How startups and apps get their users

Perplexity grows mainly through carrier and device-maker distribution deals and word of mouth, now backed by a heavy Meta ad push for its Computer agent and a large paid-creator program.

Cursor

AI tools

Cursor grows mainly through word of mouth from people using the product, amplified by a large paid and unpaid creator network on YouTube and TikTok; search mostly catches people already looking for the brand.

ElevenLabs

AI tools

Most traffic is direct or brand search, with Google ranking ElevenLabs' own pages for its name, while a large long-running Meta ad campaign and outside creator tutorials on YouTube and TikTok build the demand behind it.

HeyGen

AI tools

HeyGen grows mainly through paid YouTube creator sponsorships with affiliate links, backed by a large always-on Google and Meta ad program, while organic search mostly captures existing brand demand.

Notion

SaaS

Notion's growth rests on its brand: brand searches bring most of the roughly 150M monthly visits, and creators and template makers built that brand while Meta and LinkedIn ads add a steady paid push.

Canva

SaaS

Canva's growth is mostly habit and word of mouth (62.9% of visits are direct) plus a huge SEO footprint of template and "maker" pages (20.8% organic), with paid and social as smaller support.

Zapier

SaaS

Most growth comes from Google search, from programmatic pages for every app, app pair and workflow across 9,000+ apps, plus a large paid YouTube sponsorship program and always-on search and Meta ads.

Duolingo

Consumer apps

Duolingo grows mostly through owned and creator social video, led by owl-mascot memes on TikTok (126M views across 27 posts) and YouTube creator challenge and review videos (109M views), with paid Meta and Google ads running alongside.

Cal AI

Consumer apps

Cal AI grew mainly through a paid creator program of roughly 250 retained influencers posting meal-scan videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, with a large Meta video-ad program sending people straight to the App Store.

Opal

Consumer apps

Opal grew on paid social and App Store ads tuned to a Day 8 payback rule, then on free users and students after moving to freemium, with a hired TikTok creator account adding millions of views.

Liquid Death

DTC brands

Liquid Death grows through attention-grabbing content and paid social: rare, huge stunt posts on its own Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, a steady stream of Meta ads and 216 paid creators, with most clicks sent to Amazon and retail rather than its own site.

Gymshark

DTC brands

Gymshark grows mainly through paid fitness creators on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, backed by heavy Google and Meta ad spend, with brand searches turning that attention into store visits.

AG1 grows mainly through paid creator reach: a sponsorship program of about 1.1K creators across YouTube, podcasts and Instagram, backed by an always-on Meta ads machine with celebrity endorsers.