The storyHow they got there
Robopost launched in 2022 as a social media scheduler with AI-powered caption generation. The first customers came from posting free trials in social-media-manager Facebook groups and Reddit communities (r/socialmedia). Building in public on X/Twitter was the early awareness channel.
The breakthrough distribution moment was AppSumo. A lifetime deal campaign brought in a reported $200K+ in cash in a single month — roughly 50% of cumulative cash — and established a base of engaged power users who became evangelists. The support burden was real: lifetime deal buyers demand more than subscribers, requiring VA hires to manage.
At maturity, the channel mix: AppSumo lifetime deal (~50% of cumulative cash, ~25% of ongoing MRR conversions), SEO on long-tail social-scheduling keywords (~25%), Twitter/X build-in-public and Product Hunt (~15%), and affiliate/partner tools (~10%). Paid Facebook ads were killed early — poor ROI for the tool category. AppSumo and programmatic SEO were doubled down on.
Unit economics: AppSumo CAC is effectively negative (cash up front) but carries ~30% support burden. Organic CAC around $30–60. ARPU around $15–25/month, LTV around $200–300. The AI caption feature was the differentiator that drove media coverage and separated Robopost from generic schedulers.
Channel MixWhere the growth actually came from
Most case studies hand-wave channels. Here's the rough allocation — not in dollars spent, but in users acquired — across the routes that actually mattered.