Mobile Dev Memo Podcast Season 6, Episode 15: MDM Mailbag #6 (with Sylvain Gauchet)
Oct 31, 2025
Sylvain Gauchet, an expert in app monetization and former Babbel revenue director, shares his insights on growth strategies for subscription apps. He discusses the appeal of creative growth over software development and the flexibility of fractional roles. Sylvain reveals tips for validating app ideas using lean ad tests, and highlights the importance of monitoring key metrics like D1/D7 ROAS. He emphasizes the ethics of managing subscriptions and offers priceless advice on pricing strategies and localization for diverse markets.
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Study Real Apps For Monetization
- Follow experts and study successful apps on LinkedIn and X to learn monetization tactics and paywall patterns.
- Download high-performing apps and inspect onboarding and pricing to copy practical, working approaches.
Validate Ideas With Cheap Web Purchase Tests
- Run low-cost ad tests directing users to a web purchase funnel to validate demand quickly.
- Use a predefined threshold to treat web purchases as positive signals before building the full product.
Incrementality Shows Long Lag Effects
- Pausing an incremental channel reveals lagged effects that take weeks to fully surface.
- Expect real impact to stabilize only after about three weeks, not within a single week.