Ryan Thorpe didn't build one successful app. He built a factory that cranked out 30+ apps with over 50 million downloads—and turned one of them into the #1 most downloaded app in the U.S., beating TikTok and Google on the same day.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Joseph sits down with Ryan to break down the exact playbook behind Reflective Apps. Ryan reveals how they trained 250 content creators, spent 75% of their annual ad budget in January when costs dropped 50%, and scaled one video with 66.9 million views that they still can't explain.

You'll learn:

• The three-tier ad scaling system that took Done to #1 in the App Store
• How to build a creator army from 2K-20K follower accounts ($30-$100 per video)
• Why the first Sunday after New Year's is the "Super Bowl" for app downloads
• The viral formula: 25-27 frame cuts in 10-15 seconds with trending sounds
• Seasonal arbitrage: why January acquisition costs are 50% cheaper
• How Ryan's now building Fload—AI employees that grow apps while you sleep

Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions, this episode shows you the factory system that turns chaos into predictable growth.

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
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Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

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Ivan Peskov and Nicholas Tsvietkov cracked organic growth without making a single video. They posted 300,000 Instagram comments and generated 7,000 clicks—building SteelAlive into a distribution engine that automates what entire marketing teams can't scale.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Ivan and Nicholas walk through their entire playbook with Joseph—from running Minecraft servers to generating 100 million TikTok views to building custom Android infrastructure that runs 20 accounts per phone.

What they cover:

• How 300,000 Instagram comments drove 7,000 app clicks at 15% profile-to-link conversion
• The custom Android ROM that tricks platforms into thinking each account is a real person
• Why transparent "I co-founded this app" comments convert better than covert tactics
• Scaling from 60 phones to 1,000 devices posting 21 million comments monthly
• Their MVP platform launching this week—think Instantly.ai for Instagram comments

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

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Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

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If you’re finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps mo...

Dmitri Mirakyan started YourMove AI as a drunk joke at a party. Two and a half years later, the app hit $30K/month at 80% margins with over 1 million users—and he sold it.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Dmitri breaks down the bootstrap playbook: how he turned major media coverage into an SEO machine, hired 10-12 Upwork contractors while keeping his day job, and scaled profitably by funneling his tech salary into growth experiments. Now he's building Creed, backed by a16z Speedrun.

You'll learn:

• How PR on Fox, CNBC, Wired, and WSJ didn't drive users—but built domain authority that powered SEO for 50% of traffic
• The contractor playbook: managing 10-12 Upwork freelancers working just a few hours per week each
• Why he stayed at Opendoor until $20K/month revenue, using his salary to fund experiments
• The exact moment he knew it was time to quit (spoiler: a perfectly timed layoff with severance)

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts—it helps more people discover these conversations.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
Follow us on X: @Superwall

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If you’re finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps mo...

Jack Friks scrolled TikTok every morning for an hour, found what worked, and copied it. That "lazy" strategy took his app from $0 to $15,000 in a single month.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Joseph breaks down how Jack built four apps—one got a $1M acquisition offer he turned down, another hit 100,000 downloads in 10 weeks. Watch the full episode here.

You'll learn:

• The 15-minute scrolling ritual that finds winning formats
• Why making the same video 400 times generated 5 million views
• The 8-second format that converted 20x better than slideshows
• How one Twitter thread brought 40,000 downloads overnight

Whether you're cracking organic growth or validating your first app, this shows how one founder went from nothing to multi-app portfolio revenue by copying what works.

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Follow Jack: https://x.com/jackfriks
Follow Superwall: @Superwall

Enjoying the show? Leave a rating on Apple Podcasts.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
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Connor Burd is 23 years old and makes over $1M a year building apps. His main app, Payout, does $45,000 a month—almost entirely from influencers. But here's the twist: he doesn't pay them to post. He gives them equity and builds the app for their audience before writing a single line of code.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Joseph breaks down Connor's entire playbook: how to actually reach influencers (hint: not DMs), the Figma mockup strategy that wins partnerships, and why equity deals beat paid promotions when you're starting out.

Here's what you'll learn:

• How Connor's partner Casper drove 35,000+ clicks with ManyChat integration
• The email outreach method that gets influencer responses (find their YouTube email)
• Why building apps in niche markets beats competing with unicorns
• The "highest leverage activity" mindset that scaled Connor from $0 to $1M ARR

Whether you're validating your first app idea or struggling with distribution, this episode shows you exactly how to flip the traditional model and partner with influencers who actually care about your success.

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Learn more at superwall.com
 Follow us on X: @Superwall

Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts—it helps more people discover these conversations.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
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If you’re finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps mo...

Roger Chen built two consumer social apps that hit #1 on the App Store. Lobby reached 500,000 daily active users across five countries. Bro, his AI companion app, topped the US charts. The wild part? He validated both ideas before writing production code.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Joseph sits down with Roger to break down his unconventional playbook. Watch the full conversation here. Roger's refreshingly transparent about what actually works versus what's just noise—from using PowerPoint mockups that hit 7.9 million views on TikTok to the exact growth feature that made Lobby explode across multiple countries.

Here's what Roger covers:

• Pre-validating products with PowerPoint mockups before building anything—his co-founder filmed fake prototypes using Protoy that looked real enough to test user interest at scale
• Why ads are for validation, not scaling—spending a few thousand dollars on TikTok ads gives you instant feedback instead of burning months building in isolation
• The group picture feature that changed everything—Lobby users could take synchronized boomerangs during video chats, share to Instagram Stories with watermarks, creating FOMO for friends not in the hangout
• Network density as the real growth lever—Lobby struggled for a year until it went viral in Israel, where 60% of users got five friends on day one (versus 20% elsewhere), leading to 25-30% 90-day retention
• How one viral TikTok mockup hit 7.9M views—the Bro concept resonated even though viewers spotted it was staged, proving the idea worked before any code was written
• Scaling with 50 TikTok creators testing formats—Roger admits he couldn't predict what would work, with some "ridiculous" concepts hitting 2.3M views while polished ideas flopped
• The one-minute call that solved temporal density—forcing everyone online at the same random moment each night, inspired by BeReal's synchronous magic
• Using AI to create context, not content—Bro floats over your texts and apps as an ambient companion that augments social interactions instead of replacing them

Whether you're validating your first app idea or trying to crack product-led viral growth, this episode shows you the exact playbook Roger used to hit #1 on the App

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
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Kyle Fowler made $700,000 from two apps he built in college. The crazy part? Cardstock generated $10K a month passively for two straight years—while he traveled, studied, and barely touched the app. Now both apps pull $41K in monthly recurring revenue, zero VC funding, just ASO tactics and a friend he hired from Wendy's.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Kyle breaks down how two weeks of keyword research turned into years of passive income, why he hired his friend Jacob from Wendy's instead of a marketing agency, and how they're now scaling to 7,600 TikTok posts per month using a platform that costs $1 per thousand views. Joseph digs into the exact ASO strategy, the repeatable TikTok format that drives "what's the app?" comments, and Kyle's philosophy that every growth channel probably works—you just have to commit long enough to figure it out. Watch the full episode here.

• Two weeks of Sensor Tower keyword research that held the #1 App Store ranking for "baseball card scanner" for 2-3 years straight
• The Reddit validation method: 12-15 replies in r/baseballcards before writing any code, $60 in revenue on launch day
• Why switching from $4.99 one-time purchase to $5/month subscriptions exploded revenue from $10K to $30K+ monthly
• The exact TikTok slideshow format: 3-5 seconds of desirable card + in-hand app scan + value reveal = repeatable viral content
• How Noise platform lets them generate 7,600 posts per month across 150+ creators at just $1 CPM ($2,600 for 27 million views)
• Kyle's "learn it yourself first" hiring philosophy: why he mastered TikTok before bringing on Jacob, then replicated the entire playbook for Scanémon ($9K MRR)
• The "everything works" mindset that most founders miss—stop channel-hopping and commit to one until you crack it
• Why bootstrapping forced better decisions: no VC cash meant learning each channel deeply instead of throwing money at agencies
• How being "overly on Twitter" and the Consumer Club Discord accelerated his learning through founder-to-founder knowledge sharing

Whether you're trying to crack ASO in an underserved niche or scale organic TikTok without burning cash on agencies, Kyle's playbook shows exactly how two simple apps hit $41K MRR through relentless iteration and picking one channel at a time.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
Follow us on X: @Superwall

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Matt Gittleson didn't hire influencers with big follower counts. He found creators in beauty and lifestyle niches, spotted what he calls "camera charisma," trained them from scratch, and now Jenni AI's UGC program has racked up 75 million views at under $2 per thousand views—helping push the company past $775K MRR.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Matt breaks down his entire playbook with Joseph: how he scaled from 0 to 150 creators in three months, why one of his best creators made $5K last month after bombing her first 25 videos, and the "engagement bait" format that scored 30 million X views. Matt doesn't use creator databases or chase stats—he doom scrolls for hours looking for three things: how emotive they are, whether the first frame looks aesthetic, and if they're naturally extroverted yappers.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The "camera charisma" checklist that finds hidden gems everyone else overlooks—and why lower follower counts get you better deals
• How Matt's first-ever TikTok got 245K views and led to Jenni AI acquiring his startup through an Instagram DM with eye emojis
• Why "engagement bait" crushes pure rage bait—the exact format that divided opinion and got 30 million organic X views
• The cold DM strategy for skeptical micro-creators who've never done brand deals (all lowercase, specific social proof, zero fluff)
• How to reverse engineer viral formats from different niches—Matt now builds product features specifically for TikTok formats
• Why aquihiring young founders beats hiring pure creators (they understand conversion, not just virality)

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Enjoying the show?
Leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
Follow us on X: @Superwall

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If you’re finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps mo...

Reed Manata Built Fitted to 600K Downloads By Paying a Creator $20 Per Video

Reed Manata started as a caddy grinding for a Penn State scholarship, built an 18-city laundry service without owning a washing machine, then pivoted into something nobody saw coming: an AI fashion app that racked up 500 million views and 600,000 downloads. Now Fitted generates $150K in revenue while sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of closet data.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Reed breaks down his entire growth playbook with Joseph.

Here's what makes this story different—Reed built distribution first, then the product. He found a creator with viral potential (Max Gomez, who had 50K followers), paid him $20 per video to test content, and when traction hit, brought him on as co-founder with meaningful equity. The result? Downloads for 1 to 15 cents each. Max went from making outfit videos in class to driving half a billion views for Fitted.

What you'll learn:

• The exact "crawl, walk, run" partnership structure that turned a $20-per-video deal into a co-founder relationship
• How pre-validating with organic TikTok content (before building the product) led to 100K waitlist signups in one week
• Why Reed spent six months rebuilding the mobile app after the web version flopped—and how one viral video after launch drove hundreds of thousands of downloads
• The content formula that generates one viral video per month, and why Reed tests new features on TikTok before coding them
• How Fitted is positioned to become an AI resale marketplace with data brands can't access—what people actually wear versus what they buy
• Why Reed is making the app entirely free to remove friction, then going "scorched earth" on celebrity and athlete partnerships
• The TaskRabbit integration that solves onboarding friction by having professionals digitize your closet for you
• How Fitcoin (Fitted's crypto token) does $4M in daily volume and quietly onboards consumers into Web3 through familiar in-app purchases

Whether you're validating your first app idea or trying to crack organic growth at scale, this episode shows you the exact playbook a bootstrapped founder used to hit $150K revenue with zero paid ads—by building distribution before product.

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: superwall.com

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
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Vahe Baghdasaryan took one app from a 1.1% install-to-paid conversion rate to 4% in five months—without spending a dollar more on user acquisition. That's nearly a 4x revenue increase just by fixing paywall leaks. Now his company Tangent has helped apps generate over $50 million in revenue from 10,000+ paywall experiments.

In this episode of The Superwall Podcast, Vahe breaks down the exact playbook he uses to spot money leaks hiding in plain sight. Our host Joseph digs into everything from multi-step paywall mechanics to psychological triggers that boost conversions by 40%. Watch the full interview here.

Here's what Vahe reveals:

• Why copying famous paywalls kills your conversion—and the contextual factors most founders ignore
• The multi-step paywall strategy that doubled Claim's trial start rate to 34% (vs. 15% benchmark)
• How mentioning "free trial" 5-7 times across screens crushes purchase anxiety
• The trial toggle feature that captures 10% more revenue by letting users skip trials for instant discounts
• Transaction abandonment tactics: offer 80% off with trial, 90% off without—then add an undiscounted option for price anchoring
• The spin wheel gamification tactic (borrowed from e-commerce) that doubles conversion vs. static discount displays
• Why $3.33/month pricing outperforms $2.99—unconventional numbers signal authenticity
• Four high-leverage paywall placements: session start, contextual actions, premium gates, and transaction abandonment

Whether you're stuck at a 2% conversion rate or trying to scale past seven figures, this episode shows you exactly how to plug revenue leaks without touching your product or growth budget.

Start building paywalls in 10 minutes: https://superwall.com/
Join Consumer Club: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
 Follow us on X: @Superwall

Enjoying the show?
If you're finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps more people discover these conversations.

Start building & deploying paywalls in 10 minutes flat: https://superwall.com/

Join a community of world class consumer app founders and growth hackers: https://joinconsumerclub.com/

Superwall gives you full control over your mobile app paywalls — so you can build, test, and optimize native paywall experiences without needing to ship a new app update. Whether you're launching your first app or scaling to millions of users, Superwall helps you grow faster, smarter, and with less code.

Learn more and create a free account at superwall.com
Follow us on X: @Superwall

Enjoying the show?

If you’re finding value in the Superwall Sessions, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it helps mo...