Scaling and exiting a $65k MRR with meal planning app - Jeffrey Bunn, Mealime & Clearful
Dec 13, 2023
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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.
MeLime's growth was fueled by being featured by Apple and ranking well in the app stores.
After exiting MeLime, Jeffrey and Maria learned software engineering and started Clearful, a journaling app with a focus on marketing and product development.
Deep dives
Founding MeLime and the Early Days
Jeffrey and his wife Maria started MeLime 10 years ago as a solution to the problem of cooking simple healthy meals, especially for one or two people. With little technical knowledge, they initially launched a WordPress site and sent weekly meal plans as PDFs to customers. They wrote a guest post on Lifehacker that gained significant traction, resulting in 2,000 monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Jeffrey quit his job and they worked tirelessly to grow the business, experiencing both challenges and excitement.
The Growth of MeLime and Decision to Pivot
MeLime's growth was largely fueled by being featured by Apple and ranking well for search terms in the app stores. They focused on activation and retention rather than acquisition since organic user growth was already strong. Eventually, they realized the need for customization and made the risky decision to pivot to mobile, drastically cutting prices. This move paid off, and they reached 1.3 million users and 13,000 paying customers through their mobile app.
Clearful: Learning Software Engineering and App Store Changes
After exiting MeLime, Jeffrey and Maria took time off before diving into learning software engineering. They identified an opportunity in the journaling app market, where existing apps lacked a balance between free-form writing and guidance. They applied their experience in the app stores but were met with challenges due to increased competition and changes in algorithms. They realized the need to drive their own traffic to the app stores and continue to work on Clearful, focusing on marketing and product development.
Today I’m joined by Jeffrey Bunn, who is the co-founder of Clearful, a digital journal app he built with his wife, Maria. Previously they co-founded Mealime, a meal planning app which grew to a whopping $65k MRR before they exited in 2018. In this episode we cover the story of founding both apps, how they utilised the app stores for growth and why they started a B2C app in a crowded market.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro 01:30 Starting Mealime 07:07 Pivot to mobile and reducing prices 08:36 Mealime Growth 09:46 Private Equity Exit 10:38 Life post-exit and learning to code 12:24 Starting Clearful 13:31 Clearful growth through the app store 14:50 Runway and future
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