David Barnard
Host of Sub Club by RevenueCat and long-time indie developer (weather and utility apps, Launch Center Pro). Runs his own small growth experiments and reports them on the show — e.g. paying an affiliate 100% of post-Apple revenue (2026). Also ran RevenueCat’s public experiments on its own app Dipsea (web checkout vs in-app purchase, 2025) and presents RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps data (hard paywall vs freemium) with Jacob Eiting. Moved his weather app Weather Up from ad-supported freemium to a hard paywall.
Strong on: subscription-app economics, indie marketing, synthesising guest playbooks.
Bias to keep in mind: RevenueCat employee; his own experiments are small-sample, indie-scale.
Sources: sources/youtube/sub-club-by-revenuecat/.
Notes citing David Barnard
- Accepting HSA/FSA payments in health & fitness apps (US)US health and fitness apps can let users pay subscriptions with pre-tax HSA dollars via Flex (RevenueCat integration) — Natal made tens of thousands of dollars in two weeks without announcing it, offering it on the annual plan with a trial; Ladder also rolled it out.
- Affiliate programs for subscription apps — commissions, tracking, recruitingHow to run an app affiliate program — 15–40% commission (None to Run pays 20%), tiered bonuses, links plus in-app short codes, creator-branded paywalls with longer trials, recruiting affiliates from your own users — plus David Barnard's 100%-commission test, Cal AI's $10/sale and the AI-search halo.
- Built With Science — scaling Meta from $0 to ~$100k/month on top of a big YouTube audienceCase study of a 7M-subscriber fitness creator's app — a year of product work before any ads, a month to baseline Meta trial-to-paid (~25% vs 35–40% organic), avatar-based creatives without the influencer's face, in-house buying, 90% of traffic to a web quiz.
- Can creators sell your app? Creator–app fit and the "magic moment"The tests for whether influencer/UGC marketing will work for an app — a seconds-long on-screen "magic moment", a deep pool of creators already making content your app slots into, and few competing brands — and what to do when the app itself isn't visual.
- Choosing creator niches by what the viewer wants (and reading the comments)Why on-topic creators (UFC fighters, mukbang, recipe and Love Island accounts) flopped for Cal AI while day-in-the-life fitness creators and moms printed, the comment-section test for niches and individual creators, and spotting creators before they blow up.
- Content creators vs influencers — which to hire for an appWhy Coconote hired content creators (good videos, small followings) instead of influencers, why Cal AI's ex-influencer lead now runs UGC alongside influencers, and the trade-off — UGC gives cheaper views, established influencers give trust that converts.
- Creative volume and hit rate — why you need dozens of ads per winnerPaid social for apps is a volume game — one operator saw 1 winner per ~85 videos and ~$800k of $1.5–1.8M spend wasted; teams now ship 400+ concepts/month, test in cheap geos, and treat flat, "stable" performance as a sign they stopped searching for breakout creatives.
- Creator outreach at scale — funnel math, emails, calls and referralsHow Cal AI signed 2,000–3,000 creators from ~220,000 contacted (25 assistants sending ~2,000 emails a day, AI-handled replies, a sales call, $100–200 referral bonuses), plus Coconote's rule for spotting reachable creators and why relationships compound.
- Credibility vs relatability — matching creator, hook and buyerDawson Gibbs's framework — considered purchases (flights, buying a business) need credible creators ("I'm an ex-flight attendant"), impulse products need relatable ones ("I'm broke like you") — and how a wrong creator ICP brought 45% churn at SMB Market until older creators and borrowed credibility fixed it.
- Dark patterns in web quiz funnels — where the line is and why it's closingThe "black-hat" end of web2app — $1 plans followed by pre-checked add-ons that charged ~$350–400, per-day prices hiding the full price, refund walls — why regulators and payment providers are clamping down, and practical guardrails for honest funnels.
- External payment links vs in-app purchase (US, 2025+)RevenueCat's Dipsea test after the 2025 US ruling — web-only checkout earned $1.96/user vs $2.09 for IAP at a 30% fee (≈ a wash), fewer trials but higher trial conversion and far lower auto-renew-off (3.5% vs 19%); at the 15% fee IAP wins; Skylight saw +100% conversion moving a QR flow from web to Apple.
- 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 web tools (calculators) as SEO/AEO entry points into the quiz funnelAs AI search eroded blog SEO (30–40% of Built With Science's traffic), they built calculators (calories, macros) that rank well in AI answers, deliver value and hand off into the web quiz — converting slightly better than blog posts; plus Reddit as an early AEO lever.
- 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.
- Growing an app without paid ads — Cal AI, Coconote and WeWard comparedSide-by-side numbers and choices of three apps that scaled mainly on organic channels — Coconote ($1M ARR in 4 months, no paid ads, ~50% EBITDA), Cal AI (creators, then paid after a few months, $30/yr for mindshare) and WeWard (PR only for 4 years) — and when each added paid.
- 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.
- International expansion — which markets, localization depth and local pricingLocalization as a growth lever in 2026 — start where you have an edge, use cheap similar-converting geos, price with a purchasing-power index (Simply's "Big Mac index" lifted ARPA), localize consistently end to end, and expect culture-specific surprises (Simply's Japan paywall; Replika's failed Japan bet).
- Is my app ready for Meta ads? Funnel benchmarks and the 7-point checklistSteve P. Young's 7 checks before spending on Meta ads for an app — funnel conversion targets (5–10% install→trial, 30%+ trial→paid, ~2% install→paid), proof strangers pay, LTV, tracking, research, concepts, budget.
- Is paid acquisition incremental? Organic ceilings, cannibalization and geo holdoutsOrganic-heavy apps (Replika, Solid Starts) eventually saturate their niche and find that new paid spend often cannibalizes organic; Simply measures this with geo holdouts (switch app or web campaigns off per country) and aims for "enough truth" in CAC models, not perfect attribution.
- 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).
- Lead ads with the product's "magic moment" (often an AI feature)Features that make people react — PhotoRoom's AI background removal, Simply Draw bringing a child's drawing to life, Cal AI's photo-to-calories, Pingo's AI roasting pronunciation — make the best ad hooks, cut CAC and can unlock markets that never worked with paid ads.
- Long or short onboarding before the paywall? (avoid the middle)Sesame's GLP-1 intake went from 3 to ~25 steps and conversion rose 40% (step-to-step >99%), while Tinder won by cutting dating sign-up to ~90 seconds — pick long or short based on the aha moment and decision stakes, never a "balanced" middle; remove negative-psych steps like password creation.
- Measuring creator and UGC attribution (RPM, spikes, vanity URLs, codes)Practical ways to attribute organic creator content to revenue — reading per-post spikes to get revenue per 1,000 views, secondary engagement signals and a renewal score at scale, vanity domains that redirect to the app, per-creator promo/affiliate codes, and cohort churn checks.
- Organic content that converts vs content that only gets viewsWhy a 41M-view Coconote video earned nothing, and the patterns that do convert — product framed as a solution or identity (not a toy), talking-to-camera formats over looping text, subtle-but-unmissable integrations, and judging creators on paying, retained users.
- Paid social creative testing for apps — levers, hook/hold rate, 3-day testsThe levers of paid social (Meta/TikTok/YouTube) for apps, hook-rate and hold-rate targets, and Ivy's 3-day creative test (4 creatives per themed ad set, $50/ad set) run on highest-converting weekdays.
- Partner ("gym buddy") and family/bundle plans in web funnelsAsking in the quiz whether the user wants to add a partner at 15% off each got ~15% of Built With Science trial starts to take it, raising order value and retention; Simply's multi-profile, multi-app family plans are its best-retaining segment and are sold on the web.
- PR and celebrity partnerships as an app growth channel (WeWard)How WeWard grew four years with zero Meta/Google spend on a $3–5K/month PR retainer (one French TV segment gave 300K downloads in under five minutes), why the same PR failed in the US, and how an ambassador-plus-investor deal with Venus Williams changed press, hiring, CAC and retention.
- Pricing influencer deals — RPM cap, flat rates and minimum view clausesHow Cal AI priced creator deals — never pay a CPM above your revenue per 1,000 views, base rates on a creator's average (not best) views, prefer flat rates to keep the viral upside, and use a minimum view clause set below what the creator claims.
- Raising subscription prices (Skylight $39 → $79)How Skylight doubled its subscription from $39 to $79/year with minimal loss of attach or retention — price tests (incl. hardware discount), choosing below the ARPU-max $99, grandfathering existing subscribers, honouring the old price on request.
- 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).
- Reposting and boosting organic winners (Spark Ads, partnership ads)When to repost a promising UGC video (10–20K views and ≥3% engagement) and when to put paid money behind it (engagement rate >7.5–10%, 3–5× the account's average). Spark/partnership budgets and kill rules, and the counter-evidence that dedicated paid creative beats recycled organic.
- 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%.
- Running a UGC program — campaign managers, coaches and content approvalHow the top UGC programs are staffed and run — 1 campaign manager per ~10 creators, managers vs content coaches, pre-post video reviews, a few "backbone" creators, when the founder can step back (consistent sub-$4–5 CPMs), and tooling for hundreds of creators.
- Running funnel experiments — problem first, big swings, document everythingBuilt With Science's experiment process for web quiz, onboarding and paywalls — find the biggest drop-off, list problems before solutions, test bundled big swings when traffic is limited, write every test down (≈70% fail first time), and re-check winners months later by segment (Simply's soft-paywall lesson).
- Send paid traffic to a web quiz or straight to the App Store?Evidence from Built With Science (90% of paid traffic to a long web quiz after it beat direct-to-store head to head) and Simply (web flows made Facebook work for the first time, ~20% of Simply Piano revenue) on when a web quiz outperforms an app-install campaign — lean-back social users, older non-app-native audiences, bundles.
- 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.
- Short-form hooks and formats that work for apps (2026)A catalogue of formats and hook mechanics practitioners used for apps in 2026 — busy-hands visual hooks, multiple faces, green-screen reactions, credibility listicles, 10-minute story videos, rage bait for AI products, spelled-out URLs — and how a format evolves from founder test to talking head.
- Structure and concepts for paid app video adsThe hook → app demo → offer → App Store end-card structure for paid app ads, why to test distinct concepts per ICP before variations, and how to match ads to custom product pages.
- 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.
- Test demand with ads before building the app (pre-sell)Yuliya Lennox's rule — before vibe-coding an app, run marketing that sells a PDF, concept or promise (refunding if needed) to learn audience size, acquisition cost and willingness to pay; plus why founders must do early marketing themselves.
- 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.
- Tripwire offers instead of free trials in web2appWhy web funnels replace free trials with tiny paid entry offers ($0.99–$10 intro periods or one-time boosts) that renew or upsell to full price, how to size them, and examples (Audible, Hily, Coursiv, Headway).
- UGC program pay structures — retainers, non-stacked bonuses and "free views"SideShift's 2026 data on what top UGC programs pay ($800/month for 60 cross-posted videos, non-stacked bonuses capped at 1M views, pay only the best platform), realistic CPMs over the first 90 days, and why pure performance deals rarely keep creators.
- Ugly ads — why unpolished, shocking creatives win (and when brand matters)Yuliya Lennox's "make ugly ads" case — pattern-break the pretty feed, say what the product does in the first second, lead with the pain — plus the rare cases (trust-sensitive brands like Solid Starts) where an off-brand ad backfires.
- Using AI to scale app ad creatives (without fake testimonials)Where AI helps app ad production in 2026 — permutations of real-human ads (ElevenLabs voice/translation, Suno music), AI statics, LLM-brainstormed extreme hooks, Veo 3 / Higgsfield video — and why fully synthetic "testimonials" carry FTC and backlash risk.
- Web paywall and checkout best practices for web2appChecklist for the web paywall/checkout in a web2app funnel — hard paywall without trial, ≥50% real discount with a real timer, long scroll with FAQ and social proof, per-day pricing, intro price that renews higher, Apple/Google Pay, guarantee, personalised coupon.
- Web pricing page — show annual first with a trial timeline (60/40 → 75–80% annual)Built With Science's biggest 2026 win — a web pricing page showing only the annual plan with a Blinkist-style day 1 / day 7 / day 12-reminder trial timeline moved plan mix from ~60/40 to 75–80% annual with no price change; adding more context hurt; a "pay now, 20% off" no-trial toggle lost until both options were framed positively.
- 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.
- Why run web2app funnels (and when not to)The business case for selling app subscriptions through a web quiz + web checkout instead of the app store — fees, cash flow, attribution, control — plus the cases where it underperforms.