He Sold 2 Mobile Apps Without Coding Anything

Key Concepts

• Content Competitions: Brands offer prize money for creators to produce content.
• Content Market Fit: Identifying content formats that resonate with a brand's target audience.
• Creator Economy: The ecosystem of independent content creators and the tools and platforms that support them.
• Gamified Influencer Marketing: Using game-like mechanics to incentivize creator participation.
• Opportunities: Brands post opportunities for creators to submit content with a bid.
• CPM-Based Opportunities: Opportunities where creators are paid based on cost per mille (CPM).
• Affiliate-Based Deals: Opportunities where creators earn a commission on sales or conversions.
• Proof of Human: Verifying that a user is a real person, often through KYC (Know Your Customer) processes.
• Founder-Led Marketing: Marketing efforts driven by the founder's personal brand and expertise.

Posted: A Marketplace for Content Competitions

Overview

Posted is a platform that connects brands and creators through content competitions. Brands post contests with prize pools, and creators submit content to compete for the top spots based on views. The platform aims to streamline influencer marketing and provide brands with diverse content options.

How it Works

1. Brand Setup: Brands create an account on Posted and set up a content competition, specifying the prize pool, content brief, and rules.
2. Creator Participation: Creators use the Posted mobile app to find and participate in contests. They post content organically on their social media channels and submit their best-performing video to the contest.
3. View Tracking: Posted tracks the views on each submitted video in real-time, displaying a leaderboard of the top-performing content.
4. Winner Selection: At the end of the contest period (typically two weeks), the creators with the most views split the prize pool according to the brand's specified distribution.
5. Content Ownership: The brand owns the winning content and can use it for their own marketing purposes.

Pricing Model

• Initially, Posted had a monthly fee for brands, but the plan is to make the platform free for brands for the first month.
• Posted takes a percentage cut from the creator cash outs. For example, if the prize pool is $5,000, Posted takes a percentage of that amount when the creators cash out their winnings.

Benefits for Brands

• Content Diversity: Brands receive a variety of content from different creators, allowing them to identify what resonates with their audience.
• Content Market Fit: Posted helps brands accelerate their learning curve to find content formats that perform well.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Brands only pay for content that performs well, reducing the risk associated with traditional influencer marketing.
• Content Ownership: Brands own the winning content and can use it for their own marketing purposes.

Benefits for Creators

• Deal Flow: Posted provides creators with access to brand deals that they might not otherwise have.
• Creative Freedom: Creators have more creative freedom than with traditional brand deals, as they can create content that aligns with their own style and audience.
• Learning Opportunities: Creators can learn from each other by watching the top-performing content on the leaderboard.

Opportunities: An Alternative to Competitions

Posted is launching "Opportunities" as an alternative to content competitions. With Opportunities, brands post a request for content without putting up any money upfront. Creators then submit a video with a bid, and the brand can approve or deny the bid. If the brand approves the bid, the creator posts the content and gets paid.

Types of Opportunities

• Standard Opportunities: Creators submit content with a bid, and the brand can approve or deny the bid.
• CPM-Based Opportunities: Creators are paid based on cost per mille (CPM).
• Affiliate-Based Deals: Creators earn a commission on sales or conversions.

Posted's Growth Strategy

Posted's growth strategy focuses on using the platform itself to promote the platform. The company runs content competitions to recruit creators and uses its own content to attract brands.

Key Metrics

• App Installs: Over 3,000 app installs since the contest launched.
• Cost Per Install (CPI): Approximately $0.50 per install.
• Monthly Revenue: $60,000.

Technology Stack

• Development: Swift (iOS), Web app.
• Design: 99designs, Figma, Photoshop.
• Analytics: Superwall, AppsFlyer, RevenueCat, Mixpanel/Amplitude.

Building Posted: Outsourcing and Team

The founder outsourced the development of Posted through Upwork and used 99designs for the app's design. The team consists of six developers, a content creator lead, a designer, and three sales people.

The Founder's Background

The founder previously built and sold a quit vaping app called Puff Count. He grew Puff Count to $40,000 per month in revenue through organic content and paid ads.

The Wordle Story

The founder built a word game called Wordle in 2017. Five years later, another developer launched a browser-based game with the same name, which became a global phenomenon. Millions of people went to the App Store to download Wordle, and the founder's app benefited from the surge in traffic.

The Future of Content Creation

The founder believes that AI will play a big role in content creation moving forward. However, he believes that AI-generated content is not yet as effective as content created by real people.

Key Takeaways

• Posted is a platform that connects brands and creators through content competitions.
• The platform aims to streamline influencer marketing and provide brands with diverse content options.
• Posted's growth strategy focuses on using the platform itself to promote the platform.
• The founder has a strong track record of building and scaling mobile apps.
• The founder believes that AI will play a big role in content creation moving forward.
• The founder's personal brand and content creation skills are key drivers of Posted's growth.