CP Young
Founder of App Masters, app marketing agency
Where to hear and read about CP Young1 episode or test
CP Young is the founder of App Masters, an app marketing agency, and he picks apart how successful apps acquire and convert users. The most useful lesson from him is to send paid traffic to a personalized web quiz and paywall instead of the app store.
I think that's going to definitely be the future of app acquisition, especially as Apple has made it harder for us to track within their app.
This AI Learning App Made $1.8M in Its First Year (Coursiv App)
CP Young: the story and the lessons
1CP Young's case for web-to-app funnels
Young expects web funnels to become the main way apps acquire users. He argues Apple has made tracking inside its app harder. Sending ads to the web lets users convert before they ever open the app.
He says the model suits education and fitness apps best.
He uses Coursiv as the example: $1.8M in its first year. The AI learning app reached about $1.8M in lifetime revenue after an April launch. It earns roughly $250,000 a month, and its best month was June 2025.
Ads run on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Google, and every ad he followed led to a web checkout.
Young notes the web price undercuts the in-app price. Coursiv's plan costs $20 a month on the web against $29 to $30 in the app.
He has seen a few other education apps run web-to-app campaigns, and says the web and app onboarding flows differ very little, so the web side is the one to study.
He highlights fear-of-missing-out ad hooks aimed at AI beginners. One Coursiv Instagram ad says teenagers are building businesses with AI while the only AI you know is ChatGPT.
The ad lists what the viewer is missing, which draws in people new to AI.
2How Young reads a web onboarding quiz
Young says the first and last pages decide the result. Users drop off once the quiz starts, so the landing page and the paywall matter most. Coursiv's landing page opens with 700,000 users, a 4.5 rating and a simple yes or no question about using AI.
It also shows a person matched to the viewer, such as a man for a male user. His line: "The first page and the last page, frankly."
He wants every quiz answer tracked against trial and conversion. A question like "is AI too hard to learn?" separates likely buyers from likely non-buyers: a yes likely buys, a no likely does not.
Record each answer, see which ones give the best trial and conversion rates, then tailor audience and targeting to them.
Young says to ask how much time users will commit daily. People who commit to a goal are more likely to stay in the app. He put 15 to 20 minutes a day and says every app should have this screen.
He says Duolingo has reported this as an important number for retention.
He mixes questions with reading screens and a personal profile. Alternating question screens with screens where the user only reads keeps the quiz from feeling like work. Coursiv ends with an AI profile of where the user is and where they can get to, plus a challenge spanning July to September.
He says fitness apps use the same device. A goal question, such as saving for a home, frames the app as help with life goals, not only skills.
Young drops his no-account rule for web funnels. He normally says not to force account creation inside an app. On the web, the email is the only link back to the app, so Coursiv asks for email and name near the end of the quiz.
The name is then reused for personalization on the paywall.
3Young's paywall, pricing and urgency tactics
He says web paywalls should be long and explain the offer. Users need to read what they get. Coursiv's page shows an 83% readiness score and a four-week program built from quiz answers, and repeats the user's goals back to them.
He says to skip the free versus premium features table and describe only what paying unlocks. A long paywall works in-app too, but is not necessary there.
A name and a timer make a standard plan feel like a personal coupon. The paywall shows the user's name and the current month, a "promo code applied" banner and a 10-minute countdown. It is not a real coupon code.
He calls it easy to build: grab the name, add a string, set a timer and a changeable price.
Letting the offer expire triggers loss aversion. When he waited out the timer, the price jumped from $20 to $40. Taking the offer away makes people want it more.
His line: "When you take something away, users then ultimately feel like whether they want it or not."
The email verification link brings lapsed users back to the offer. Coursiv collects the email early, then sends a verify email. Clicking it returns the user to the paywall with the promo applied and a fresh 10-minute timer.
The loop costs nothing extra because the email was already collected in the quiz.
Young admits per-day pricing fooled him. He bought another app's plan at 71 cents a day and did not notice it was $20 a month.
He still calls the web price a real discount against the in-app price.
He recommends live purchase counts as social proof. Coursiv shows "203 people purchased personal AI learning plans in the last hour." Web plugins can add this, and it is rare in apps.
One App Masters client uses it in-app with good results. He notes the number could be made up, which he leaves to the app maker.
On web, he prefers a money-back guarantee to a free trial. Coursiv's paywall uses a guarantee to reassure buyers.
His line: "Money back guarantee works better than giving a trial on the web."
4Why Young tells apps to start in a niche
Young says most developers start too wide and should begin narrow. They say the app is for everybody, then narrow down. He recommends starting with a target niche and moving up.
His example: begin with box breathing and move into meditation, rather than fighting Calm and Headspace. He named this the lesson he liked most from the Coursiv teardown.
This AI Learning App Made $1.8M in Its First Year (Coursiv App)
A teardown of how the Coursiv AI learning app runs a web-to-app funnel: ads to a landing page, a long quiz onboarding, and a personalized, time-limited paywall. The app reached about $1.8M in lifetime revenue in its first year, with roughly $250,000 a month at its peak.
Young expects web funnels to become the main way apps acquire users. He argues Apple has made tracking inside its app harder. Sending ads to the web lets users convert before they ever open the app.
He says the model suits education and fitness apps best.
He uses Coursiv as the example: $1.8M in its first year. The AI learning app reached about $1.8M in lifetime revenue after an April launch. It earns roughly $250,000 a month, and its best month was June 2025.
Ads run on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Google, and every ad he followed led to a web checkout.
Young notes the web price undercuts the in-app price. Coursiv's plan costs $20 a month on the web against $29 to $30 in the app.
He has seen a few other education apps run web-to-app campaigns, and says the web and app onboarding flows differ very little, so the web side is the one to study.
He highlights fear-of-missing-out ad hooks aimed at AI beginners. One Coursiv Instagram ad says teenagers are building businesses with AI while the only AI you know is ChatGPT.
The ad lists what the viewer is missing, which draws in people new to AI.
Young says the first and last pages decide the result. Users drop off once the quiz starts, so the landing page and the paywall matter most. Coursiv's landing page opens with 700,000 users, a 4.5 rating and a simple yes or no question about using AI.
It also shows a person matched to the viewer, such as a man for a male user. His line: "The first page and the last page, frankly."
He wants every quiz answer tracked against trial and conversion. A question like "is AI too hard to learn?" separates likely buyers from likely non-buyers: a yes likely buys, a no likely does not.
Record each answer, see which ones give the best trial and conversion rates, then tailor audience and targeting to them.
Young says to ask how much time users will commit daily. People who commit to a goal are more likely to stay in the app. He put 15 to 20 minutes a day and says every app should have this screen.
He says Duolingo has reported this as an important number for retention.
He mixes questions with reading screens and a personal profile. Alternating question screens with screens where the user only reads keeps the quiz from feeling like work. Coursiv ends with an AI profile of where the user is and where they can get to, plus a challenge spanning July to September.
He says fitness apps use the same device. A goal question, such as saving for a home, frames the app as help with life goals, not only skills.
Young drops his no-account rule for web funnels. He normally says not to force account creation inside an app. On the web, the email is the only link back to the app, so Coursiv asks for email and name near the end of the quiz.
The name is then reused for personalization on the paywall.
He says web paywalls should be long and explain the offer. Users need to read what they get. Coursiv's page shows an 83% readiness score and a four-week program built from quiz answers, and repeats the user's goals back to them.
He says to skip the free versus premium features table and describe only what paying unlocks. A long paywall works in-app too, but is not necessary there.
A name and a timer make a standard plan feel like a personal coupon. The paywall shows the user's name and the current month, a "promo code applied" banner and a 10-minute countdown. It is not a real coupon code.
He calls it easy to build: grab the name, add a string, set a timer and a changeable price.
Letting the offer expire triggers loss aversion. When he waited out the timer, the price jumped from $20 to $40. Taking the offer away makes people want it more.
His line: "When you take something away, users then ultimately feel like whether they want it or not."
The email verification link brings lapsed users back to the offer. Coursiv collects the email early, then sends a verify email. Clicking it returns the user to the paywall with the promo applied and a fresh 10-minute timer.
The loop costs nothing extra because the email was already collected in the quiz.
Young admits per-day pricing fooled him. He bought another app's plan at 71 cents a day and did not notice it was $20 a month.
He still calls the web price a real discount against the in-app price.
He recommends live purchase counts as social proof. Coursiv shows "203 people purchased personal AI learning plans in the last hour." Web plugins can add this, and it is rare in apps.
One App Masters client uses it in-app with good results. He notes the number could be made up, which he leaves to the app maker.
On web, he prefers a money-back guarantee to a free trial. Coursiv's paywall uses a guarantee to reassure buyers.
His line: "Money back guarantee works better than giving a trial on the web."
Young says most developers start too wide and should begin narrow. They say the app is for everybody, then narrow down. He recommends starting with a target niche and moving up.
His example: begin with box breathing and move into meditation, rather than fighting Calm and Headspace. He named this the lesson he liked most from the Coursiv teardown.