WidgetBox · B2C · home screen widgets app
Build fast for a brand-new iPhone feature, like iOS 14 widgets
Became one of the top ~3 widget apps
Workedmarket-selectionaso
What they did
When Apple released home-screen widgets with iOS 14 there was a boom in widget apps; the team executed fast and threw all its marketing expertise at the opportunity. Same pattern: when the ChatGPT API launched there was no official ChatGPT iOS app, so apps ranking for 'ChatGPT' searches made good revenue. BeHard similarly monitors social media for new challenge trends.
What happened
WidgetBox reached roughly the top three widget apps.
- Stage
- launch
“iOS 14 widgets was one of this opportunities when with iOS 14, Apple released like widgets for iOS”
“here is just like you see opportunity, you try to execute fast, and you try to get any expertise that you have like in marketing, everything, just like to to make this opportunity work”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- BeHard: Score every app idea 1-5 on interest, skill and opportunity, then build the top oneFounder says it picked his successful products; no numbers
- BeHard: Build the first version in one week, cutting features until it fitsAlmost all of the founder's successful products started this way
- BeHard: Catch people already searching for challenges, then add creators, then paid adsReached over $1M ARR
- BeHard: Use creators early, when a video's download spike is easy to seeTens of millions of TikTok views; can beat paid ads with the right creator
- BeHard: Post TikToks and Reels of yourself doing the app's challenges
- BeHard: Make store screenshots yourself in two days before paying designersQuick self-made set beat 3 weeks of designer work and an agency's 5 versions
- BeHard: After launch, find the weakest step, test a fix, and scale what paysFounder's standard process; no numbers
- Give the app away free for life for a short promo windowRevenue went from ~$200/month to $90,000 in the first year
- Build the app people are already searching the App Store forGot downloads right away; monetizing took more work
- Sell weekly plans instead of yearly onesWeekly worked better than yearly; no numbers
- Launch with plain app screenshots and put all effort into keywords$1,000 in the first month from ASO alone
- Post lots of short social videos for a utility appAbout 75K total views but little growth
- Add lots of long-tail exact-match keywords to Apple AdsDidn't work; too little search volume
- When only two exact keywords convert, switch to a broader Apple Ads campaignWorked a lot better; no numbers
- Title emails 'Our most popular workouts' instead of explaining benefitsWorkout completion rate doubled
- Parallel Live: Post content about the idea and validate it before building the appWent on to over $1M ARR
- Momingo: Judge ad spend on 3-month customer value, not first-month return
- Run Google app install ads in one cheap country for under 10 cents per installUnder $0.10 per install in some markets; conversion still to be checked
- Pay podcasters in your niche a cut of each sale they bring inHost recommends it for indies; no numbers
- Show the paywall first; ask people to sign up only after they say yesHost finds forced sign-up first means people usually won't pay