Business of Apps Podcast #254: Subscription App Growth: Insights from the Frontlines with Shumel Lais, Co-Founder at Day 30 - by Branch
Happy 2026, everybody!
We're kicking off this year with an episode from our partner Branch - mobile attribution platform and app analytics solutions for enterprises.
Join Adam and Amanda of Branch as they sit down with Shumel Lais, a mobile growth expert with over a decade of experience, to explore the essential strategies for launching and scaling subscription apps. From setting up proper analytics and understanding payback periods to navigating iOS challenges and leveraging AI, this episode delivers practical insights for both startup founders and established app developers. Learn why immediate ROI isn't always the goal, when to start paid acquisition, and how to build a sustainable growth strategy in today's complex mobile landscape.
Links and Resources: Quotes from Shumel Lais:“In the app ecosystem, there’s traditionally two key verticals: gaming and non-gaming subscription apps. The gaming folks are typically pretty well resourced when it comes to BI and data science, but on the non-gaming side it’s lacking — and that’s really where we’ve seen the opportunity.”
“There are a lot of really exciting things possible with data science and machine learning. The question is how good we can get the signals that feed these black-box algorithms through prediction.”
“What I see with early-stage teams is a desire to recoup their investment almost immediately. That makes sense when cash is constrained, but the bigger apps grow faster because they’re willing to wait six to twelve months to get that money back."