Vitaly Davydov
Where to hear and read about Vitaly Davydov1 episode or test
Vitaly Davydov was a guest on App Masters in a conversation with Steve P. Young about getting first subscribers for indie apps, and the sources say little about his own background. The most useful lesson from that conversation is to build free traction with ASO and reviews, then fix onboarding and the paywall before paying for ads.
Vitaly Davydov: the story and the lessons
1What the sources show about Vitaly Davydov
Davydov joined App Masters to discuss first subscribers for indie developers. The conversation with Steve P. Young covers ASO, Apple Search Ads, onboarding, paywalls and pricing for apps with few or no paying users.
The sources give no career history or company details for Davydov, so this page covers the ideas discussed in the conversation. Most of the advice is voiced by Steve P. Young and is credited to him below.
Davydov pays for only one subscription, Strava. Steve P. Young holds six to eight subscriptions, while Davydov has only Strava. The comparison came up while discussing why timed lifetime offers work on existing subscribers.
2Getting the first subscribers with ASO and search ads
Zero downloads and zero payers is the hardest starting point. With downloads but no payers, or payers but few downloads, the fix is known. With neither, there is nothing to learn from, so cheap tests beat guesses.
Steve P. Young says growth is harder than monetization because paywall and funnel tools already exist. He also admits he leans toward the bottom of the funnel, so his view may be biased.
Steve P. Young gives a high-priced lifetime offer away free for two days. A non-consumable in-app purchase is the only product that can be priced at zero, so he prices it at $49 to $199 and runs it free for 2 days on AppAdvice. An AI transcription app went from about $100 a month to $7,000 in its first month with ASO only, on 106,000 downloads and 800 new ratings.
The review prompt appears on the very first open, and the main keywords go in the title and subtitle. The 800 ratings split into 200 in the US and 600 worldwide.
He wants about 100 reviews before any paid marketing. About 1% of downloads leave a review, so the free offer buys social proof. The client started with five reviews and about $100 a month, and hit $10,000 in August 2024, purely organic.
"before I start any type of paid marketing I want my app in the app stores to look like they've got some traction"
He starts with ASO and Apple Search Ads, then checks the funnel. Search ads need only keywords, with no Meta SDK. Good early numbers are 5% or more trial starts and over 30% trial to paid, against an average install-to-paying rate of about 2% that he has heard.
If the numbers are near these, the job is more downloads. If they are far below, fix the funnel first. Adapty reports trial start, trial activation and paid from day one.
He adds social ads after about $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue. His own apps reached $1,000 organically, then about $3,000 with Apple Search Ads at roughly 2x return on about $1,000 of spend, and then stalled at $2,000 to $3,000 for six months.
Search volume is small because few people search the App Store. He prefers the threshold as recurring revenue, not one-time revenue, and says patient founders can stay on search longer.
He tells ad networks to optimize for trial starts. Apple privacy rules pass back only the first event, not renewals. Games should optimize for the first purchase or the level that leads to it.
"optimizing for the trial is the way to go"
3Onboarding, paywall and pricing tests from the conversation
Onboarding and the paywall give the biggest return once downloads arrive. The figure cited from Adapty is that 60 to 80% of the effect comes from these two screens. An app earning about $1,000 a month reached $8,000 to $10,000 after optimizing them.
Steve P. Young says to start right away, because early tests show how much people will pay long term.
Steve P. Young changed his mind on hard paywalls because of the data. He first thought a hard paywall was scammy, but it often beats free and intro offers on niche and utility apps such as VPNs. One test made $10,000 with a hard paywall against $5,000 with a soft one.
He notes a hard paywall may not be wanted long term, but is worth testing at launch.
Paywalls need a clear button, tested per platform. Users are less technical than developers, so a big button helps. One community member found Continue won on iOS and Start free trial won on Android.
"everybody likes buttons"
A higher price can lift both revenue and conversion. A community member who sat at $20 in the US for a long time moved to $30. Trial conversions and revenue both rose, the opposite of the usual small drop.
Lower-income markets need lower prices, judged by one-year LTV. At $15 a month the app did not work in Brazil. Cutting the price about 50% raised one-year LTV by 30%, because many more users renewed.
First conversion is only a proxy metric. "what you really Target is LTV of a year"
Adapty let the team change paywalls without an app update. This sped up testing and made the hard versus soft comparison quick. One app reached six figures of ARR within a few months at about 100 downloads a day, with no ASO changes.
Other apps climbed more slowly, from $2,000 to $3,000, then $4,000.
4Scope, funding and lifetime offers
Steve P. Young tells founders to ship a one-year feature set. Founders build a five-year feature set because competitors have one and they believe theirs is better. He says users only care about what they want from the app.
His answer to founders who say their app is "so much better": let's prove it.
He funds growth from early revenue, not personal savings. He told the client the free lifetime campaign could make the first $1,000, which would then pay for Apple Search Ads.
"reinvest from your revenues"
Timed half-price lifetime emails can convert existing subscribers. Calm emailed Steve P. Young a year after he subscribed with a 50% off lifetime sale, run as a 7-day sale and then a last chance. He paid $150 on top of the $60 yearly plan.
How to Get Your First Subscribers: Advice for Indie Developers
Indie developers learn how to get first subscribers by seeding reviews with a free lifetime offer, starting with ASO and Apple Search Ads, then optimizing the paywall and onboarding. One case study took a transcription app from about $100 a month to $7,000 in its first month using ASO only.
Davydov joined App Masters to discuss first subscribers for indie developers. The conversation with Steve P. Young covers ASO, Apple Search Ads, onboarding, paywalls and pricing for apps with few or no paying users.
The sources give no career history or company details for Davydov, so this page covers the ideas discussed in the conversation. Most of the advice is voiced by Steve P. Young and is credited to him below.
Davydov pays for only one subscription, Strava. Steve P. Young holds six to eight subscriptions, while Davydov has only Strava. The comparison came up while discussing why timed lifetime offers work on existing subscribers.
Zero downloads and zero payers is the hardest starting point. With downloads but no payers, or payers but few downloads, the fix is known. With neither, there is nothing to learn from, so cheap tests beat guesses.
Steve P. Young says growth is harder than monetization because paywall and funnel tools already exist. He also admits he leans toward the bottom of the funnel, so his view may be biased.
Steve P. Young gives a high-priced lifetime offer away free for two days. A non-consumable in-app purchase is the only product that can be priced at zero, so he prices it at $49 to $199 and runs it free for 2 days on AppAdvice. An AI transcription app went from about $100 a month to $7,000 in its first month with ASO only, on 106,000 downloads and 800 new ratings.
The review prompt appears on the very first open, and the main keywords go in the title and subtitle. The 800 ratings split into 200 in the US and 600 worldwide.
He wants about 100 reviews before any paid marketing. About 1% of downloads leave a review, so the free offer buys social proof. The client started with five reviews and about $100 a month, and hit $10,000 in August 2024, purely organic.
"before I start any type of paid marketing I want my app in the app stores to look like they've got some traction"
He starts with ASO and Apple Search Ads, then checks the funnel. Search ads need only keywords, with no Meta SDK. Good early numbers are 5% or more trial starts and over 30% trial to paid, against an average install-to-paying rate of about 2% that he has heard.
If the numbers are near these, the job is more downloads. If they are far below, fix the funnel first. Adapty reports trial start, trial activation and paid from day one.
He adds social ads after about $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue. His own apps reached $1,000 organically, then about $3,000 with Apple Search Ads at roughly 2x return on about $1,000 of spend, and then stalled at $2,000 to $3,000 for six months.
Search volume is small because few people search the App Store. He prefers the threshold as recurring revenue, not one-time revenue, and says patient founders can stay on search longer.
He tells ad networks to optimize for trial starts. Apple privacy rules pass back only the first event, not renewals. Games should optimize for the first purchase or the level that leads to it.
"optimizing for the trial is the way to go"
Onboarding and the paywall give the biggest return once downloads arrive. The figure cited from Adapty is that 60 to 80% of the effect comes from these two screens. An app earning about $1,000 a month reached $8,000 to $10,000 after optimizing them.
Steve P. Young says to start right away, because early tests show how much people will pay long term.
Steve P. Young changed his mind on hard paywalls because of the data. He first thought a hard paywall was scammy, but it often beats free and intro offers on niche and utility apps such as VPNs. One test made $10,000 with a hard paywall against $5,000 with a soft one.
He notes a hard paywall may not be wanted long term, but is worth testing at launch.
Paywalls need a clear button, tested per platform. Users are less technical than developers, so a big button helps. One community member found Continue won on iOS and Start free trial won on Android.
"everybody likes buttons"
A higher price can lift both revenue and conversion. A community member who sat at $20 in the US for a long time moved to $30. Trial conversions and revenue both rose, the opposite of the usual small drop.
Lower-income markets need lower prices, judged by one-year LTV. At $15 a month the app did not work in Brazil. Cutting the price about 50% raised one-year LTV by 30%, because many more users renewed.
First conversion is only a proxy metric. "what you really Target is LTV of a year"
Adapty let the team change paywalls without an app update. This sped up testing and made the hard versus soft comparison quick. One app reached six figures of ARR within a few months at about 100 downloads a day, with no ASO changes.
Other apps climbed more slowly, from $2,000 to $3,000, then $4,000.
Steve P. Young tells founders to ship a one-year feature set. Founders build a five-year feature set because competitors have one and they believe theirs is better. He says users only care about what they want from the app.
His answer to founders who say their app is "so much better": let's prove it.
He funds growth from early revenue, not personal savings. He told the client the free lifetime campaign could make the first $1,000, which would then pay for Apple Search Ads.
"reinvest from your revenues"
Timed half-price lifetime emails can convert existing subscribers. Calm emailed Steve P. Young a year after he subscribed with a 50% off lifetime sale, run as a 7-day sale and then a last chance. He paid $150 on top of the $60 yearly plan.