Podcasts Technology Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career How to consistently go viral: Nikita Biers playbook for winning at consumer apps (co-founder of TBH, Gas, advisor, investor)

How to consistently go viral: Nikita Biers playbook for winning at consumer apps (co-founder of TBH, Gas, advisor, investor)

Published: Aug. 25, 2024, 11:01 a.m.

Nikita Bier is one of the most in-demand consumer, social, and growth experts in the world. He\u2019s the co-founder of TBH (sold to Meta for more than $30 million) and Gas (sold to Discord for millions more) and has helped more consumer apps that have hit #1 in the app stores than any other person I\u2019ve come across. He currently spends his time advising founders on growth, product, and design and is an investor and advisor to some of the best consumer tech companies, including Flo, Locket, Eight Sleep, Citizen, BeReal, Captions, and more. In our conversation, we discuss:

\u2022 The inside story of how TBH and Gas achieved explosive growth

\u2022 Strategies for building viral consumer apps

\u2022 Why teens are such a great audience

\u2022 Fighting the human trafficking hoax at Gas

\u2022 The challenge of creating durable social products

\u2022 His experience working as a PM at Facebook

\u2022 Advice for founders on building consumer apps

\u2022 Much more

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Brought to you by:

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Book Nikita for 1:1 consultation/mentoring: https://intro.co/NikitaBier

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Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-consistently-go-viral-nikita-bier

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Where to find Nikita Bier:

\u2022 X: https://x.com/nikitabier\xa0

\u2022 Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nikitabier

\u2022 Website: https://intro.co/NikitaBier

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Nikita\u2019s background\xa0

(06:08) Nikita\u2019s early ventures: Politify and Outline

(08:42) Transition to consumer apps

(13:45) The birth of TBH

(16:43) Building for teens vs. adults

(20:00) TBH\u2019s viral success

(32:18) Leveraging live chat

(34:08) Lasting lessons from TBH

(37:00) Selling TBH to Facebook

(42:19) Big-tech product management

(48:46) Nikita on why \u201cproduct management is not real\u201d

(51:49) The Tim Cook painting story

(53:53) Leaving Facebook and starting a new venture

(58:02) Rebuilding TBH and overcoming challenges

(59:46) Addressing criticism

(01:04:24) The human trafficking hoax

(01:09:51) Selling to Discord and lessons learned

(01:11:36) Lasting lessons from Gas

(01:13:14) Building durable consumer apps

(01:22:35) The VC route

(01:23:27) Contact permissions in iOS 18

(01:26:53) The success of Dupe

(01:31:53) Advice for startup founders

(01:34:14) Work with Nikita

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.



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