The first signal that Tolan was working? OpenAI bills started to spike. Two weeks after launch, the team behind Tolan — a cartoonish alien AI companion — noticed something unexpected: users weren’t just poking around, they were chatting for 30 to 40 minutes at a time. That kind of usage revealed something big: emotional depth and real-time AI conversations can create a breakthrough consumer experience. But it also came with costs. In this episode of Sub Club with David Barnard and Jacob Eiting, Ajay Mehta (co-founder of Portola, makers of Tolan) shares how infra challenges, monetization pressure, and viral growth on TikTok shaped the app — and helped it hit $1M ARR within months. What's covered: 🔹 Why building a believable AI companion takes more than an API call 🔹 How high costs pushed the team to monetize early and why that helped 🔹 The creator-led marketing strategy behind Tolan’s explosive growth 🔹 Why personality and design aren’t just aesthetic, they’re part of distribution 🔹 How to tell when you’ve landed on something people need to share Listen in for a behind-the-scenes look at how Tolan turned early traction into real growth. 🎙️ Apple/Spotify → https://lnkd.in/eM98PTgh 📺 YouTube → https://lnkd.in/eug6p_zT #appgrowth #subscriptionapps
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