Inside $500M/Year Bending Spoons: TikTok Trends, Viral videos, UA & Paywall Science episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 21, 2025 · 1H 2M

Inside $500M/Year Bending Spoons: TikTok Trends, Viral videos, UA & Paywall Science

from two & a half gamers · host Lancaric.me

Inside Bending Spoons: the $2.5 billion app juggernaut behind Evernote, Remini, Splice, and more. Special guest Darius reveals the hacks behind viral UA, review scores, creative iteration, and the brutal playbook that’s rewriting consumer SaaS.You’ll learn:The secrets behind Bending Spoons’ $500 million annual revenueWhy TikTok, Shorts, and Reels are more powerful than any ad network for app growthThe playbook for cutting costs, boosting review scores, and scaling faster than competitorsWhy retention is all about renewals, not DAU or D30Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------Vibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.https://www.vibe.co/---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Special guest: Darius MoraYoutube channel: ⁨@DariusMora⁩ https://www.linkedin.com/in/moravcik/Youtube: https://youtu.be/xP3AziedKW0Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Introduction to Bending Spoons and Guests02:49 Bending Spoons' Unique Business Model08:21 Hiring Practices and Company Culture11:19 Acquisitions and Market Strategy18:17 Transitioning from Gaming to App Development24:15 The Impact of Viral Trends on App Success29:37 User Acquisition and Marketing Techniques34:14 Subscription Models and User Retention Strategies37:31 Key Metrics for Success39:23 Understanding Retention and Monetization in Gaming41:11 Creative User Acquisition Strategies42:09 Manipulating Reviews for Better App Ratings44:07 Leveraging TikTok for User Acquisition50:19 Navigating Paid User Acquisition Challenges53:28 The Importance of Creative Testing55:39 The Power of Authentic Content in Marketing---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Inside Bending Spoons: the $2.5 billion app juggernaut behind Evernote, Remini, Splice, and more. Special guest Darius reveals the hacks behind viral UA, review scores, creative iteration, and the brutal playbook that’s rewriting consumer SaaS.You’ll learn:The secrets behind Bending Spoons’ $500 million annual revenueWhy TikTok, Shorts, and Reels are more powerful than any ad network for app growthThe playbook for cutting costs, boosting review scores, and scaling faster than competitorsWhy retention is all about renewals, not DAU or D30Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------Vibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.https://www.vibe.co/---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Special guest: Darius MoraYoutube channel: ⁨@DariusMora⁩ https://www.linkedin.com/in/moravcik/Youtube: https://youtu.be/xP3AziedKW0Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Introduction to Bending Spoons and Guests02:49 Bending Spoons' Unique Business Model08:21 Hiring Practices and Company Culture11:19 Acquisitions and Market Strategy18:17 Transitioning from Gaming to App Development24:15 The Impact of Viral Trends on App Success29:37 User Acquisition and Marketing Techniques34:14 Subscription Models and User Retention Strategies37:31 Key Metrics for Success39:23 Understanding Retention and Monetization in Gaming41:11 Creative User Acquisition Strategies42:09 Manipulating Reviews for Better App Ratings44:07 Leveraging TikTok for User Acquisition50:19 Navigating Paid User Acquisition Challenges53:28 The Importance of Creative Testing55:39 The Power of Authentic Content in Marketing---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

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Inside $500M/Year Bending Spoons: TikTok Trends, Viral videos, UA & Paywall Science

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This episode was published on July 21, 2025.

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Inside Bending Spoons: the $2.5 billion app juggernaut behind Evernote, Remini, Splice, and more. Special guest Darius reveals the hacks behind viral UA, review scores, creative iteration, and the brutal playbook that’s rewriting consumer...

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