Anada Lakra
Co-founder and CEO of BoldVoice, an AI speech-coaching app for non-native English speakers (YC S21; ~$10M ARR with a 10-person team, per Sub Club 2026). Ex-Peloton product; HBS. BoldVoice has charged from day one (hard paywall, 7-day trial, ~$150/yr annual lead plan) and judges paywall tests on net revenue after refunds on matured cohorts. (Name spelled “Anada” in the episode title; the transcript also renders it “Ananda”.)
Strong on: charging early to find the ICP, refund-aware experiment metrics, annual plans for CAC payback, systematic user interviews (every employee ~2/week).
Bias to keep in mind: high-intent, high-willingness-to-pay niche (career professionals); lessons may not transfer to casual or low-price categories.
Sources: sources/youtube/sub-club-by-revenuecat/2026-09-16-*.
Notes citing Anada Lakra
- Free tier or not? Freemium vs charging from day oneWhether to offer a free tier at all — RevenueCat data shows no-free-tier apps convert 10.7% vs 2.1% by day 35 with equal retention, but a free tier pays when free users are your marketing (Opal) or your network (Tinder).
- Free-trial toggle — let users choose trial vs pay now (and price them differently)Put a "skip free trial" toggle on the paywall so users pick trial or immediate purchase — Riz charges $9.99/week with a 7-day trial or $6.99/week without; Cal AI keeps one price; on transaction-abandonment offers give a deeper discount (90% vs 80%) for buying without a trial; ~10% pick no trial.
- Hard vs soft paywallsWhen to force users to pay or leave (hard paywall) versus letting them close it (soft), with a case where adding the X halved revenue.
- Judge paywall tests on net revenue after refunds (matured cohorts)Trial-start lifts from forcing tactics (no X, undismissable discount) can be wiped out by refunds — BoldVoice's refunds rose more than trial starts — so score paywall experiments on net revenue after refunds per exposed user on a matured cohort (trial + ~1 week + ≥2 weeks).
- Removing the free trial (pay-up-front plans)When dropping the free trial wins — Natal's no-trial monthly grew monthly subs 2,000% (quarterly +46%, annual +21%), Claim went paid-only after 34% trial starts and 50–55% trial-to-paid — and the prerequisites, plus counter-cases (Ladder, Skylight).
- Reverse trials — converting users who closed the paywallGive users who dismiss the paywall a free week of Pro, push them to enable Pro features, then warn that Pro is ending and offer a discount — Momingo's free-user conversion went 0.4% → 4.5%.
- Setting your first subscription priceStart higher than feels comfortable — Ravi Mehta's $20–30/month "high waterline" doubles as a PMF test — then anchor on competitors, cost-plus-perceived-value (AI apps), ROAS/payback math and the value of the user's whole problem; text-AI wrappers cluster at $30–40/year, niche custom-prompt chat apps get $20+/month.
- Subscription funnel benchmarks (trial start, trial-to-paid, install-to-paid, LTV per install)Target numbers for subscription apps — 5–10% install-to-trial (10%+ with a hard paywall), 30–40% trial-to-paid, ~2–3% install-to-paid, and ≥$3 realised LTV per install before scaling Meta.
- The three-screen pre-paywall sequence (explain the free trial)A 2–3 screen sequence before the paywall ("try free", "we'll remind you before it ends", trial timeline) that raised trial starts 56% in one app; Blinkist, Rest of Me, Cal AI variants.
- Tiered subscriptions plus consumables (fitting the demand curve)Tinder's model — 2–3 subscription tiers (Plus, Gold, Platinum) with à-la-carte consumables (Super Likes, Boosts) layered on top to capture both low and high willingness to pay; subscriptions act as a force multiplier for consumables, which free users rarely buy.
- Weekly vs monthly vs yearly plans — and which plan gets the trialMonthly plans usually underperform; test weekly vs yearly per category, and put the free trial on the plan with the highest LTV — moving it from yearly to a 3-day weekly tripled sales in one app.
- What to put behind the paywall (drawing the free/paid line)How to decide which features are free vs paid — keep the core promise free, gate new self-explanatory features, start things behind the paywall (moving out is easy, moving in is painful), meter usage visibly, and watch for "disgust" reactions, not just A/B lifts.
- What to show when users close the paywall (exit offers)Exit-offer ladder for dismissed paywalls — longer (14-day) trial, discount, discount + trial, free credits followed by a review prompt, and finally a forced email capture.