Considering every startup confronts this question at some point, I was surprised by how little has been written about it. Particularly anything actionable. So I decided to do my own digging. I spent the past month personally reaching out to founders, scouring interviews, and tapping the Twitterverse. Below, you’ll find first-hand accounts of how essentially every major consumer app acquired their earliest users, including Tinder, Uber, Superhuman, TikTok, Product Hunt, Yelp, and over a dozen more. Enjoy!
Great summary, thanks for putting this together. You're 100% right, this kind of analysis is hard to find all in one place, its scattered across Medium, LinkedIn, blogs, articles, etc.
Thanks for this, I’m doing the free version for now but intend to do the full subscription when I can afford. Can’t wait to try and apply the above article when we launch in a couple months.
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other Beauty Guest Post blogs that go over the same topics? Thanks a ton!
Great article! Thanks for writing this! I have a small question: what's that app, that appear first on both "Create FOMO" and "Leverage the influencers"?
Liked your article, but it left me with a burning question which Google has failed at answering for me. Specifically, which app is represented by the icon that appears to feature a young Bill Murray from Stripes? I checked every app you mentioned in the article, and it doesn't appear to belong to any of them. The idea that one of the US's greatest national treasures has released an app, potentially chock-full of new content directly from the mad genius himself, leaves me unable to focus on anything else. Please assuage my curiosity before it costs a cat its life.
While I'm undeniably disappointed that no one has figured out how to scale the inimitable Mr. Murray such that every man, woman and child on the planet can have one in their phone, it does mean that the implementation (and the bucketfuls of cash it will surely entail) is still on the table for an enterprising person to take on. Thank you kindly for your reply, and have a great day!
I don't know you before a friend shared your article with me. What a miss! My FOMO is more vivid now I've read it ;) More seriously, congratulations Lenny, it really is an amazing article. I have read hundreds on that topic but 1) you quickly gave the right overview 2) shared in-depth technics 3) having multiple quotes made it more humane and that's probably what kept me reading top to bottom.
This is amazing Lenny. Thanks for putting this together. We are in the very beginning of our startup journey and this is very much needed at the moment.
Great summary, thanks for putting this together. You're 100% right, this kind of analysis is hard to find all in one place, its scattered across Medium, LinkedIn, blogs, articles, etc.
Thanks for this, I’m doing the free version for now but intend to do the full subscription when I can afford. Can’t wait to try and apply the above article when we launch in a couple months.
Great article!! It would be very interesting to add the time that each app took to get their first 1'000 users...
Perhaps the best article I've ever read for actionable examples of techniques that worked for consumer apps. Incredible value.
Are you planning to do the same with B2B SaaS?
In the works!
Lenny I absolutely loved this research, I am eagerly looking forward to what you find in B2B SaaS
Hey Lenny, Did you end up writing a similar article on B2B SaaS ?
Yes, two!
https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-businesses
https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-startups
AWESOME article, came just in time for me. Soft launching a consumer app in 2 weeks, thank you :)
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other Beauty Guest Post blogs that go over the same topics? Thanks a ton!
I was one of the lucky guys on the Loom Strategies. They did it very well with my company :)
Excellent - thanks lenny
Excellent work.. very helpful read
Great article! Thanks for writing this! I have a small question: what's that app, that appear first on both "Create FOMO" and "Leverage the influencers"?
Liked your article, but it left me with a burning question which Google has failed at answering for me. Specifically, which app is represented by the icon that appears to feature a young Bill Murray from Stripes? I checked every app you mentioned in the article, and it doesn't appear to belong to any of them. The idea that one of the US's greatest national treasures has released an app, potentially chock-full of new content directly from the mad genius himself, leaves me unable to focus on anything else. Please assuage my curiosity before it costs a cat its life.
Thanks, and keep up the great work!
haha, I should have explained that one better. It's an app called Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/
While I'm undeniably disappointed that no one has figured out how to scale the inimitable Mr. Murray such that every man, woman and child on the planet can have one in their phone, it does mean that the implementation (and the bucketfuls of cash it will surely entail) is still on the table for an enterprising person to take on. Thank you kindly for your reply, and have a great day!
I don't know you before a friend shared your article with me. What a miss! My FOMO is more vivid now I've read it ;) More seriously, congratulations Lenny, it really is an amazing article. I have read hundreds on that topic but 1) you quickly gave the right overview 2) shared in-depth technics 3) having multiple quotes made it more humane and that's probably what kept me reading top to bottom.
Hope that well-deserved feedback makes your day!
We just got there! Pure hustle....!
As you say Lenny, a topic that’s not been well covered so thanks for researching and sharing. I’ve subscribed accordingly.
This is amazing Lenny. Thanks for putting this together. We are in the very beginning of our startup journey and this is very much needed at the moment.
The sources are all linked from the name of the person quoted in each section (just click their names)