Sub Club by RevenueCat

On the podcast: how AI can turn your onboarding from a chore into magic, hyper-personalized experiences that drive both retention and revenue, and why your value-to-noise ratio matters more than how many features you ship.

Top Takeaways:

⏱️ AI can make the first 60 seconds of onboarding feel like magic
When a new user experiences a personalized, interactive setup rather than a generic questionnaire, they are significantly more likely to convert to a trial on day zero.
🪞 Hyper-personalization is the new competitive moat
Adapting the product experience to an individual's unique needs creates a sense of being heard, which distances an app from generic competitors and drives long-term retention.

💪 Extrinsic triggers are essential for building new habits
In an ecosystem flooded with distractions, subtle and useful reminders—like calendar integrations or desktop widgets—help users remember to engage with a product until it becomes an intrinsic habit.

💭 The value-to-noise ratio matters more than the feature count
Adding more AI features increases absolute value, but if it overwhelms the user's capacity to absorb the product, the overall experience degrades; pruning features is as important as shipping them.

💰 Cheaper LLMs often provide a good enough user experience compared to frontier models 
For many consumer use cases, the speed and cost-efficiency of a smaller model outweigh the marginal performance gains of the most expensive options.

📊 Multi-step paywalls can unlock massive growth for the right product
Transitioning from a hard paywall to a freemium model with strategic upgrade prompts can dramatically increase the top of the funnel and overall LTV, though it requires a highly retentive core product.

About Phil Carter:

🚀Founder & CEO, Elemental Growth, growth advisor and angel investor who helps Seed - Series C consumer subscription companies define their growth strategy, build their growth model, hire their growth team, scale their growth processes, optimize their growth channels, and achieve their full potential.
👋LinkedIn
🎙️Submersive Podcast
📚Consumer Subscription Growth Course (Maven)
💭@philgcarter on X

Follow us on X: 
David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
SubClub - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights:
[0:00] The AI Opportunity: Why this is a once-in-a-generation moment for app builders.
[2:31] The Subscription Value Loop: Value creation, delivery, and capture explained.
[6:34] Magical First Impressions: How AI is transforming onboarding and day 0 conversion.
[13:03] Hyper-Personalization: Why “n-of-1” experiences are the new competitive edge.
[19:58] Building Habits: Using triggers to drive retention and repeat usage.
[25:02] Shipping Fast: Why speed of innovation is now critical to survival.
[30:28] Product-Led Growth: How AI apps are driving viral loops and organic acquisition.
[35:05] Community & Content: Leveraging UGC and creators to scale adoption.
[39:09] AI + Paid Growth: Scaling creatives and lowering CAC with AI tools.
[46:10] Monetization in the AI Era: Pricing, tiers, and usage-based models.
[54:53] Trials, Freemium, and Costs: Rethinking free access in AI products.
[1:01:29] Wins, Fails, and Lessons: What’s working (and not) in subscription growth today.

On the podcast: the product-driven growth loop behind the #1 VPN app in the world, why they intentionally leave money on the table, and how the prettiest design often loses in their A/B tests.

Top Takeaways:

📐 Your top-of-funnel is a product decision, not a marketing one
The apps that dominate app store search aren't winning because of ad spend; they're winning because frictionless, high-quality free experiences generate the ratings volume and engagement signals that compound into organic dominance.
💸 A low conversion rate can be a sign of a great free product
If your free tier is genuinely excellent, your conversion rate will look bad on paper. That's not a problem to fix — it's a trade-off to own deliberately, especially if volume and LTV math still works.

🛡️ Restraint in monetization is a growth strategy 
Aggressive paywalls, forced ads on first install, and dark patterns erode the trust that drives word-of-mouth and ratings. Leaving money on the table in the short term protects the flywheel that generates far more over time.

🔧 Service quality is the moat that marketing can't replicate 
The first 85% of any app is a commodity. The last 15% — the edge cases, the network transitions, the offline states — is where category leaders are built and where competitors quietly give up.
🗂️ Put customer support inside the product team 
When support reports to product rather than a separate org, the feedback loop from user pain to product fix closes in days, not months. The slower the loop, the more quality debt you accumulate.

📸 Your A/B test data will humble your design instincts 
The prettier, more modern screenshot almost always loses. Users gravitate toward what they already recognize, and familiarity beats novelty in app store conversion tests far more often than designers expect.

About Tanuj Chatterjee:

🚀CEO, Super Unlimited, a global leader in building trusted VPN, eSIM, and security products that put users' privacy first.
👋LinkedIn

📲Super Unlimited Careers Page

Follow us on X: 
David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
SubClub - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights:
[0:00] The Super Unlimited Journey: From product acquisition to global success.
[3:15] Building a Billion-Download VPN: How Super Unlimited achieved such rapid growth.
[6:50] The Freemium Philosophy: Why Super Unlimited offers a powerful free version of their app.
[10:00] Monetization and User Trust: How they balance free and paid models without over-monetizing.
[14:30] Service Quality Over Design Trends: The surprising reason Super Unlimited keeps it simple.
[20:45] User Privacy: How Super Unlimited protects users while scaling.
[25:10] The Power of Organic Growth: How word-of-mouth and product-driven growth led to massive success.
[30:00] Handling Global Challenges: The complexities of serving users in different regions.
[35:00] The Future of Super Unlimited: What’s next for Super Unlimited as they expand their product suite.
[40:02] Lessons for Entrepreneurs: What Tanuj has learned along the way and the advice he’d give to new founders.

On the podcast: hitting $1M ARR in four months with no paid ads, why trial extensions beat discounts for saving cancellations, and why you should be hiring content creators, not influencers.
Top Takeaways:

📈 Momentum is oxygen — get to revenue fast
Reaching your first dollars quickly, even with a minimal product, creates a flywheel of confidence and capital that compounds over time.
🎯 Frame your product as a solution, not a toy 
Content that positions your app as the answer to a real problem converts; content that makes it look fun and novel does not.
🤝 Hire content creators, not influencers
Follower counts are irrelevant in the age of algorithmic distribution. Look for creators with 5K followers and a Gmail address, avoid influencers repped by an agency.
⏳ Trial extensions beat discounts for saving cancellations
When a user tries to cancel during a free trial, offering more time converts better than offering a lower price, and it avoids devaluing your product.
🚪 Move login to after the paywall
Forcing account creation before users have experienced any value is a silent conversion killer. Removing it from the front of onboarding can cut drop-off by 10% or more.

About Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett:

🚀Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett, Co-founders, Coconote, an AI-powered note-taking app revolutionizing how students engage with lectures.
👋 Brett Bauman LinkedIn
👋 Zack Hargett LinkedIn
💬Brett on X  - @brttbmn
💬Zack on X- @zackhargett
🖥️ Quizlet website
📩  Quizlet careers

Follow us on X: 
David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
SubClub - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights:
[0:00] Introducing Coconote: The AI note-taking app that scaled to millions in ARR
[2:15] The founding insight: Why students desperately needed better notes
[5:05] Launch momentum: Hitting $100K ARR in the first 45 days
[7:40] From idea to $1M ARR in just four months
[10:12] Why most founders misunderstand marketing early on
[12:31] The key distribution insight: Where your customers actually spend time online
[15:22] Creator marketing vs influencer marketing: Why the difference matters
[18:05] How short-form content became Coconote’s primary growth engine
[21:40] Turning viral attention into real revenue with better messaging
[24:25] Premium pricing for students: Why Coconote charged $99+ per year
[27:11] Building trust when your product affects exams and grades
[30:03] Improving conversions: The onboarding experiments that increased trial starts
[33:20] Removing friction: Why login moved after the paywall
[36:05] Retention lessons: Why trial extensions beat discounts
[39:00] The psychology behind cancellations and keeping users subscribed
[42:10] Managing explosive growth while keeping the team small
[45:35] Acquisition conversations with Quizlet begin
[48:10] Keeping acquisition talks confidential while running the company
[51:05] The emotional moment when the acquisition finally closed
[54:01] Reflecting on the journey from scrappy startup to exit
[56:22] Final lessons for founders building AI products today

On the podcast: how ElevenLabs turns every new feature launch into a growth engine, how they're deploying over a hundred million dollars in paid ads, and why directing AI agents is quickly becoming a core skill for marketers and solo founders.
This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share actionable insights from top subscription app operators.

Top Takeaways:
🚀Turn every feature launch into a full-funnel growth engine
Don't just ship and announce. Coordinate each release across organic posts, landing pages, and refreshed ad creative simultaneously so earned attention compounds into paid efficiency.

💰 Train a custom GPT on your own winning ad copy
Feed your top and bottom performing Meta and Google copy into a custom GPT, then use it to rapidly translate brand messaging into proven high-performing ad formats. It turns institutional knowledge into a scalable creative tool.
🤖Directing AI agents is the new core marketing skill
The future of marketing isn't just using AI tools but directing agents to handle messaging, storyboarding, ad creation, and localization, all grounded in your creative taste and brand direction.

About Luke Harries:
🚀Growth / Engineering at ElevenLabs, is an AI research and product company transforming how we interact with technology. Their vision is to make communication and creation with technology seamless.
👋 LinkedIn

Follow us on X: 
David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
SubClub - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights:
[0:00] Introduction to Luke Harries, Growth Lead at ElevenLabs
[1:05] ElevenLabs' approach to growth through "growth engines"
[2:20] The power of AI to unlock viral moments during product launches
[3:34] How ElevenLabs maximizes attention through paid ads alongside earned media
[4:41] The role of AI in optimizing ad copy and creative for paid campaigns
[5:42] Balancing AI-generated content with UGC and in-house production
[7:32] Why ElevenLabs stays away from AI influencers for product endorsements
[8:51] Leveraging user-generated content (UGC) for effective campaigns
[10:30] How ElevenLabs plans to spend over $100M in paid ads and approach campaign scaling
[11:38] The importance of localization and segmentation in paid advertising
[12:56] How ElevenLabs measures success and uses data to adjust their budget allocation
[13:18] Blending brand-building with performance marketing
[14:53] The future of marketing with AI-driven creative direction
[16:39] How AI could enable solo founders to create billion-dollar startups
[17:45] ElevenLabs' upcoming product, Flows, and recruitment efforts

On the podcast: why app economy disruption won't happen as fast as everyone seems to think, how AI is just as useful for defending against copycats as creating them, and why the real barrier to app success is still distribution, not code. 

This conversation is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. Each episode in this series will explore one crucial topic and share actionable insights from top subscription app operators.

Top Takeaways:
📲Distribution is the moat, not code
As AI lowers the barrier to building apps, it raises the barrier to getting discovered. More software competing for attention means user acquisition becomes harder and more expensive, not easier.
🛡️Use AI to defend against copycats, not just to build faster
Use AI to scan the app store daily for copycat apps, monitor rising competitors, and track their ads. Build automated defense processes that keep you ahead of clones.
📊App economy disruption won't happen as fast as everyone thinks
No-code tools, game engines like Unity, and now vibe coding have all promised to democratize app building. None eliminated the real barriers: distribution, product intuition, and the compounding advantage of iterating on user feedback over years.
About Eric Seufert:

🚀 Founder of Mobile Dev Memo, a mobile advertising and freemium monetization trade blog.
👋 LinkedIn

Follow us on X: 
David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
SubClub - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights:
[0:00] Introduction to Eric Seufert, Founder of Mobile Dev Memo
[1:00] Why disruption in the app economy is taking longer than expected
[2:00] The real barrier to app success: Distribution over code
[3:15] How AI is reshaping app development and marketing
[4:30] Eric’s thoughts on why AI won’t eliminate the need for great apps
[5:45] Standing out in a saturated app market: How to break through
[7:00] The role of customer feedback in driving growth
[8:15] Why vibe coding isn’t sustainable for scalable app development
[9:30] Using AI defensively against copycats in the app economy
[10:45] The importance of scalable user acquisition strategies
[12:00] The long-term impact of AI on app monetization
[13:15] Balancing revenue and user experience in app monetization
[14:30] Why building a successful app requires technical expertise and distribution
[15:45] The evolving app economy and AI’s future role in scaling
[17:00] Closing thoughts on staying competitive in an ever-changing market