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Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Robert Thelen, CEO & Founder of Rownd, an app onboarding platform that’s raised $3.3 Million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

  • The Onboarding Problem: Robert highlights that nearly half of users drop off during the onboarding process of apps, leading to substantial losses in potential user engagement and revenue.
  • The Aha Moment: After joining Y Combinator, Robert identified that many CEOs were struggling with user growth due to high drop-off rates at the login and sign-up stages, sparking the creation of Rownd.
  • Customer-Centric Development: The first three to six months involved close interaction with early customers to understand and solve their pain points, a practice that continues to drive product development at Rownd.
  • Pain Point Pricing Strategy: Rownd focuses on solving significant pain points and charges a premium, ensuring they provide high value and targeting customers who truly need their solution.
  • Consumer-Focused Market: Rownd primarily serves B2C companies where user friction can drastically impact user retention, such as in competitive industries like health and wellness.
  • Stress Management Skills: Robert’s military background has equipped him with exceptional stress management skills, which he applies in high-pressure situations in the startup environment.

 

Actionable
Takeaways

Identify Key Drop-Off Points:

Regularly analyze your user onboarding funnel to identify where potential users are dropping off and address those friction points directly.

Customer Feedback Loop:

Maintain a continuous dialogue with your customers to understand their evolving pain points and iteratively improve your product based on their feedback.

Premium Pricing for Pain Points:

Don’t shy away from pricing your product higher if it solves a critical pain point for your customers. The willingness to pay is a proxy for the value you provide.

Dynamic Onboarding:

Consider developing or utilizing platforms that allow dynamic and customizable onboarding experiences, reducing friction and improving user retention.

Leverage Unique Experiences:

Utilize unique backgrounds and experiences, like military service, to develop strong stress management and team-building skills, crucial for startup success.

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