Consumer app · Productivity
From 10,000 to 1 million installs in 12 months, profitably and without VC funding.
Martin had a great product. We needed to get it to the right people without burning budget on installs that would never convert. That meant fixing how the algorithm understood a valuable user, building a video creative system from scratch, and expanding internationally without letting market averages hide what was actually working.
Work with us- 10K→1MApp installs in 12 months
- $0Outside capital raised
- 2022App Growth Awards Finalist
Optimizing for the wrong thing
We were telling Google to find installs. And it did: cheap ones, from users who installed and left. Revenue events weren't being passed back, so the algorithm had no way to tell a subscriber from someone who opened the app once and never returned.
One creative, no system
There was one creative that worked. When it stopped working, the team tried variations, but without understanding why the original worked in the first place. No framework for what made a good hook, no format built for UAC. CPIs kept climbing with no clear path forward.
Measurement that didn't connect to revenue
SKAN wasn't configured. In-app events weren't firing. The MMP setup didn't reflect how the business actually made money. The algorithm was working with a fraction of the real signal, and the numbers being tracked had no connection to what the business cared about.
- 01
Fixed the optimization event
We audited the full funnel and found the in-app event that actually correlated with subscription revenue. Moved campaigns to optimize toward that instead of installs. The algorithm stopped finding cheap users and started finding people who paid.
- 02
Built a UGC creative system
UGC-style videos, roughly $100–120 each to produce, were the right format for UAC. Fast cuts, a strong hook in the first three seconds, portrait format for YouTube Shorts. We built a testing process around understanding why each creative worked or didn't, not just producing variations at random. That feedback loop is what allowed us to keep scaling when individual creatives saturated.
- 03
Fixed SKAN and in-app event measurement
We configured SKAdNetwork conversion values, corrected the MMP setup, and got in-app revenue events firing correctly. This isn't exciting work, but it's what gives the algorithm the signal it needs to find the right users. Without it, you're asking the platform to optimize for something it can't see.
- 04
International expansion without unit economics collapse
Different markets produce very different users. We structured GEO targeting around subscription revenue per market, not install volume, and scaled profitable markets first. Markets where CPI exceeded LTV didn't get budget. We managed 25+ languages and markets without letting the averages flatten out what was actually working.
The UGC format that unlocked UAC at scale. Hook-first, portrait format, built specifically for YouTube Shorts, not adapted from something else.
- 01
Fix the signal first. If you're optimizing toward installs, you're training the algorithm to find people who install, not people who pay. The event you optimize toward is the single highest-leverage decision in an app campaign.
- 02
Build a creative system, not just creatives. One winning ad is a starting point. The question is whether you understand why it worked, because that understanding is what lets you repeat it when it saturates rather than guessing all over again.
- 03
All installs aren't created equal. Different markets, different traffic sources, and different optimization events produce very different users. The business that evaluates campaigns with granularity wins; the one that looks at averages wastes budget.
Markus Seppam
12 years building app campaigns on Google, Meta, and Apple Search Ads. Markus led the work that took Minimalist Phone from 10K to 1 million installs: the optimization event audit, the UGC creative system, the SKAN configuration, the international GEO expansion.
Before this, he ran the campaigns that scaled Synctuition from zero to 1 million installs, including a single video that reached 93 million views. He has now done this twice, with very different products, in very different markets.
On this account, that is the person running your campaigns.
- 12Years in app marketing
- 93MViews on a single Synctuition video
- 25+Languages and markets managed