These Yc Founders Pivoted 5 Times Before Building A Social App That Nabbed 300k Users And Over $1m Arr In 6 Months

A mates of months ago, nan founders down YC-backed societal app Candle were successful “pivot hell,” cycling done much than a twelve ideas aft joining Y Combinator’s Fall 2024 batch, while nan timepiece connected their seed money ticked down.

Alex Ruber, antecedently an technologist astatine Apple, and Parth Chopra, formerly an technologist astatine Asana and Twitter, had built aggregate projects together including Encore, a conversational AI shopping instrumentality that sewage them into YC and pinch which they raised $2 million.

However, while nan tech worked, nan portion economics didn’t, according to Ruber.

“The secondhand shopping abstraction is simply a reliable marketplace to statesman with,” Ruber told TechCrunch. “To win, you either go for illustration Google Shopping aliases build a really beardown marketplace for illustration Whatnot aliases eBay. That wasn’t a target we wanted to pursue.”

What followed were months of accelerated experiments betwixt past December and April, pinch pivots astir ideas successful areas for illustration manner and sports, nary of which stuck. “We tried much than 10 different ideas successful nan span of 4 aliases 5 months,” Ruber said.

The unit began to strain their ain relationships pinch friends and partners, a acquainted communicative for galore early-stage founders. Ironically, that hostility sparked nan thought that would yet click.

The first type was simple: a swipeable platform of questions designed to spark conversations pinch their partners. Then an intern, now trading lead astatine nan startup, shared a TikTok astir nan app that went viral, unexpectedly gaining traction successful Europe.

Downloads surged, feedback poured in, and nan squad leaned into nan momentum. That early prototype has since evolved into Candle, a lightweight, gamified app that helps couples and adjacent friends enactment connected.

Image Credits:Candle

Six months aft launch, Candle has grown to 300,000 users, including 150,000 couples. The institution says much than 250,000 are progressive each month, pinch a DAU/MAU ratio of astir 50%, a beardown awesome of engagement for a user societal app and an early motion of regular wont potential. Candle has besides classed successful Apple’s App Store apical 25 aggregate times.

Candle’s wedge is sustaining existing relationships pinch small, regular prompts and games alternatively than helping group find caller ones. Users reply speedy questions, comparison results, stock photos, and support a “streak” that shows really consistently they’ve checked in. The mechanics are textbook mobile engagement aimed astatine Gen Z and young millennials.

In different atypical move for a user societal app—but 1 much communal among newer AI-native products—monetization has travel early. Candle’s monthly gross precocious crossed $150,000, implying an yearly tally complaint supra $1 million.

The app runs connected a freemium model: nan free tier offers regular prompts, photograph updates, and halfway games, while premium unlocks other contented and features.

While maturation remains a privilege for nan startup, monetizing early is simply a beardown awesome of product-market fit. “At nan extremity of nan day, this app helps group fortify their connections. Most of it is free, but erstwhile users salary for other contented and features, it shows existent product-market fit,” nan CEO said.

The months-old level is 1 of nan fewer apps successful nan space, alongside Paired and Couple Joy, designed to make relationships much fun. These apps are tapping into a taste undertow wherever post-pandemic activity habits, solo meals, and endless societal feeds person hollowed retired day-to-day connections and left group successful nan U.S. lonelier than ever.

For Candle, nan stake is that nan adjacent activity of societal astatine standard will beryllium little astir broadcasting to strangers and much astir making it easier to show up regular for a fewer adjacent people. That insight, mixed pinch its laminitis and creator-led distribution motor crossed TikTok and Instagram, is really nan squad hopes to debar nan destiny of galore user societal apps that surge quickly only to stall months later.

Still, nan large questions remain: durability and depth. Can a regular photo-and-game app prolong 12-, 24-, aliases 36-month retention curves? Can Candle grow from lightweight prompts into a broader suite of “connection types” without bloating nan experience? Ruber and CTO Chopra opportunity that’s nan roadmap: adding much ways to gain “sparks,” nan app’s constituent system, for a wider scope of interactions, and introducing richer features that beforehand consistency.

The seed money raised for nan team’s earlier shopping app will now springiness Candle nan resources to bring connected much engineers, velocity up experimentation, and standard faster. Existing backers, including Goodwater Capital, Pioneer Fund, Progression Fund, and Y Combinator, are afloat down nan caller direction, Ruber said.