Connor's primary acquisition lever from day one was influencer/creator partnerships. He identified a content creator already operating in the class action / personal finance niche and paid them to promote Payout to their existing audience. That single creator's videos drove "thousands of downloads" in the early days, effectively bootstrapping the initial user base without any paid ad spend. He also structured his onboarding specifically to maximize conversion from the first user onward — a long, emotion-invoking onboarding sequence with social proof, personalization questions, charts/graphs for credibility, and a hard paywall before the core feature. This meant even cold traffic from influencer videos was funneling through a conversion-optimized flow from launch, so the first users who landed were also the first paying subscribers.
Payout
Mobile app helping users find and claim class action lawsuit settlements
7 moves, in order
- Pre build / ValidationCompetitor app research
Downloaded ~20 apps in the target niche plus well-designed apps for inspiration. Screenshotted every page of every onboarding and laid them all out in a Figma file to identify the best patterns for conversion, personalization, social proof, and paywalls.
Produced a validated onboarding blueprint before writing a single line of code - Pre build / DesignFigma design system
Designed a conversion-focused onboarding in Figma combining the best elements from competitor research — emotion-invoking copy, personalization questions, charts/graphs for scientific credibility, and a hard paywall screen with weekly and yearly subscription options prioritizing the yearly plan for LTV.
Paywall described as 'converting really well'; yearly plan prioritized to maximize LTV - Build (Days 1–14)Ai vibe coding
Used Claude (Claude Code) exclusively to build the app. Dropped Figma screenshots directly into Claude so it could generate code screen-by-screen. Prepared a text document with data structures and JSON schemas in advance to minimize AI guesswork. Built core functionality first, skipping onboarding initially, then added onboarding later. App shipped in under 2 weeks.
Functional cross-platform app shipped and submitted to app store in ~14 days - Launch / Month 1Influencer UGC
Partnered with a content creator already operating in the class action / personal finance niche. Creator produced natural, relatable videos about Payout to their existing audience. Connor focused on formats that felt organic rather than like ads.
Thousands of downloads driven by the initial creator partnership - Scaling / Weeks 3–7Ugc ad creative library
Once the first creator's video format proved it worked organically, Connor brought in additional creators to replicate the winning formats. This built a library of UGC ad creatives whose organic performance predicted future paid ad performance.
Built a library of proven ad creatives ready for paid scaling - Scaling / Month 2Facebook paid ads
Ran paid ads on Facebook using the UGC creatives that had already proven themselves organically. Focused on balancing entertainment value (to lower CPMs) with direct conversion messaging (to drive subscriptions), exploiting Facebook's dual optimization for engagement and advertiser results.
$20,000/month MRR, 12,000+ downloads, 300+ new subscriptions; won RevenueCat Shipatreon hackathon ($65,000 grand prize) within ~50 days of launchMRR $20k Users 12k users - OngoingApp store subscription optimization
Used RevenueCat for subscription analytics and pricing testing. Structured the paywall to show both weekly and yearly options but visually prioritize the yearly plan to maximize customer lifetime value.
Paywall described as 'converting really well'; yearly plan uptake not quantified but prioritizedMRR $20k
Connor had already built and monetized ~5 prior mobile apps doing over $1M in cumulative subscription revenue, giving him a refined playbook for onboarding design, monetization, and influencer marketing that a first-time founder would not have. He also had prior relationships and experience running UGC/influencer campaigns.
influencer_ugc_campaigns
Social/network-effect apps: his first app, Hotspot Events (a social app), took 6–8 months to build and failed because social apps are very hard to scale as a solo founder. He explicitly moved away from social apps toward utility/tool apps as a result.
I vibe coded a $20K/month mobile app in 14 days
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