Podcast

Levels Podcast - presented by Trophy

December 17, 2025

How Lifesum's Outcome-Focused Approach Built Trust with 65 Million Users

When Marcus Gners, Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of Lifesum, joined the Levels Podcast, he shared a perspective that challenges how most founders think about building health and wellness products. After 13 years and 65 million downloads, his team discovered something crucial: users don't download their app because they want to track food. "People don't use a food tracking app because they want to build a giant archive of everything they've eaten in their life," Marcus explains. "They use

Jason Louro

December 17, 2025

How Lifesum is Building an Unfair Competitive Advantage in Wellness

With 65 million users and 13 years of nutrition data, Lifesum is expanding into supplements and biomarkers. Marcus Gners explains their platform strategy and why owning the audience creates cheaper customer acquisition than traditional wellness companies.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

December 17, 2025

Want Beats Should: The Psychology Behind Habit Formation in Health Apps

Health apps traditionally use guilt and shame to drive engagement. Lifesum's Marcus Gners explains why appealing to users' wants instead of shoulds creates sustainable motivation, and what health apps can learn from gaming.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

December 3, 2025

Zero to Profitable in 30 Days: Journable's Bootstrap-Friendly Google Ads Playbook

Learn how Journable achieves 30-day profitability with Google Ads while bootstrapped. From install campaigns to ROAS targeting, plus localized pricing strategy.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

Other Posts

December 3, 2025

How Journable Plans to Add Gamification Without Sacrificing Simplicity

Journable is adding streaks, badges, and social features to boost retention in their weight loss app. Learn how they're implementing gamification carefully.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

December 3, 2025

Bootstrapping an AI Calorie Tracker To 600K Users

Journable grew to 600K users while bootstrapped by monetizing from day one. Learn how they achieved 30-day profitability and compete without VC funding.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

November 20, 2025

How ChatGPT Simultaneously Killed Traffic, Motivation, and Conversions

When ChatGPT launched, Programiz didn't just lose Google traffic—they faced a crisis of relevance. Punit shares how AI created a "triple whammy" that forced them to completely rethink their growth engine and why organic-only strategies are now dangerous.

Jason Louro

November 20, 2025

Why Your Users Feel Alone (Even When You Have Millions)

Programiz had 6 million users, but each one felt completely isolated. This insight transformed their entire product strategy, leading them to add challenges, leaderboards, and Discord communities. Learn why aggregate metrics can blind you to individual user experience.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

November 20, 2025

Learn to Code vs Build to Learn: Why the Old EdTech Model is Dead

Punit explains why Programiz pivoted their entire philosophy from teaching coding fundamentals to getting people building from day one. With AI writing code, the question isn't "should I learn?" but "can I build?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

November 20, 2025

Why Global Leaderboards Fail (And How to Fix Them)

Programiz launched leaderboards and saw decent engagement—but something was wrong. Being user #2,000,004 isn't motivating. Learn why they're pivoting to friend-based and school-based leaderboards, and what this reveals about effective gamification.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

November 20, 2025

Monetizing Content vs. Building SaaS: Why Traffic Doesn't Equal Conversions

Programiz learned the hard way that millions of website visitors don't automatically convert to paid subscribers. The mobile app taught them device switching kills momentum, but the deeper lesson was about understanding different user journeys entirely.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

November 20, 2025

The Discord Revolution: How Nepal Elected a Prime Minister and What It Means for Communities

When Nepal's youth organized a political movement, they didn't use Facebook—they used Discord. Punit shares this fascinating story and explains why dark social and gated communities are replacing the public web, and what founders should do about it.

Jason Louro

November 20, 2025

Why Programiz Built a YouTube Channel Before Launching Their SaaS

Programiz had millions of users but zero brand recognition. Discover why they spent a year putting faces to their content before launching their paid product, and what this reveals about the evolution from utility to community.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 29, 2025

How Coddy Hit $1M ARR in One Year Using Influencer Marketing

Hitting $1M in annual recurring revenue is a milestone most startups dream about. Doing it in just one year? That's the kind of growth that makes founders stop and ask: what did they figure out that we haven't?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 29, 2025

The Attribution Problem: How B2C Apps Track Users Who Don't Click Links

Barak Glanz explains the multi-layered attribution system Coddy built using UTM parameters, onboarding polls, and coupon codes to solve the challenge of tracking users who Google their app name instead of clicking influencer links.

Jason Louro

October 29, 2025

Finding the Sweet Spot: What Makes an Influencer Worth Working With

After working with over 20 influencers, Coddy discovered that channel size isn't everything. This post breaks down the key metrics that actually predict influencer ROI and why channels that are too small or too large both present challenges.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 29, 2025

Freemium Done Right: How Coddy's Energy System Balances Growth and Revenue

A deep dive into Coddy's freemium model, inspired by mobile games, where free users get 15 minutes of daily usage while premium subscribers fund education for everyone else. Includes insights on balancing retention with monetization.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 29, 2025

From Hearts to Energy: Why Coddy Switched Their Monetization Model

Through A/B testing, Coddy discovered their "energy system" outperformed the traditional "hearts" approach used by apps like Duolingo. This post explores what they learned and how they made the switch.

Jason Louro

October 29, 2025

Why YouTube Long-Form Videos Are the Evergreen Asset Your App Needs

While short-form videos drove initial growth, Coddy is now investing in YouTube long-form content as a long-term acquisition channel. Barak explains why these videos act like SEO, delivering users for years after publication.

Jason Louro

October 29, 2025

Building a Mobile App as a Web-First Platform: Coddy's Strategy

After a year of delays, Coddy is finally launching their mobile app with a unique approach: creating mobile-friendly versions of every desktop lesson. This post covers their cross-platform strategy and the challenges of adapting coding lessons for mobile.

Jason Louro

October 29, 2025

The Mascot Advantage: How Character-Driven Marketing Improves Retention

From Duolingo's owl to Coddy's "Beats" (half-ant, half-robot), mascots give B2C brands a personality that drives engagement. Barak shares how they use their mascot in passive-aggressive retention emails that actually work.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 29, 2025

Hiring for Hypergrowth: Screening 200 CVs to Find One Perfect Hire

Coddy's CMO walks through their rigorous hiring process, from phone screening 80 candidates to conducting in-person interviews with just 5. Includes insights on home assignments, reference checks, and asking candidates about their AI usage.

Jason Louro

October 29, 2025

Beyond Revenue: Why B2C Founders Must Think About User Psychology

Barak's closing thoughts on what makes B2C different from B2B: you're not just building software, you're becoming part of someone's daily life. This post explores the responsibility and opportunity that comes with B2C product development.

Jason Louro

October 13, 2025

Building AI That Cooks: How Chefadora Created a Context-Aware Recipe Assistant

You're halfway through a recipe when you realize you're out of soy sauce. Panic sets in. You frantically Google "soy sauce substitute" and get bombarded with generic listicles that don't account for what you're actually making. Should you use Worcestershire sauce? Tamari? Will it ruin the dish?

Jason Louro

October 13, 2025

Why This Cooking Platform Waited 8 Months for Its Second Creator (And What Changed)

Most startup advice tells you to move fast and scale quickly. But what happens when your growth is painfully, excruciatingly slow? When you check your dashboard every morning hoping for a miracle that doesn't come?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 13, 2025

How Chefadora Solved the Two-Sided Marketplace Problem: From Mom's Kitchen to 100K Users

Starting a two-sided marketplace is notoriously difficult. You need creators to attract users, but you need users to attract creators. It's a chicken-and-egg problem that has killed countless startups. Read how Chefadora, a recipe-sharing platform made it through.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

From WhatsApp Group to 150,000 Users: How Buen Provecho Validated Their Food Waste App

Guillermo Martinez shares how Buen Provecho spent months validating their concept through a WhatsApp group before building their app, managing everything manually to prove demand existed before investing in development

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

The Supply-Constrained Startup: Why Buen Provecho Can't Run Ads Like Other Apps

Guillermo Martinez explains why having too many users is actually a problem for Buen Provecho's business and how supply constraints shape every decision they make about growth.

Jason Louro

October 5, 2025

Why Buen Provecho Refused Investment from Grocery Chains (And How It Saved Their Business)

Guillermo Martinez explains why Buen Provecho turned down strategic investment from major supermarket chains and how that decision protected their ability to become the dominant platform in their market.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

The Franchise Model That Didn't Work: Lessons from Entering New Markets

Guillermo Martinez explains why Buen Provecho's franchise approach to Colombia failed and why they'll never use that model again for marketplace expansion.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

Push Notifications Without Annoying Users: Buen Provecho's Location-Based Strategy

How do you keep users engaged when you don't always have products available? Guillermo reveals their approach to personalized push notifications based on the last purchase location and a 48-72 hour cooling period.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

Why 38% of Purchases Come from Favorited Stores (And The Problem It Creates)

Buen Provecho discovered that power users who favorite stores get instant notifications and snap up inventory fast, creating a two-tiered user experience. Guillermo discusses how they're addressing this imbalance.

Jason Louro

October 5, 2025

The Viral TikTok That Brought 14,000 Users in Two Weeks (And What They Wish They'd Done Differently)

A small influencer's TikTok unexpectedly went viral, flooding Buen Provecho with users when they were supply-constrained. Guillermo shares what they learned about preparing for viral moments.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

Building Trust Without Looking Like You're Selling "Second-Tier Food"

One of Buen Provecho's biggest early challenges was overcoming the stigma that surplus food equals poor quality. Guillermo explains how mission-driven branding and curation helped build trust with their first users.

Jason Louro

October 5, 2025

From Retail Stores to Industrial Distributors: Buen Provecho's Next Evolution

Guillermo reveals Buen Provecho's plan to tackle a different part of the food waste chain: distributors who bury or burn products with 60 days of shelf life. This requires dark stores, logistics, and new capital.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

How One 67-Year-Old User Became Buen Provecho's Biggest Customer

While most users are young professionals or families, Buen Provecho's top user is a 67-year-old woman who orders 2-3 times daily as her walking exercise. Guillermo discusses unexpected user personas and the power of user stories.

Jason Louro

October 5, 2025

Why Buen Provecho Shows Impact, Not Just Discounts

While competitors emphasize the "cheap" aspect of surplus food, Buen Provecho focuses on environmental impact with CO2 savings and waste prevented. Guillermo explains why this protects premium brand partnerships.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

Managing Retention When 75% of Your Users Can't Find Products

With supply constraints creating empty shelves for many users, retention becomes tricky. Guillermo discusses how they balance growth with user experience and avoid burning out their audience.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

October 5, 2025

Why Building the Store Dashboard Took 85% of Development Time

While most consumer apps focus on the user experience, Buen Provecho spent 2023-2024 primarily improving their web app for stores. Guillermo explains why solving the supply side was more important than consumer features.

Jason Louro

October 5, 2025

The Rebranding Dilemma: When Your Name Doesn't Fit Your Vision

Buen Provecho" means "have a good meal," which works perfectly for food—but what happens when you expand to cosmetics and other categories? Guillermo discusses the challenge of evolving beyond your original brand.

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

The 1000 Cookbooks Project: How User Research Shaped a Startup's Strategy

Before CKBK even existed as a platform, founder Matthew Cockerill faced a fundamental question: In a world drowning in free recipes online, do cookbooks still matter?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

From Print to Digital: The Technical Challenge of Converting 19th Century Cookbooks into Searchable Content

Building a content platform is one thing. Building one that can handle Victorian-era cookbooks is an entirely different technical challenge. Matthew Cockerill, founder of CKBK, learned this firsthand when he set out to digitize the world's best cookbooks into a unified, searchable database.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

Why Simple Beats Complex: CKBK's Decision to Avoid Tiered Pricing

When building a subscription platform that serves both home cooks and professional chefs, the obvious move seems to be creating different pricing tiers. But CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill deliberately chose a different path.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

Beyond Search: How Recipe Recommendation Algorithms Could Transform Food Discovery

Most food platforms focus on helping users find what they're already looking for. But CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill is building something more ambitious: a system that helps users discover what they should cook next, even when they don't know what that is.

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

Building Community in a Subscription App: Author-User Interactions That Drive Engagement

Most subscription platforms treat content creators as distant figures whose work gets consumed but who remain largely inaccessible to users. CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill took a radically different approach: he made cookbook authors directly accessible to users through the platform itself.

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

The Kickstarter That Doubled Its Target: Validating Product-Market Fit Before Building

On The Levels Podcast, Matthew shared how his 2018 Kickstarter campaign doubled its funding target and provided the validation needed to build what's now a thriving subscription platform with over 20,000 users.

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

Smart Kitchen Integration: When Your Oven Talks to Your Recipe App

Most recipe apps stop at displaying instructions on a screen. But CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill saw an opportunity to extend the platform's value directly into users' kitchens through smart appliance integration.

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

From Consumer to B2B: How Culinary Schools Became CKBK's Growth Engine

Most subscription platforms focus exclusively on consumers or business customers, but rarely both. CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill discovered that his "Spotify for cookbooks" had unexpected appeal in educational markets, leading to a thriving B2B revenue stream alongside consumer subscriptions.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

The Economics of Recipe Royalties: How Subscription Platforms Pay Content Creators

Most content creators struggle with digital monetization, especially in industries where traditional models have been disrupted. CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill solved this challenge by adapting Spotify's royalty pool system to cookbook publishing

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

Why Physical Cookbooks and Digital Subscriptions Actually Complement Each Other

When CKBK launched, many publishers worried that digital cookbook access would cannibalize print sales. But founder Matthew Cockerill discovered the opposite: his subscription platform actually drives physical cookbook purchases while serving different user needs

Jason Louro

September 1, 2025

Building Cooking Habits: Gamification Ideas for Recipe Apps

Getting users to download a recipe app is one challenge. Getting them to actually cook regularly is another entirely. CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill is tackling this engagement problem by building gamification features that encourage users to develop consistent cooking habits

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

Partnership Strategy for Small Startups: Lessons from CKBK's Multi-Channel Approach

Running a small startup while managing relationships with publishers, smart appliance makers, culinary schools, and complementary apps sounds overwhelming. But CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill has built a thriving partnership ecosystem that drives growth across multiple channels

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

September 1, 2025

How CKBK Built the 'Spotify for Cookbooks'

When Matthew Cockerill left the world of science publishing, he brought with him a crucial insight: traditional industries often miss the transformative potential of the internet. His latest venture, CKBK, proves this by applying the subscription model that to an industry dominated by print books.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

July 11, 2025

Building Community Before Launch: 300 Beta Users from Investors and Press Coverage

How do you build an initial user base when you have no existing community? João Neves and his team at Bloop solved this challenge by turning their fundraising process and press strategy into community building tools, creating 300 engaged beta users before they even launched.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

July 11, 2025

The Psychology Behind 'Bloop Is for Everyone': Democratizing Influencer Marketing

In a recent conversation on the Levels Podcast, João explained how Bloop's "for everyone" philosophy challenges traditional influencer marketing assumptions and creates a more authentic, accessible system for earning through recommendations.

Jason Louro

July 11, 2025

How to Get Your First 100 Marketplace Sellers

Most founders struggle with the chicken-and-egg problem: buyers won't come without good selection, but sellers won't join without existing buyers. João Neves and his team at Bloop solved this challenge by focusing on three key strategies that helped them reach nearly 100 sellers before launch.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

July 11, 2025

From Amazon Engineer to Startup CTO: Why João Deliberately Stepped Back Before Moving Forward

Most career advice tells ambitious professionals to always move forward and up. João Neves, co-founder and CTO of Bloop, took a radically different approach that challenges conventional wisdom about career progression.

Jason Louro

July 11, 2025

The 'Shake to Report' Feature That Generated 500+ User Feedback Points in Weeks

Getting meaningful feedback from users is one of the biggest challenges facing early-stage product teams. Most startups struggle with low response rates to surveys, generic feedback that's hard to act on, or users who simply don't bother sharing their thoughts at all.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

July 11, 2025

The Technical Reality of Building E-commerce and Social Media in One Platform

Building a social network is hard. Building an e-commerce marketplace is hard. Combining both into a single platform? Even harder. That's what João Neves and his team at Bloop discovered as they set out to create the world's first social shopping platform that rewards users for their influence.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

July 11, 2025

How Bloop Raised €400K from 126 Investors Using Word-of-Mouth Crowdfunding

When most startups think about crowdfunding, they picture polished campaigns on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, complete with professional videos and stretch goals. João Neves, co-founder and CTO of Bloop, took a completely different approach: the power of word-of-mouth.

Jason Louro

June 30, 2025

From Free to $80 Subscriptions: Optimizing Revenue Through Continuous Testing

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy revealed specific strategies for paywall testing that helped Sylvi achieve strong conversion rates from their freemium model to an $80 annual subscription.

Jason Louro

June 30, 2025

When Viral Content Doesn't Convert: The Disconnect Between Views and Downloads

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared specific examples of how viral moments failed to drive app installs while unexpected content generated their highest conversion days—offering crucial insights for startups chasing the wrong metrics.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 30, 2025

Building in Public: How Three Founders Used Transparency to Create Customer Champions

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared how embracing their startup reality rather than hiding it transformed customer relationships and accelerated their growth trajectory.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 30, 2025

The Attribution Challenge: How to Track Organic Growth When Users Don't Click Links

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared practical approaches to attribution that any startup can implement, even without sophisticated tracking infrastructure.

Jason Louro

June 30, 2025

The Psychology of Streaks: How Sylvi Weaponized Duolingo's Best Feature Against Them

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared how understanding streak psychology helped Sylvi capitalize on market disruption and create a retention system that actually serves user goals rather than just app engagement.

Jason Louro

June 30, 2025

Testing 15 TikTok Accounts Simultaneously: A Data-Driven Approach to Organic Growth

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared her methodical approach to TikTok testing that helped Sylvi discover the crucial difference between viral content and valuable content for their business.

Jason Louro

June 30, 2025

The Creator Economy Playbook: How One TikTok Post Drove Sylvi's Biggest User Surge

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared how one breakthrough creator collaboration transformed their growth trajectory and the systematic approach they've since developed to scale creator partnerships effectively.

Trophy Team

June 30, 2025

From Happy Accident to 1,000 Paying Customers: How Sylvi AI Built Their Founding Community

Sylvi AI, a language learning app that helps users practice conversations with AI pen pals, launched in April 2024 and has already reached over 1,000 paying customers. But their path to building a loyal user base started with a simple question: "How did you find us?"

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 30, 2025

From 50 Beta Users to Product-Market Fit: Why Early Customer Feedback Beats Feature Planning

Amy Cameron, Head of Marketing at Sylvi AI, discovered a fundamentally different approach that transformed their product development process and accelerated their path to product-market fit.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 30, 2025

How to Design Gamification That Actually Retains Users

Sylvi AI's approach offers valuable lessons for any B2C startup looking to implement gamification that enhances rather than detracts from their core value proposition.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 30, 2025

Why Your B2C App Needs a WhatsApp Group: The Retention Strategy You're Missing

Amy Cameron, Head of Marketing at Sylvi AI, discovered a surprisingly powerful retention strategy that any B2C app can implement immediately: adding new users to a WhatsApp group during onboarding.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Creator Equity Strategy: When to Give Away Ownership to Build Your Community

Most B2C startups approach creator partnerships with a simple playbook: offer affiliate commissions and hope for the best. But according to Tim Johnson, who's managed creator communities at three major consumer apps including Wattpad (acquired for $600M), this approach is fundamentally flawed.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

Building Community Over Compensation: Why Creators Need More Than Money

Tim recently joined the Levels Podcast to share insights from his unique journey across multiple B2C platforms, and his perspective on creator partnerships challenges conventional wisdom.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Anti-ChatGPT Sales Approach: Why Personalization Still Wins

On the latest episode of the Levels Podcast, Tim shared his contrarian approach to B2B sales that prioritizes human connection over automation, quality over quantity, and genuine relationship building over transactional interactions.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

Predicting the Next Big Thing: How Wattpad Spotted BTS Before Anyone Else

In the world of B2C startups, data is often viewed through the lens of user engagement, retention metrics, and conversion rates. But what if your app's data could predict the next cultural phenomenon before it breaks into the mainstream?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

From 500K Downloads to Profitable Side Project: The Couply Pivot Story

Not every startup needs to become a unicorn to be successful. Sometimes the most valuable lesson an entrepreneur can learn is when to pivot from venture-scale ambitions to building a sustainable, profitable business.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Search vs. Discovery Problem: When Users Don't Know They Need Your Product

One of the most fundamental challenges facing B2C startups is understanding whether users are actively searching for your solution or if they need to discover it organically. This distinction shapes everything, and getting it wrong can waste months of precious runway.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

Why Your App Needs Its Own Culture (And How to Build One)

In a recent episode of the Levels Podcast, Tim shared insights from his unique journey across three very different B2C platforms: Wattpad, Couply, and Blossom. His perspective on app culture offers a compelling framework for founders looking to build sticky, memorable products.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

Stag Hunting vs. Squirrel Hunting: A Better Approach to B2B Sales for Consumer Apps

In a recent episode of the Levels Podcast, Tim shared how he generated $2 million in revenue for seed-stage Blossom, where an impressive 70% of revenue comes from brand partnerships rather than subscriptions. His methodology completely reframes how consumer apps should approach B2B sales.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

From Pirate Ship to Cruise Ship: Why Early-Stage People Don't Fit in Big Companies

When Wattpad was acquired by Naver for $600 million, Tim Johnson faced a crossroads that many startup veterans know all too well. Stay with the acquired company and transition into a larger organization, or venture back into the chaotic world of early-stage startups?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Four Horsemen of Churn: Why Even Loved Products Lose Users

Building a consumer app that users genuinely love should be the golden ticket to sustainable growth, right? Unfortunately, the reality is far more complex. Even when your product delivers real value and users actively enjoy the experience, they can still churn at alarming rates.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

Why 70% of Blossom's Revenue Comes from Brand Partnerships (Not Subscriptions)

Most consumer app founders assume subscriptions are the holy grail of monetization. After all, recurring revenue is predictable, scalable, and the foundation of many successful SaaS businesses. But what if there's a better way?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Creator Economy Playbook: Managing 125+ Creators Without Losing Your Mind

Building a creator community that actually drives growth is one of the most challenging aspects of scaling a B2C app. While most founders understand the potential power of creator partnerships, few know how to execute them effectively at scale.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

From Zero to $2M: How Brand Partnerships Can Transform Your B2C App Revenue

Most B2C app founders assume subscriptions are their golden ticket to revenue. But what if we told you that 70% of a successful social investing app's revenue comes from brand partnerships, not subscriptions?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 16, 2025

The Network Effects Playbook: How Consumer Apps Build Unstoppable Growth Engines

Building a consumer app that scales isn't just about great UX or smart marketing—it's about creating network effects that make your product more valuable as more people use it. But how do you actually design and execute a network effects strategy that works?

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

Cold Outreach and Lowballing: How We Got Our First 10 Suppliers Pre-Launch

When you’re building a two-sided marketplace, you face a chicken-and-egg problem: you need supply to get demand, but you need demand to convince supply to join. Read how one founder solved this problem with a lot of cold outreach and lowballing commissions.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

From Tour Aggregator to Community Hub: Evolving Beyond the Marketplace Model

Most B2C startups think of themselves as platforms, marketplaces, or products. But the best ones evolve into something much deeper: a community.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

Building a B2C Platform Without a Tech Background: How I Hacked My Way to an MVP

In the B2C startup world, there’s still a lingering myth: if you’re not technical, you can’t build a tech company. Max, the founder of Adventuro, didn’t buy that. Learn how Max built his startup in 11 weeks and landed his first 50 customers a couple of months later.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

Seasonality Almost Killed Our Startup, Until Gift Cards Saved Our Christmas

When you’re building a B2C startup, the hardest problems aren’t always product, pricing, or even growth. Sometimes, the biggest threat is… the weather. Read how one founder used gift cards to solve this problem.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

The Ad Spend Black Hole: What I Learned Burning £1,000s on Google & Meta with 0 Conversions

If you're building a B2C startup and thinking, “Maybe I’ll just run some Google Ads to get early traction” — read this first.

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe

June 2, 2025

Zero to First Customer: Why Your First Sale Might Be Your Brother, and That’s Okay

If you’re launching a B2C startup, there’s a moment that lives in your head before it ever happens: the first real customer. In your imagination, it's a perfect stranger. Someone discovering your product, loving it and pulling out their credit card In reality? It might just be your brother…

Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe