Pre launch / Day Zero
Product Hunt launch
Launched on Product Hunt as their initial distribution strategy. Got featured on the front page, generating a couple hundred installs.
→ ~200 installs, 2 paid subscribers — enough to validate willingness to pay
Early Growth — Platform Decision
Data research
Used the RevenueCat 'State of Subscription Apps 2025' report to validate Android as primary platform. Report showed iOS users are 4x more expensive to advertise to but only convert ~20% better, making Android far more capital-efficient for a bootstrapped team.
→ Strategic decision to focus Android-first, avoiding expensive iOS CPMs
Month 1–2 — Install Campaigns
Google App Campaigns
Set up attribution and measurement via Firebase/GA4, sending install, paywall hit, free trial start, and purchase events to Google Ads. Launched Google App install campaigns at $10–15/day using stock images and stock videos to feed the algorithm with data.
→ Established baseline CPI and began generating install data for algorithm optimization
Months 2–4 — Asset Optimization
Google App Campaigns
Iteratively replaced stock assets with custom images and videos. Took 'big swings' with dramatically different creative (not minor tweaks). Updated Play Store screenshots, app title, subtitle, and description — since Google App Campaigns pull directly from Play Store assets.
→ Identified winning creative patterns; improved conversion rate on campaigns
Scale Phase — tCPA Campaigns
Google App Campaigns
Once assets and conversion data were strong, launched Target CPA (tCPA) campaigns. Followed Google's rule of budgeting 10x the CPA target per day (e.g., $15 CPA target = $150/day budget) so the algorithm gets 10 target events/day to optimize effectively.
→ Campaigns became self-sustaining; enabled controlled scaling of ad spend
Ongoing — Android Flywheel
Google App Campaigns
Continuously optimized paywall, pricing, and subscription conversion rate. As conversion rate improved, increased campaign budgets proportionally. Also discovered that Android campaigns generated organic spillover installs on iOS, providing a free secondary channel.
→ 80% of revenue and users from Android; ~1M Android installs; $125K revenue in past 28 days
MRR $80k Users 30k users
Ongoing — Play Store Search Ads
Google play store ads
Ran Play Store placement ads targeting high-intent keywords like 'calorie counter' and 'calorie tracker', appearing as the #1 result in Play Store search. Identified this as their highest-performing ad placement across Google's network (vs. Display, Search, YouTube, Discover).
→ Near-#1 Play Store ranking for key calorie tracking keywords; described as 'bread and butter' channel
All Time Ad Spend Summary
Google App Campaigns
Spent just under $500,000 total on Google Ads over the lifetime of the app (~18 months), with nearly the same amount in directly attributed revenue — running at roughly 100% ROAS break-even while building a subscriber base of 30,000+ active subscribers.
→ ~$500K ad spend, ~$500K directly attributed revenue, 30K+ active subscribers, ~$1M ARR
MRR $80k Users 30k users