Indie Bites Scaling and exiting a $65k MRR with meal planning app - Jeffrey Bunn, Mealime & Clearful
Dec 13, 2023
Jeffrey Bunn, co-founder of Clearful and previously co-founded Mealime, shares his journey of building a successful meal planning app, utilizing app stores for growth, selling to private equity, and learning software engineering. Topics include starting Mealime, reducing prices, app store growth, post-exit plans, frustration with product features, Clearful growth, and financial challenges.
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Humble Start Ignited By One Post
- Jeffrey and Maria started Mealime as a simple WordPress site sending weekly PDFs and grocery lists to users.
- A Lifehacker guest post drove 4,000 signups and turned the project into ~2,000 MRR, prompting Jeffrey to quit his job.
Pivot To Mobile And Tough Price Cut
- Mealime added a technical co-founder after customer feedback demanded customization and they built a web app.
- They later pivoted to mobile and cut prices heavily, which ultimately unlocked product-channel fit and big growth.
App Store Visibility Fueled Scale
- Apple featuring Mealime and strong ASO gave huge early lift and sustained organic acquisition.
- They reached ~1,000 organic new users per platform per day and focused on activation and retention next.