How to consistently go viral: Nikita Bier’s playbook for winning at consumer apps

Nikita Bier is one of the most in-demand consumer, social, and growth experts in the world. He’s the co-founder of TBH (sold to Meta for more than $30 million) and Gas (sold to Discord for millions more) and has helped more consumer apps that have hit #1 in the app stores than any other person I’ve come across. He currently spends his time advising founders on growth, product, and design and is an investor and advisor to some of the best consumer tech companies, including Flo, Locket, Eight Sleep, Citizen, BeReal, Captions, and more. In our conversation, we discuss:
• The inside story of how TBH and Gas achieved explosive growth
• Strategies for building viral consumer apps
• Why teens are such a great audience
• Fighting the human trafficking hoax at Gas
• The challenge of creating durable social products
• His experience working as a PM at Facebook
• Advice for founders on building consumer apps
• Much more

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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Nikita’s background
(06:08) Nikita’s early ventures: Politify and Outline
(08:42) Transition to consumer apps
(13:45) The birth of TBH
(16:43) Building for teens vs. adults
(20:00) TBH’s viral success
(32:18) Leveraging live chat
(34:08) Lasting lessons from TBH
(37:00) Selling TBH to Facebook
(42:19) Big-tech product management
(48:46) Nikita on why “product management is not real”
(51:49) The Tim Cook painting story
(53:53) Leaving Facebook and starting a new venture
(58:02) Rebuilding TBH and overcoming challenges
(59:46) Addressing criticism
(01:04:24) The human trafficking hoax
(01:09:51) Selling to Discord and lessons learned
(01:11:36) Lasting lessons from Gas
(01:13:14) Building durable consumer apps
(01:22:35) The VC route
(01:23:27) Contact permissions in iOS 18
(01:26:53) The success of Dupe
(01:31:53) Advice for startup founders
(01:34:14) Work with Nikita

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[kayezdee]

20 minutes in, and I've already gained more insights than I have in months. There's a reason why Nikita was the most requested guest for this podcast.

[marvinbernal]

I can't believe I took so long to listen to the full episode. Thank you both for having this conversation.

[HollowxReed]

"we launched in the exact same school that we launched TBH, on the exact same day, five years later." legend😂

[fcordobaot]

Lenny, this is the best interview that I have seen with Nikita.
Is so difficult to find great info about his thought process launching TBH and GAS and finally someone did it.
New subscriber 🎉

[tylerthefailure]

Great episode you two. I booked an Intro call with Nikita to discuss an app I was working on, and it was clear that his number one priority was to make sure I got my money's worth out of the call.

[gptBreeze_io]

10:50 Targeting Teen Users
Teens have adaptable habits, crucial for growth.
Older users invite fewer new app users.
Critical to attract users who socialize daily.

12:15 Importance of User Invitations
Invitation rates drop 20% per year of age.
Adults require ads for user acquisition.
Building for adults is costly and complex.

[zedrake]

This is literally the only episode anyone ever needs to listen to.

[SaileeIvic]

I sat through the entire thing and it was amazing. A lot of tactical stuff and Nikita clearly knows what he is saying! Thanks a lot for covering this topic, Lenny

[_ap__]

what an insane roller coaster ride this episode was.

[nigel-uno]

I worked for a fintech that was trying to target young adults, and after doing marketing research, I also came to same conclusion as Nikita. Young adults are less likely to adopt new apps. It's better to target teens or as early as possible.

[mamotivated]

Lenny, this was a rock solid episode. Learned a lot. Can't build apps for older folks I guess. Keep bringing on great guests. AI Product managers would be great to spotlight.

[oscaragbasi]

Your questions are really insightful and informative. Amazing podcast excited for more content

[lilrunoo]

wow an hour and 40 minutes of sauce thank you for this!

[madeline]

This has been one of the greatest episodes Lenny! Pure gold!

[MalikaYunus]

Woohoo! Been counting down the days until this drop all week 😁

[AnouarOUALIALAMI]

Basically this guy is GENIUS, I'm listening for the 2nd time

[creativegiant]

33:08 is one of the example of doing things that do not scale but are incredibly valuable.

[iamlindsaymatthews]

Great episode! Thanks so much for sharing such a great and insightful conversation :)

[olumidelonge]

This is an incredible episode. I found it interesting that he starts with analytics when advising a company

[JustinSpratt]

Nikita is a such a unique thinker. I hope he throws his incredible creative thinking at a big idea some day.