Only Recipe
"A recipe app that strips away blog content and gives users just the recipe, with subscriptions for saving and organizing recipes from any source."
Marketing Channels
Hacker News
Creator explicitly credits HN posts for driving high engagement and sign-ups
Creator explicitly credits Reddit posts alongside HN for subscription growth
Migration from competing apps
Creator notes 'many also migrating from other apps', suggesting organic switching behavior
Growth Levers
- Address the AI substitution threat — differentiate from ChatGPT by offering features like meal planning, grocery lists, and curated collections that raw extraction cannot
- Consider a lower price tier or freemium model to counter the $35/year pricing objection
- Build retention features to prevent the expected revenue decline after the launch spike
- Target users migrating from other recipe apps with import tools and comparison content
- Post consistently on cooking subreddits and food communities to maintain visibility beyond the launch spike
- Add social features (sharing, community cookbooks) to create network effects and reduce churn
First Customer Strategy
The creator drove initial subscribers primarily through high-engagement posts on Hacker News and Reddit. The product also attracted users migrating from other recipe apps, suggesting the value proposition resonated immediately. However, the creator expects revenue to decline next month, indicating the growth was driven by launch spikes rather than sustained acquisition.
Pricing Insight
$35/year subscription. A commenter found this price unjustified given that ChatGPT can extract recipe steps from videos for free, highlighting competitive pressure from AI tools.
New Market Opportunities
- Video recipe extraction Commenter mentions extracting recipes from video content using ChatGPT, suggesting demand for video-to-recipe conversion as a native feature
- Users of bloated recipe apps Creator notes users migrating from other apps, indicating dissatisfaction with existing recipe management tools
Key Takeaways
- • Launch spikes from HN and Reddit drive impressive initial numbers but the creator wisely anticipates a revenue decline — retention strategy is critical
- • AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming direct competitors for utility apps that extract and reformat content
- • Pricing at $35/year faces scrutiny when free alternatives (ChatGPT + Notes) can approximate core functionality
- • User migration from competing apps is a strong signal of product-market fit but needs sustained marketing to continue
- • Honest self-assessment ('expecting revenue to go down next month') builds credibility and shows realistic planning
- • Recipe apps need to offer value beyond extraction — organization, meal planning, and social features justify subscription pricing
Sentiment Analysis
1 NegNotable Quotes
"Cool app but i feel 35$/year is a cost that is not justified for me, specially that i can extract the ingredients and the steps of any recipe from a video recipe in chatgpt, and then save it in notes. — nefrix"
Comments
0 totalNo comments yet.