Wavve Boating · B2C · boat navigation app
Announce every new partner in a press release to land the next one
Partners bring ~25% of new users and open doors to other deals
Workedpr-launchpartnerships
What they did
Each signed partnership becomes a new press release that the partner's press team also shares, which drives new press and inbound interest; known partner names (BRP, Freedom Boat Club, boat education and licensing partners) are used as credibility when approaching new partners. Has not yet put partner logos on App Store pages (an acknowledged missed opportunity).
What happened
About 25% of tracked acquisition comes via partners, plus untracked organic users who heard through them; credibility opens new partner conversations.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Navigating App Growth Through Strategic Partnerships and Media Wins — Adam Allore, Wavve Boating“Where I kind of saw this interesting flywheel happen is then you land the partnership, and then there becomes another press release, right?”
“When we're looking at other potential partnerships, people aren't familiar with us, they know about Bombardier Recreational Products, they know about Freedom Boat Club”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Wavve Boating: Rent a boat show booth and demo a web map on iPads posing as an appUnder $1,000; visitors asked where to download it, gave emails, and he quit his job
- Wavve Boating: Pay a local contractor to wrap your core feature in a bare-bones iOS appApp was 'very bad' but drew early adopters and proved people would pay
- Wavve Boating: Test each ad channel with $500 to $1,000 and keep the one that worksApple Search Ads won with $0.50-$1 installs
- Wavve Boating: Take drone photos of marinas and ask them to hang an app posterDidn't work; too many steps for too little activation
- Wavve Boating: Write the whole article for niche trade journalists, images included, and send itGot steady coverage and credibility; modest downloads but led to big partnerships
- Wavve Boating: Be extra fast and reliable to win a big partner, and don't be greedyBecame Sea-Doo's navigation app; partner paid integration costs and it enabled the angel round
- Wavve Boating: Raise a small local angel round after proving people pay and signing a partnerRaised under $0.5M; enough to hire, build Android and deliver the partner integration
- Wavve Boating: Sell app licenses to a boat club so members get it free, paid per activationLanded the deal; club saves vs multi-thousand-dollar chartplotters; no revenue numbers
- Wavve Boating: Send partner members a link that skips the paywall; police abuse laterFounder says activation, not tech, was the real hurdle; no numbers
- Wavve Boating: Build a custom web tool for one boat rental partnerPartner happy, but a distraction from the core consumer app
- Greg: Put a QR code for your app in every plant sold at partner nurseriesHost says it became a huge user acquisition driver; no numbers