Soundmap · B2C · music collecting game app
Sell power-ups on top of the subscription, like 2x more songs nearby
Guest says it captures what each user is willing to spend; no numbers
Unknownupsell-expansionpricing
What they did
Subscription captures most of the value; consumables and power-ups (e.g. discover two times more songs in your area) capture extra spend from users willing to pay more.
What happened
Guest says they are able to capture all the value users are willing to spend.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Buying vs. Building: Scaling Beyond a Single App — Josh Peleg, BlueThrone“Now, they have a subscription, which is capturing majority of the value of the users. But they also have consumables and power-ups that, for example, let you discover two times more songs in your area.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
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- BlueThrone: Buy only a few apps with strong organic traffic and invest in their teamsPortfolio cut to 5 apps, each a category leader or on its way; guest says it works
- BlueThrone: After buying a music app, hire a GM from Spotify and triple the teamMAU grew from 200K to almost 6M; still near the top of its category
- BlueThrone: Build an in-house team making cheap UGC TikTok videos for the appsFirst viral video took 6 months and several people; gets faster with practice
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- Build solo without VC money, then sell the app within 18 monthsSold for over $4M; deal closed in 3 months with no investors involved
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- Cal AI: Launch a rough app, prove people pay, then build the real techHost says it's now a genuinely great app; no numbers
- Push the lifetime plan on the paywall right before selling the appKnocks down negotiations; the buyer can't monetize those users again
- Cut ad spend from $50K to $10K a month to look profitable before sellingDownloads eventually follow the drop; guest calls it riskier than pushing revenue
- Add in-app coins that people earn from ads or buy in packsApps that crack consumables reach deeper LTVs, per talks with hundreds of founders
- BlueThrone: Before buying an app, compare its return per dollar with more ad spend
- BlueThrone: Stack category downloads over time to see if new apps grow the marketScreen time market grew with each new entrant; buying a non-leader looked OK
- Strava: Keep a bought app separate and sell one subscription for both apps