What is typical growth for a bootstrapped app with no existing brand presence

Mick Gow
9 replies
I’m just super curious what “normal” looks like for new launching mobile app. I know there are so many variables, but for an indie maker does an average app see after 3/6/12 months as far as installs.

Replies

Nicolas Gohler
I've had a weird launch, got more people to try the TestFlight (Beta) for the app than real downloads at the launch... Now growing slowly, about 5 users a week, with decent ASO rankings & 0 paid marketing. Plans to change that of course!
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Mick Gow
@nicolasgohler I experienced this a bit and discovered there was an angle of people excited to be beta testers and be first to try. I ended up continuing to run some Facebook ads even after I’m out of beta using words like “help us test” and “early testers”. It’s an interesting marketing angle. I was getting 50 testers a day and it dropped to 20 a day when I removed that language so I put it back and it went up again.
Paolo Go
Competition is high. In my opinion, 6 months to 1 year is a realistic period, but it all depends on marketing and outreach.
Coro
i'd say it takes at least a year, even with paid marketing, to retain a stable growth. my other product took 1year and 7months.
Mick Gow
@zignis what do you consider retaining stable growth? What type of growth or numbers.
Coro
@mickgow depends on the kpi, for me it way the weekly and mau showing a positive trend for atleast a few months
Kevin Brendel
I think there is a huge variance. Some (probably most, tbh) apps see no traction at all, some grow slowly, some take off. But the takeoff can also happen after a long period of slow growth/stagnation, depending on influencers covering it, word-of-mouth, etc. The market is flooded with apps, so you need to think about what you can build that is worth choosing over all of the other options which already exist.
Swayam
I'm in the same boat so i would love to know the answer to this as well