How to consistently go viral: Nikita Bier’s playbook for winning at consumer apps
Nikita Bier is one of the most in-demand consumer, social, and growth experts in the world. He’s the co-founder of TBH (sold to Meta for more than $30 million) and Gas (sold to Discord for millions more) and has helped more consumer apps that have hit #1 in the app stores than any other person I’ve come across. He currently spends his time advising founders on growth, product, and design and is an investor and advisor to some of the best consumer tech companies, including Flo, Locket, Eigh...
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Introduction and Nikita's Viral Success
The episode introduces Nikita Bier, a highly successful founder known for building viral consumer apps like TBH and Gas. He highlights his experience selling these apps for significant sums and discusses his early insights into targeting teens for app adoption due to their evolving habits and social interconnectedness.
From Politics to Consumer Apps: The Pivot
Nikita shares the story of his first viral product, Potify, a political app that gained millions of users. Despite initial success and government contract opportunities, he pivoted to consumer apps, recognizing his strength in creating viral internet products rather than selling software to governments.
The Mobile App Challenge and Teen Focus
Nikita details the challenging transition to mobile app development, emphasizing the need for precision and the low margin for error. He reiterates the importance of targeting teens, as their social networks are more dynamic, leading to better organic growth compared to adults who are less likely to adopt new platforms.
Building TBH: Identifying Latent Demand
Nikita explains the genesis of TBH, inspired by a Snapchat trend and the success of Sarahah. He identified a gap for positive, anonymous feedback, leading to the creation of TBH, which focused on polls rather than open-ended messages to ensure a positive user experience and drive viral adoption.
Scaling TBH: Viral Growth and Acquisition
This section delves into the rapid growth of TBH, detailing the tactics used to achieve viral spread within schools, including manual user acquisition and targeted marketing. Nikita discusses the immense pressure on infrastructure and the eventual acquisition by Facebook, highlighting the chaotic yet exhilarating experience of managing such rapid scaling.
Life at Facebook and the Product Manager Role
Nikita reflects on his time at Facebook, contrasting the academic approach to product development with the reality of large corporations. He notes that product managers are often detached from the actual product design, leading him to believe that designers should have more influence in creating novel consumer experiences.
Building Gas: Reinventing Viral Growth
Nikita details the process of rebuilding TBH into Gas, facing new challenges like platform policy changes and a viral hoax. He emphasizes the need to adapt growth strategies and maintain a positive brand image, highlighting how a simple name change significantly impacted user invitations and overall growth.
The Challenge of Durable Consumer Apps
Nikita discusses the difficulty of creating lasting consumer apps, comparing them to 'summer songs' rather than enduring products. He notes that incumbents have built strong network effects, making it challenging for new apps to compete unless they offer a truly novel experience or target specific underserved niches.
Key Advice: Time-to-Value and Ruthless Prioritization
Nikita shares crucial advice for founders, emphasizing the need for an 'aha' moment within seconds of user engagement. He stresses ruthless prioritization, cutting non-essential features to validate core mechanics quickly and creatively leveraging platform tools for user acquisition and activation.
The Future of Growth and Nikita's Advisory Role
In the final segment, Nikita discusses the impact of upcoming iOS changes on app growth via contact syncing, urging founders to adapt. He shares his advisory work, helping companies achieve significant growth by focusing on core product mechanics, user activation, and creative use of available tools, emphasizing his hands-on, pixel-level approach.
Key Statistics & Predictions
Important data points and future projections mentioned in the video
User attention span for demonstrating value in apps.
Potential ROI for companies engaging Nikita's advisory services.
Decline in user invitations per year for apps targeting older demographics.
Core Topics Covered
The most important concepts and themes discussed throughout the video
Viral Growth Strategies
Tactics and insights for making consumer apps go viral, including user acquisition, network effec...
Teen User Acquisition
Understanding why teens are a key demographic for consumer apps and how to effectively reach and ...
Product Development & Design
Key principles for building successful consumer products, focusing on user experience, 'aha' mome...
Startup Pivots and Challenges
Navigating the difficulties of pivoting business models, overcoming market challenges, and managi...
App Monetization and Business Models
Strategies for monetizing apps, managing finances, and understanding the trade-offs between diffe...
The Role of Product Managers
Critique of the traditional product manager role in large tech companies versus the hands-on appr...
Dealing with Hoaxes and Negative PR
Strategies for combating viral hoaxes and negative publicity that can threaten a startup's survival.
Future of App Growth (iOS Changes)
Analysis of how new platform policies, like iOS contact permissions, will impact app growth and u...
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