Business of Apps Podcast

#224: Breaking down the Subscription Value Loop strategy with Phil Carter, Growth Advisor at Elemental Growth


Listen Later

In the future, history textbooks will be telling the story of how, at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, we all collectively jumped into the world of mobile apps. 

Now, you may be super excited about the growth of the mobile ecosystem or shake your head about its externalities, unintended consequences, but it’s undeniable - mobile apps take a huge spot in our lives. 

Today, a big chunk of the mobile app economy space belongs to app subscriptions - Netflix, Apple TV, Tinder, Duolingo, the list goes on and on. If you build apps yourself and monetize them with the subscription model, you will be really interested to learn about Phil’s Subscription Value Loop strategy.

Today’s Topics Include:
  • Phil Carter's bio
  • Key challenges developers of subscription-based apps face today
  • Identifying and refining the core value proposition 
  • Strategies to convert free users into subscribers, while maintaining a great user experience and ensuring long-term profitability 
  • Android or iOS?
  • Leaving his smartphone at home, what features would Phil miss most?
  • What features he would like to see added to his smartphone?
  • Links and Resources:
    • Phil Carter on LinkedIn
    • Phil Carter's website
    • Maven course
    • Phil's Sub stack
    • Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry
    • Quotes from Phil Carter:

      "The core of the subscription value loop framework that I teach about in my course is a company's core value promise. In other words, what is the value that you're providing to a user, and ideally to a paying subscriber, that is going to not just bring them to the product in the first place, but cause them to continue paying you a subscription over a long period of time?"

      "And value delivery is typically led by marketing teams, sometimes with the support of growth product teams or sales teams if you have a B2B business. And value delivery is all about making sure that you have sustainable unit economics, right? You're going to have some amount of LTV that you get from users. But in order to have a sustainable business, you need a strong LTV over CAC ratio and a rapid payback period. And that depends critically on your cost of user acquisition."

      Host

      Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      Business of Apps PodcastBy Business of Apps

      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7

      4.7

      24 ratings


      More shows like Business of Apps Podcast

      View all
      HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

      HBR IdeaCast

      237 Listeners

      The Vergecast by The Verge

      The Vergecast

      3,620 Listeners

      Under the Radar by Relay

      Under the Radar

      208 Listeners

      Founders by David Senra

      Founders

      1,754 Listeners

      How I Built This with Guy Raz by Guy Raz | Wondery

      How I Built This with Guy Raz

      30,293 Listeners

      The Daily by The New York Times

      The Daily

      112,758 Listeners

      Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

      Masters of Scale

      3,986 Listeners

      Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

      Y Combinator Startup Podcast

      214 Listeners

      Swift over Coffee by Paul Hudson and Mikaela Caron

      Swift over Coffee

      165 Listeners

      Sub Club by RevenueCat by David Barnard, Jacob Eiting

      Sub Club by RevenueCat

      56 Listeners

      The Startup Ideas Podcast by Greg Isenberg

      The Startup Ideas Podcast

      185 Listeners

      Unsolicited Feedback by Brian Balfour & Fareed Mosavat

      Unsolicited Feedback

      41 Listeners

      Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future by Superhuman AI

      Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future

      6 Listeners