Simply · B2C · creative hobby learning apps
Launch each new hobby as its own app, run by a small independent team
Piano ~80% of its category; Draw revenue grew ~6x last year
Workedportfolioteam-process
What they did
New products (Guitar, Sing, Draw) start as separate apps built by multidisciplinary 'pods' that move fast and independently, using the same early customer-discovery and growth playbooks. They grow in parallel with their own acquisition rather than being pushed from Simply Piano.
What happened
Simply Piano ~80% share of piano-learning apps; Sing and Guitar growing toward leadership; Simply Draw's revenue grew roughly six-fold last year. Guest notes not every attempt succeeds.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Simply Finally Cracked Facebook Ads with Web Funnels – Yoav Sharon, Simply“forming a multidisciplinary team, we call them pods that basically tries to build a product offering and nail down that value proposition that actually meets that needs.”
“Parallel motion, we only do these promotions when it really serves our users.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Simply: Send Facebook ad clicks to a short web quiz and paywall, not the App Store~20% of revenue from web; Facebook worked for the first time
- Simply: Sell a bundle of all your apps on the web, where you can explain itGuest says it works well; no numbers
- Simply: Offer a family plan with up to 5 profiles that covers every appMulti-app, multi-profile accounts retain best in every cohort
- Simply Piano: Mark songs in the piano app that you can also sing in the singing app
- Simply: Switch off app ads in one country and web ads in another to spot overlapShowed where apps and channels cannibalized each other; no numbers
- Simply: Meet your Apple and Google account managers every two weeks and share your roadmapGot early beta access and design partnerships; no numbers
- Simply Piano: Build a version for each new headset in time for its launchNot about ROI yet; bet on the future
- Simply Piano: Lean on monthly plans once people keep renewing month after monthHigher LTV on monthly than annual in Simply Piano; no numbers
- Simply: Test annual discounts as deep as 60-75% off monthlyGuest calls discount depth a valuable lever; no numbers
- Simply: Try weekly plans for a skill that takes months to learnTested in some apps; none offered now
- Simply: Price each country with your own Big Mac-style index, not currency conversionBig ARPU jump in most countries; a few didn't work and were adjusted
- Simply Piano: Pick one country by upside and confidence, then fully localize songs, screens and storeAll Japan metrics grew except paywall conversion, which fell
- Simply Piano: In Japan, swap the clean paywall for a long page with company story and reviewsPaywall conversion 'skyrocketed' after falling with the Western-style paywall
- Simply Draw: Use AI to bring a kid's drawing to life in the first sessionRaised ARPU; parents share results on Instagram; no numbers
- Simply: Turn the features users love most into your adsGuest says it works; no numbers
- Simply Piano: Show a soft paywall after onboarding, then keep it only for kids' accountsBig early ARPU win; adults without a piano didn't stay, so kept it for kids only