Three cofounders built this app in public, sharing everything along the way, and grew it from zero to 60K downloads and $30K in revenue in just four months, according to SensorTower.
We have a feeling they’re actually making more than that.
But the money isn’t even the most interesting part of the story. What really stands out is this:
Each cofounder has their own TikTok account, and every one of them did at least one viral video.
They’ve been sticking to a clear playbook.
They started by following the best playbook out there, and now they’re growing by bringing in more creators and trying out different strategies.
A Co-Founding Team That Posts Every Day
If you’re building a consumer app, each team member should post daily videos (although one person can lead the strategy).
And the results speak for themselves. In just a few weeks:
Founder Alex pulled in 5 million views using just two content formats on his main account.
And his co-founder, Sophia, heading marketing, on this other account with 7.1M views:
The last co-founder, Parth, got 1.8 million views, mostly from one insane trend video that did 1.3 million. We’ll get to that in a bit.
LDR tip lists
The format that brought in the most views and is globally the top performer one each founder’s account is…
They vary; although most of them mention Candle Couple as the 5th element. The last one is a variation.
Sophia really nailed the format.
Here’s how to do it: film yourself talking or vlogging to the camera, then mute the audio and speed it up so the video is just 6 seconds long. Add text over the top.
The text needs a strong hook, like “Top 5 tips that SAVED my long-distance relationship,” and should be long enough that it takes more than 6 seconds to read, making the video loop.
It’s super easy to save and share too.
Conversion wise, it’s arguable. It does mention the app which helps but lists are usually easier to make views from.
They recently changed up their format for two main reasons. One, they’re now focusing on pushing their widget features.
Two, the old format probably wasn’t converting as well as they hoped. But with enough reach, the high views can still make up for weaker conversions.
Before we get to today, let’s take a look at their other high performing formats:
LDR Vlog → Pitch
The second best-performing format is one where Alex starts with a relatable long-distance relationship story, talking directly to the camera.
Then it jumps to “so I made this app” and shows the app on screen, like in the example below.
This format lets him walk through the whole app while pitching it, which usually drives strong conversions to downloads.
And he’s doing this working back a banger hook from every feature. “Love language” is a great one.
Hopping on the latest trends
From her early videos, you can see that Sophia was also following trends and trying to get into them one after another.
But it actually worked really well on Parth’s account using the “my boyfriend made an app, you’d better like it” trend.
It’s the one where the tough girlfriend makes her shy, sweet boyfriend pitch his app while she stands behind him looking like she’s ready to throw a punch.
Experimentation and Moving to Classic Widget Format
They tested a few UGC couple accounts, running them for a week or two before taking them down. Most featured couples, but the content didn’t perform well.
They also tried 4×4 slideshow grids on one account, and a couple of videos got over 500K views. Still, they didn’t keep going with that format.
They’ve likely shifted to something like Locket or CoupleJoy because of the new widget feature.
The same format is now being rolled out across all main accounts and at least three more ambassador pages. You can check out all the accounts there.
They also seem to be trying some micro-influencer marketing, though we didn’t look too deeply into that part.
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With all the in-house testing and scaling, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before they get a big win.
Keep an eye on Candle.
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