hey, this would be highly illegal uh if you try to use it during play.”
“it was like my first tweet with any sort of virality.”
Related topics
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More from Shot Pattern
All 33 Shot Pattern tactics- Pay golf creators $750-$1,500 per video and run the videos as adsCreator ads were not the winner at first; still used as ongoing ad content
- 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
- Build an app for something golfers already do by handEarly trials and paying strangers with little effort, unlike the first app
- Post helpful golf tips on X with app screenshots, starting before launchA few trial starts after each helpful post; slow steady growth
- Pay $5,000 for golf course data, then dig through it for new featuresFound data for a new expected-value feature that went viral
- Tweet a teaser of a feature you are still building25-40K impressions from ~1,000 followers; influencer calls and a buyout offer
More from this episode
- Shot Pattern: Launch in weeks with just two features no competitor offers$1,000 revenue by the end of the first June; users asked for more
- Shot Pattern: Join conversations on X where your audience already talks and mention your appOnly channel in the first months; drove the first $1,000
- Shot Pattern: Compare your conversion rates with RevenueCat's benchmarks before you accept an acquisition offer99th-percentile trial rates; turned down $75K and netted ~$100K the next summer
- Shot Pattern: Raise your yearly price to about $75 so paid ads can pay offFounder says it set up profitable paid ads; no before/after numbers
- Shot Pattern: Start paid ads only once your trial and paid conversion rates are strongAds worked from the start because the funnel already converted
- Shot Pattern: Run Meta install ads with at least three videos and about $300 a day$1.57 per install (under $1 early); $1 spent returned ~$4
- Shot Pattern: Run a quick screen recording of your app with your own voiceover as an adGot 80-90% of spend and beat both creator ads; $1.57 per install
- Shot Pattern: Use an interest-free credit card to keep profitable ads running until Apple pays you~$100K net income in one summer push
- Shot Pattern: Clip a demo of your newest feature into an ad that looks unlike other adsAds reached 1.8M and 1.3M paid views at $500/day; main performance channel
- Shot Pattern: Pay a popular creator's tournament entry in exchange for an ad about your appMeta barely served it; lost to a lo-fi founder video
- Shot Pattern: Run static image ads on MetaDidn't go anywhere; switched to video
- Shot Pattern: Pay a YouTuber who already uses your app to work it into videosFounder says these channels help together; no numbers
- Shot Pattern: Cut your paywall down to almost no wordsTrial starts rose each round, but trial conversion and LTV fell
- Shot Pattern: Fill your paywall with a long feature list so buyers see a great deal12% fewer trial starts (21% to 18%) but significantly more revenue
- Shot Pattern: Copy the usual onboarding screens: social proof, permissions, setup questionsEach screen lost users; lowest install-to-sign-up rate ever
- Shot Pattern: Make onboarding an interactive tutorial where people try the appSign-ups up 8%, trial starts up 19%
- Shot Pattern: Cut the onboarding step where the most people quitSign-ups 70% to 74%; no significant change in trials after 9,000 users
- Shot Pattern: Hire a contractor from your industry to run paywall and onboarding testsStarted regular experiments; mixed results, including some wins
- Shot Pattern: Build for advanced users and let casual users walk away
- Shot Pattern: Grow through App Store search in a category old, rich apps dominateHasn't worked; competitors too entrenched and few target users search
- Sell a mental-skills app to high school athletesYears of near-zero sales; teens didn't see the problem or pay