Growing to $1M MRR with Paywall and Pricing Experiments — Francescu Santoni, Mojo

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Jul 10, 2024

Francescu Santoni of Mojo shares how to reach $1M MRR by pivoting strategically, making paywalls prominent, and setting prices that provoke discussion. He emphasizes building features users love, focusing on team strengths, and creating viral loops to reduce ad spend. The podcast explores the founding story of Mojo, AI in mobile apps in France, and balancing product development with monetization challenges.

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ANECDOTE

Replay Mafia

Francescu Santoni, CEO of Mojo, worked at GoPro, building their video editing app.
This team later produced several successful app founders, including PhotoRoom's Matthew.

INSIGHT

AI & Mobile Synergy

AI empowers mobile creation, simplifying complex tasks.
Mobile devices, especially in emerging markets, benefit greatly from AI's text-based interfaces.

ANECDOTE

Pivot from AR

Mojo's initial AR app had viral growth but poor retention, leading to a pivot.
Despite Apple's featuring and user downloads, the lack of engagement signaled a need for change.

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On the podcast: How Mojo grew to over $1M in MRR, the most impactful pricing and paywall experiments, and why it’s important to choose complexity instead of just letting it happen.

Key Takeaways:

💪Bravery to pivot leads to long-term success. Early popularity can be deceiving. Without strong retention, it's time to pivot. Build features users love to evolve from a gimmick to a sustainable business.

🧱Make your paywall more prominent. Show your paywall during onboarding. Then, iterate on messaging, design, and pricing, focusing on one element at a time.

💲Pricing will always annoy someone. If no one complains, you’re underpricing. Be strategic about who you upset and how many people.

🤝Viral loops reduce the need for ads. Heavy ad spend can hide a lack of product-market fit. Build sharing and virality into your app first, then consider paid acquisition.

📈Choose complexity based on impact. Focus on your team’s strengths. Growth can be product-led or through, for example, paid acquisition, depending on what suits your team and app best.

About Guest

👨‍💻 CEO and co-founder of the video editing app Mojo.

🎬 Former GoPro employee and graduate of the Y Combinator accelerator program, Francescu and his team have built one of the top mobile apps for creating and editing social video content.

👋 LinkedIn

Resources

Connect with Francescu on X: https://x.com/Francescu
More about Mojo: https://mojo-app.com
Paul Graham’s essay “How To Do Great Work”: https://paulgraham.com/greatwork.html

Follow us on X:

David Barnard - @drbarnard
Jacob Eiting - @jeiting
RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
Sub Club - @SubClubHQ

Episode Highlights

[4:27] AI + Mobile = ❤️: Why AI is probably the next mobile revolution.

[6:16] Going Pro: How Francescu got his start building mobile subscription apps.

[7:44] Pivot… PIVOT: Despite early success with their augmented reality app, Francescu and his team had to shut it down and pivot to a new idea.

[15:12] Pricing and paywalls and packaging, oh my: Why you need to show your paywall during onboarding (and other monetization lessons Francescu learned building Mojo).

[27:42] Viral moments: Building social sharing features into your app could save you time and money on user acquisition.

[36:19] The product-led growth trap: Developing new product features isn’t always the key to growth.

[41:15] Priced to annoy: If no one is mad about the cost of your app, your prices are probably too low.