Reflectly

Reflectly turned local micro-influencers into paid Facebook ads in their own dialect. From 2017 to 2020 the AI journaling app paid creators who spoke each country's local dialect to read a script, then ran the videos as Facebook ads rather than organic posts. They converted well and carried Reflectly to roughly $3 to 4 million ARR.

Reflectly launched in 2017 using machine learning before AI was a trend. Darius, then CMO, drove the playbook, which Ryan Thorpe calls finding UGC before it was a hot topic.

Superwall▶ 5:00

Imperfect creator videos won because rivals ran polished graphic ads. The winners were often the oddest videos, with babies crying in the background and bad lighting. They stood out against the polished graphic ads most big advertisers ran at the time.

The team could not predict which creator videos would win. "They were converting like crazy because all the other big companies and advertisers were doing polished graphic ads at the time."

Superwall▶ 5:00

Reflectly plateaued at $3 to 4 million ARR held up only by steady spend. Revenue charts looked strong, but heavy, constant ad spend was needed just to hold that level and the company broke even. The team judged $10 million or more unrealistic and chose not to chase huge scale on Facebook.

Investors wanted Reflectly to become the next Calm or Headspace, but COVID was starting and iOS 14 had weakened ad tracking, making Facebook ads feel unreliable. No total ad spend, cost per install or margins are given.

Superwall▶ 5:00

Buying an under-monetized app paid back faster than the same money in ads. The team bought Done, now Do Habit, which came bundled with five or six other apps, and lifted revenue with better paywalls and in-app subscriptions. It paid for itself within 12 to 18 months.

Ryan reasoned that ad money was less certain to come back, while owning the user base and tech left an exit open. From 2020 to 2025 they rolled up 30 to 35 apps, and Ryan now points to B2B contracts and AI agents as the next growth beyond paid ads.

Superwall

Test creator videos at volume, because no one can predict a viral hit. An in-house, automated pipeline drew about 250 regular creators from over 2,000 on the books, with roughly 10% becoming regulars and 1 to 2% viral standouts. Strict briefs set trending sound, hook type, 10 to 15 seconds, 25 to 27 cuts and POV phone shots.

Pay started at $30 to $40 a video and rose to about $100 for reliable creators. One creator hit 66.9 million views repeatedly, yet copying her video across 20 to 40 other creators did not work. All results are self-reported.

Superwall

A three-level ad ladder kills losers fast and funds the winners. Each video gets its own $10 to $20 test, promising ones graduate after one or two days and $20 to $40 to level two campaigns of $100 to $500, and the top one or two become evergreens taking 90% of spend.

Clear losers are shut off after $5 or $10. Posting organically first saves test budget: 10,000 views is enough to boost, and 10 to 100 comments on a low-view video signals a working hook. The team was one founder, one media buyer and one head of content.

Superwall

Concentrating spend in early January roughly halves the cost of a download. About 75% of the yearly ad budget went into the first month of the year, and one app hit number one in the US App Store on January 2 and 3, two years running.

Sunday to Tuesday and the first days of each month convert best for health and productivity apps. The rest of the year is spent learning which creatives to rerun in January.

Superwall