Phil Carter: Growth Loops, CAC + LTV Benchmarks, Pricing, Discounts, Paywalls... | E1204

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 20, 2024

Duration

1h 23m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Phil Carter is one of the best growth leaders of the last decade helping world-class companies like Faire, Quizlet, and Ibotta accelerate their growth. Today, Phil is a growth advisor and angel investor who helps Seed – Series C consumer subscription businesses define their growth strategy. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:36) Definition of Growth & Growth Team (04:36) The Right Time to Hire a Growth Team (09:00) Common Mistakes Startups Make Hiring First Growth Roles (10:51) Key Questions To Ask In Hiring (15:27) Example of a Failed A/B Test Leading to Success (18:13) Biggest Mistakes in Setting a Guiding User Metric for Growth (23:19) Challenges in Scaling AI Consumer Subscription Products (26:17) Impact of Market Saturation on CAC Over Time (30:52) Exploring Secondary Channels (41:49) Defining Core Value Promise for Consumer Subscription Businesses (47:59) The Role of Notifications as a Retention Mechanism (54:29) The Dilemma of Paywalls: Hard vs. Freemium Models (01:07:17) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Discounting Strategies (01:13:22) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Phil Carter We Discuss: The Seven Core Levers to Win at Consumer Subscription

1. How to Optimize Subscription Pricing and Packaging: Step:

• Single vs multiple subs tiers?
• Monthly, weekly or annually?
• How often should it be revisited?
• Biggest mistakes companies make with pricing and packaging?

1. How to deliver immediate value through new user onboarding? Target Metrics:

• Best tactics for delivering value in the shortest amount of time?
• Biggest mistakes companies make in user onboarding?
• Thoughts on the very long surveys companies like Noom make people fill out pre getting access to the product?

1. How to boost paid marketing efficiency by investing in desktop web flows? Target Metrics:

• Why is now the time to be investing in desktop workflows?
• What are the most effective and specific tactics to do so?

1. How to optimize paywall visibility and conversion? Target Metrics:

• Why is paywall view rate so important?
• What is good vs bad?
• What are the most common places to trigger paywall?
• Thoughts on hard paywall vs consumer value first?
• Specific tactics to refine paywall design to maximize conversion?
• Single biggest mistakes companies make when it comes to paywall conversion?

1. How to distinguish and emphasize premium value props? Target Metrics:

• What are the most effective ways to do this?
• Who does it best? Lessons from them?

1. How to leverage motivation tactics (stats, streaks, badges, leaderboards, notifications)? Target Metrics:

• What is the most effective?
• Do we not have notification overload?
• What used to work but now does not work?
• Who does this best? Why them?

1. How to leverage strategic discounts and promotions? Target Metrics:

• What are the most effective discounting methods used?
• What are the biggest mistakes companies make when using promos or discounts?
• Who does it best? What do they do?

----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Phil Carter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/philgcarter Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #philcarter #elementalgrowth #founder #growthtips #subscription #lessonslearned

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Phil Carter

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Phil Carter and Harry Stebbings, Phil Carter: Growth Loops, CAC + LTV Benchmarks, Pricing, Discounts, Paywalls... | E1204 explores building Durable Consumer Subscription Growth: Loops, Pricing, And Retention Phil Carter breaks down why consumer subscription apps are easy to launch but brutally hard to scale, emphasizing the importance of unique, enduring value propositions and disciplined growth strategies. He explains how to think about growth teams, when to hire them, and why understanding your core growth loops and channels must precede scaling spend. The conversation dives deep into CAC/LTV dynamics, payback periods, retention benchmarks, pricing and packaging mistakes, and how to design effective paywalls, notifications, and onboarding flows. Throughout, Carter contrasts short‑term metric gains (e.g., spammy notifications, indiscriminate discounts, overreliance on Facebook) with practices that actually compound long‑term value.

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