Podcasts › Tech for Non-Techies
304. How one founder went from zero to 6 million users with no ad spend
What's in this episode
Can you build a B2C app to 6 million users with no advertising? Colin Hodge did it when he co-founded Bang with Friends — a dating app that went viral purely through word of mouth — because he understood the psychology of his users so precisely that they couldn't help but share it. In this episode, Sophia Matveeva speaks with Colin Hodge — entrepreneur, growth expert, and author who has scaled businesses to over 100 million users. He co-founded a viral dating app, served as Chief Growth Officer for 17Live, Asia's leading live-streaming app, and re-acquired his own startup after selling it, growing it into a top 5 US dating app. But this episode is not really about dating apps. It is about the one thing that separates products that grow from products that stagnate: understanding your users deeply enough to build something they cannot stop sharing. You'll learn: The overnight pivot that took a failing startup to a million users in three months Three practical techniques for getting inside the mind of your user, even if you are nothing like them Why the best user interviews feel like anthropology rather than sales Why critiquing your own product before user interviews makes you a dram