TeacherKit: 0 to 1.8 Million Users in 18 Months
Building a global #1 education app from scratch and how democracy fails. Following the vocal minority and angering the silent majority, and how we overcame it.
It all started when...
This was a true 0 to 1 effort. We didn't have a marketing budget or a sales team; we had a hypothesis that teachers needed a mobile-first assistant. My mandate was to validate the market, acquire users aggressively, and prove monetization viability from scratch.
My Role
Founder Mode (The Hustle): I wore every hat required to survive. I acted as the 'Product Janitor'—handling customer support tickets, doing manual translations, pitching directly to the CEO for budget, and running roadshows to sell the vision to early adopters.
The PLG Motion: I built a dual-layer Product-Led Growth engine. First, B2C PLG to capture individual teachers via word-of-mouth. Second, B2B PLG to capture schools, using the density of individual users to upsell site licenses.
The Growth Engine (ASO & Experiments): I engineered an aggressive App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy. We launched standalone 'satellite' apps to test specific features (e.g., a standalone Gradebook). These acted as lead magnets, funneling users into the main TeacherKit ecosystem, driving us to #1 rankings in 70+ countries.
The Failure (The UserVoice Trap): I made a critical mistake. I prioritized the #1 feature on UserVoice (requested by 10% of the user base). In doing so, I cluttered the interface and broke the core user journey for the other 90%. We faced a revolt of angry users. I spent days staying overnight with the engineering team to rollback and fix the flow. It taught me that **stated preference (votes) $ eq$ revealed preference (usage).**
Results
1.8 Million Users in 18 Months: Achieved hyper-growth through organic ASO and the satellite app strategy.
0 to $100k+ ARR: Validated the business model, turning a free utility into a revenue-generating product.
Global Dominance: Secured the #1 or #2 Education App spot in over 70 countries.