“When you're trying to get to a billion users you're going to be more like 'let me really nudge you to share' — you focus on the top of funnel. Subscriptions focus you more on the bottom of funnel and that was a really big unlock.”

Subscriptions reorient product thinking from top-of-funnel to bottom-of-funnel

Growing toward a MAU-maximising model pushed Rapchat to optimise sharing mechanics and viral coefficients above all else. Once subscriptions were introduced, the team's attention naturally shifted to activation, retention, and the quality of the creator experience — the features that actually drive willingness to pay. Seth Miller found this reorientation clarifying: with a revenue north star, every product decision had a clearer test.