A profitable subscription app · B2C · developer the host knows
Spend on ads if they pay back by day 366, counting first renewals
Unknownpaid-socialfinancing
What they did
Bootstrapped, very profitable app with strong ASO. Model: take revenue from 7-day free trial conversions, add an assumed 40% renewal of annual subscribers at year one, and allow paid UA as long as it is confidently profitable by day 366. Later renewals (60-70% of renewers) are upside. Relies on having enough cash in the bank to finance acquisition before money comes back.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · What it Takes to Succeed with Paid User Acquisition — Thomas Petit, App Growth Consultant“He built a model that, "I can spend on paid UA if my return on that investment is relatively confident at 366 days." So he takes all the initial conversions and then discounts the renewals.”
“So if you take the revenue on my seven-day free trial conversion, and you take 40% assumption of one-year renewal, as long as I'm profitable at day 366, I can cashflow a certain amount of paid UA,”
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