How to Grow an App With One Influencer Partner

TL;DR

A well-aligned influencer partnership helped MonAI grow from about $300 to more than $35,000 in monthly recurring revenue in just over a year. The partnership combines three high-quality, story-driven videos per month with profit sharing and a fixed retainer, giving the creator a direct incentive to improve the app’s business results.

Transcript

Right now, it's easier than ever to build apps, but distribution is harder than it's ever been. Tik Tok, paid ads, Reddit. What do you do? Well, today I think I found the solution. I partnered with one guy and we grew by 10,000%. This is Flo, a solo developer who built a really simple mobile app. But for over a year, he tried everything and barely ... Read More

Key Insights

• MonAI is a minimal expense-tracking app that uses AI-assisted voice input and automations to reduce the friction of recording purchases. Flo designed it for his own needs after repeatedly abandoning other expense trackers because entering information felt too cumbersome.
• MonAI grew slowly before gaining meaningful distribution. Flo spent about one and a half years reaching roughly $300 in monthly recurring revenue by himself, despite having a functioning subscription product that addressed a problem he personally understood.
• The influencer partnership began when a Colombian content creator discovered Flo’s social links inside the app and contacted him. After negotiating an agreement, the creator started publishing three videos per month on his main channel.
• The first influencer video created an immediate revenue increase. Monthly recurring revenue rose about tenfold within a week, while that video and another video helped move the business from roughly $300 to between $7,800 and $8,000 per month.
• The partnership is structured around a fixed monthly retainer and a percentage of profits. Flo previously used a revenue-sharing arrangement, but concluded that it did not scale well and changed the model to make the creator’s payout mostly profit-based.
• Profit-based compensation aligns the creator with the app’s broader performance. The creator does more than deliver assigned videos, because his earnings encourage him to develop ideas, improve stories, and continually consider what will produce the strongest business results.
• Quality matters more than posting frequency in MonAI’s content strategy. The creator publishes only three videos per month, but each is carefully produced and usually story-driven, allowing a relatively modest number of views to convert at a high rate.
• Individual stories produced measurable growth for MonAI. One 1.7-million-view video about an Apple invitation added almost $5,000 in monthly recurring revenue, while a later story about a heavily requested feature helped push revenue above $35,000.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did MonAI grow from $300 to $35,000 per month?

MonAI grew after Flo partnered with a Colombian content creator who had discovered his social profiles through the app. The creator began publishing three high-quality videos per month to an audience aligned with the product. The first posts rapidly raised monthly recurring revenue, and subsequent story-driven videos produced additional increases until the app surpassed $35,000 per month in just over a year.

Q: What does the MonAI expense-tracking app do?

MonAI is an expense-tracking app designed to make recording transactions less cumbersome. It uses AI-assisted voice input and automations to reduce entry friction, while maintaining a minimal interface instead of adding the bloat Flo observed in other expense trackers. It is a subscription app with a seven-day trial, following testing that showed a hard paywall with a free trial worked best.

Q: How was the MonAI influencer partnership structured?

The partnership combines a fixed monthly retainer with a percentage of profits. Flo and the creator initially used a percentage-of-revenue arrangement, but they found that model did not scale well. Making the variable payment mostly profit-based gives the creator a financial reason to support the app’s overall success, develop strong ideas, and improve each video rather than simply complete an assignment.

Q: Why did profit sharing work for MonAI's creator partnership?

Profit sharing gave the content creator direct exposure to the app’s financial results. His role therefore extended beyond producing and delivering videos, because stronger conversion and healthier business performance could improve his payout. According to Flo, this structure encourages the creator to keep thinking about what is best for the app and how to create the strongest possible stories.

Q: How many influencer videos did MonAI publish each month?

The creator published three videos per month on his main channel. Flo emphasized quality over quantity, both in choosing one strong creator instead of managing many influencers and in producing a small number of carefully developed posts. The videos were usually story-driven and took time to create, but the viewers they attracted converted at a comparatively high rate.

Q: What results did MonAI get from its first influencer videos?

The first influencer video was a simple walkthrough that introduced the app’s idea to an audience unfamiliar with it. Within a week, monthly recurring revenue increased about tenfold. That post and another video helped raise revenue from roughly $300 to between $7,800 and $8,000 per month, while a later short video added more than $5,000 and brought revenue to about $13,000.

Q: How should an app founder choose an influencer partner?

Flo’s first selection step is to find an aligned partner whose lifestyle, tone, and audience match the product. He values personality, charisma, and a genuine connection with viewers. Replying to comments is particularly important because potential app customers may ask questions. His partner also blends technology with lifestyle content, so viewers care about personal stories rather than only app specifications.

Q: How did Flo develop and launch the original MonAI app?

Flo built MonAI for himself after finding existing expense trackers too cumbersome to use consistently. He paired expense tracking with increasingly usable AI to create a more frictionless experience. Having previously spent two years on an app that attracted little interest, he deliberately moved faster, completing MonAI’s first version in one or two months and then improving it continuously.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Flo created MonAI after repeatedly abandoning expense trackers that felt too cumbersome. He combined AI-assisted voice entry and automations with a minimal interface, built the first version in one or two months, and iterated continuously. Before MonAI succeeded, he had spent two years building another app that attracted little interest.

• MonAI reached only about $300 in monthly recurring revenue during its first year and a half. A Colombian content creator found Flo through social links inside the app and proposed working together. The creator’s first videos rapidly lifted revenue, demonstrating that limited visibility, rather than the product itself, had constrained growth.

• The partnership uses three high-quality, story-driven videos each month instead of pursuing high posting volume or many creators. Compensation combines a fixed monthly retainer with a percentage of profits, aligning the creator with the app’s results. Individual videos produced measurable revenue increases, eventually helping MonAI exceed $35,000 in monthly recurring revenue.