Founder Playbook · Sub Club by RevenueCat
10 tactics from Matt Ronge
How To Not Screw Up Switching Your App to Subscriptions — Matt Ronge, Astropad App
Watch the full episode“the first thing is just being super super extra generous with existing customers and we were but I wish we were actually even more generous... we gave existing customers they got a um they got like an access code that gave them three months free like no credit card required”
Be Extra Generous With Existing Customers When Switching To Subscriptions — Then Do Not Force Them
Astropad gave existing paid-upfront users a 3-month free access code when launching the subscription version. Matt wishes he had made it even longer. Existing customers are advocates. Trying to force them onto a subscription burns brand loyalty in seconds. Treat them as rewarded early believers and let new subscriptions grow from new customers and genuinely new feature value.
“develop something totally new that's super exciting that people want and that they're like oh yeah heck yeah i'm going to subscribe... instead of locking features that users have been using behind the subscription”
Use The Carrot Not The Stick — Put New Features Behind Subscription, Not Features Users Already Have
Apps that switch to subscriptions and lock previously free features behind a paywall create instant outrage. Astropad launched a second binary as a subscription-only product with genuinely new capabilities built over two years. Existing app users kept what they had; subscribers got something new. This carrot-based approach keeps advocates advocating instead of churning into critics — the psychology of choice versus coercion makes all the difference.
“you have some users who becomes part of their core workflow they're doing you know they're making six figures in consulting on design or whatever every year and you're not you got 30 and that's it forever... subscriptions without being able to like charge them per click or something like this you have a better proxy to value”
Subscriptions Are A Better Proxy For Value Than One-Time Prices That Never Scale With Usage
At $30 upfront, designers earning six figures from Astropad-powered work were essentially getting the tool for free. Subscriptions fix this by tying payment to continued usage — if the product keeps delivering value, the user keeps paying. Matt's argument: subscriptions are not about extracting more money; they are about capturing a fair share of the value actually delivered over time, which aligns incentives for both sides.
“you're never gonna hurt yourself starting high because you can always like back it down and and nobody's gonna be too mad at you”
Start Pricing High — You Can Always Work Down But Cannot Undo A Cheapness Anchor
Astropad launched at $30 on the App Store after a higher-priced Mac experiment failed to convert. Matt's consistent advice: start higher than feels comfortable. Fewer users means less support, less churn noise, and more cash per customer. You can always discount; anchoring too low is nearly impossible to reverse without backlash. Pricing high is especially important for bootstrapped teams where cash flow is the growth engine.
“i still a big fan of the app store like... the the way of buying software this is the friction is so low the experience is so ingrained in everybody like you just know how to buy software on the app store”
App Store Distribution Beats Website Sales For Consumer Apps — The Buying Experience Is The Moat
Astropad originally charged on the Mac side — where users pay more — but revenue was weak. Moving to iOS App Store pricing caused revenue to jump. For consumer-facing apps the frictionless, trusted App Store buying experience outweighs higher price points available elsewhere. The distribution and trust infrastructure is worth the commission for products that solve a problem people search for on a phone.
“with a subscription you can do a free trial so people are more apt to pay... that's a way you can charge a hundred dollars for an ios app is through subscriptions you're not going to do that through upfront payments it's just not gonna it's not gonna happen”
Subscription Enables $100+ Per Year Pricing That Is Impossible To Achieve With Upfront Payments
Even at $30 upfront, Astropad was at the perceived ceiling for iOS paid apps. Subscriptions break the psychological barrier because risk is distributed over time and a free trial lets users validate value before committing. A $100/year subscription feels like $8 per month; a $100 upfront purchase feels like a gamble. For professional tools, subscriptions unlock a pricing tier that would otherwise be completely inaccessible on mobile.
“our stomachs just totally dropped... our lunar revenue went down 10x almost overnight... now two years later i mean i can say yeah it is possible to survive and and to do better than you did actually in the beginning”
Being Sherlocked Is Survivable If You Pivot To What The Platform Will Not Build
When Apple launched Sidecar in 2020, Luna Display revenue dropped 10x overnight. Astropad responded by adding Mac-to-Mac mode, PC support, and full touch functionality Apple deliberately left out. Two years of grinding later, revenue was back above pre-Sidecar levels. A platform feature creates awareness and educates the market; it cannot build for every edge case; differentiate on what a large team will not support.
“we're a bootstrap company we've never taken outside investment so that cash flow front is really important for us as well to grow to grow the business so we might prioritize it more than um a company that has a large investment round”
Bootstrap Aligns Cash Flow To Subscriptions — VC Companies Optimize For Something Completely Different
Astropad switched from Mac to iOS not just for distribution reasons but because upfront iOS revenue solved an immediate cash flow need. Bootstrapped companies optimize for cash flow, not user count — this changes every decision around pricing, trial length, and discount depth. Subscriptions are a strong fit for bootstrappers because recurring monthly inflow enables predictable hiring that does not rely on a funding runway.
“we were connected in through um through apple had had multiple multiple discussions with us and and felt like they were trying to support us as part of their ecosystem little did we know that behind the scenes they were actually making a copy of what we were doing”
Be Careful When Platform Companies Start Asking Detailed Product Questions
Apple had multiple deep-dive discussions with Astropad about Luna Display then launched Sidecar at WWDC. Large platform companies are not malicious — their incentives simply do not align with yours. When a company many times your size asks how you built something, be thoughtful about what you share. This is not unique to Apple: any large company will copy a successful small product if incentives point that way.
“the people who are gonna be willing to pay that 60 80 100 200 lifetime are the ones who are actually going to use your product for years and years and years... your best users... the average retention of that lifetime user is actually going to be way longer”
Lifetime Offer Buyers Self-Select As Power Users — Their Real LTV Exceeds Average Churn Math
Average LTV calculations miss that buyers of lifetime offers skew toward power users who would have subscribed for 5-10+ years anyway. At typical 50% annual churn, average LTV implies 2 years of revenue — but lifetime purchasers are self-selected to be in the long tail. Astropad never offered lifetime plans, but Matt found this argument compelling enough to reconsider his strong initial stance against them.