Number
YNAB: ~$12-15M ARR from a fanatical budgeting cult
Sam estimates the budgeting app You Need a Budget (YNAB), built by one guy and a small team around zero-based budgeting, does $12-15M a year in recurring revenue with a fanatical subreddit following.
$15M
Estimated annual recurring revenue of You Need a Budget (YNAB) · USD/year
“And they used what's called zero-based budgeting. And this app, it was created by one guy and a small team. I bet they do $12 to $15 million a year in recurring revenue. And if you go to You Need a Budget, whatever the abbreviation of that, YNAB, there's a subreddit with a whole lot of people and they are fanatical about this.”
Framework
Cult followings come from a shared hard goal plus a forum, not the brand
Shaan's theory on why apps like YNAB get cult communities: it's not about the brand on top, it's that people pursuing a shared hard goal get a forum to trade tips and commiserate, the same dynamic that powers mom forums around sleep training or natural birth.
“I think that what happens is if you take a bunch of people who all have a shared goal, or like kind of a, like a desire, and you give them a forum to basically trade tips on how they're achieving it and like say when things are going really hard.”
Steal thisBuild community by giving people chasing the same hard goal a place to trade tips and commiserate, not by promoting your brand.