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App Store

also referred to as: app stores

17 statements across 16 episodes · 10 bullish · 4 bearish · 15 people on the record · first statement Apr 27, 2015 by Maha Ibrahim · said 172 times in 98 episodes since 2015 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (55), Amjad Masad (9), Nico Wittenborn (5), Jason Lemkin (5), Shabih "Shabby" Rizvi (4), Neil Young (4), Kevin Systrom (4), Cliff Weitzman (4)

tap a year for its mentions
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0815201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
001.57.5315201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 16 mentions in 6 episodes 3 per episode
2025 13 mentions in 6 episodes 2 per episode
2024 13 mentions in 7 episodes 2 per episode
2023 24 mentions in 12 episodes 2 per episode
2022 18 mentions in 12 episodes 2 per episode
2021 9 mentions in 5 episodes 2 per episode
2020 11 mentions in 6 episodes 2 per episode
2019 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
2018 28 mentions in 15 episodes 2 per episode
2017 22 mentions in 12 episodes 2 per episode
2016 9 mentions in 9 episodes 1 per episode
2015 6 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about App Store, oldest first

Apr 27, 2015 bearish
Opinion
Ibrahim: Mobile gaming is a consolidated winner-takes-all market of 10-12 players
“If I were to do it today, it would be very hard for me to make an investment in the mobile gaming space for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason is that it is a winners, and I say that plural, take all market. The market has consolidated into, let's say, 1…”
Maha Ibrahim Apr 27, 2015 ▶ 7:24 20 VC 031: Investing in Gaming, Luxury Goods and Disruption with Maha Ibrahim, General Partner @ Canaan Partners
Nov 9, 2015 positive
Insight
Kanji: Global app platforms allow European startups to scale without geographic limits
“But once these distribution platforms became global, you know, the playing field completely changed, right? You put your app on top of the app store. It doesn't make a difference where you come from. You're going to get users all over the world. And Angry Bird…”
Hussein Kanji Nov 9, 2015 ▶ 7:17 20 VC 086: Starting A New Venture Fund and How London Compares To The US with Hussein Kanji @ Hoxton Ventures
Apr 25, 2016 bullish
Opinion
Wise: App store distribution makes European market fragmentation irrelevant
“So it doesn't matter about market entry into Germany versus the US. They launch on the App Store. They launch on the Play Store. They're global instantly.”
James Wise Apr 25, 2016 ▶ 11:05 20VC: Europe's Youngest Series A Venture Partner, James Wise @ Balderton Capital on How To Get Into Venture & What The Future Of The VC Industry Looks Like
Jun 12, 2017
Disclosure
Kevin Rose's free fasting app reached #1 and logged 700k fasts
“Yeah. So, you know, it was just a simple little free app and we were able to quickly kind of shoot up in the rankings inside of the app store for the word fasting. So now if you go into the app store and Apple and type in fasting, we're kind of the number one …”
Kevin Rose Jun 12, 2017 ▶ 17:16 20VC: Kevin Rose on Putting The Entire Fund Into Uber, The Future For Mobile & Whether Angels Should Have Super Pro-Rata Rights?
Jan 26, 2018 positive
Insight
Neil Young: Paid user acquisition is mandatory for crowded app marketplaces
“My sense is that today, paid is the number one thing that you need to think about, especially if you're operating in a very dense or crowded marketplace like the app stores.”
Neil Young Jan 26, 2018 ▶ 12:16 20VC: How To Analyse Platform Shifts Effectively, The Effects Of Not Having Free and Open Distribution & The Right Way To Think About Board Composition with Neil Young, Founder & CEO @ N3twork
Mar 12, 2018 negative
Assertion Supported
Taussig: The average consumer downloads net zero new apps per month
“The average consumer downloads net zero apps each month.”
Alex Taussig Mar 12, 2018 ▶ 14:43 20VC: Lightspeed's Alex Taussig on VC Risk Mentality, The Current State of Retail & The Mechanics of Cash Flow
Nov 19, 2018 positive
Assertion Supported
Tinder became the world's top-grossing app under Jeff Morris Jr.
“When asked to lead the revenue team, they were ranked number 17 in the App Store. Within a year, under Jeff's leadership, Tinder became the number one top-grossing app in the world.”
Harry Stebbings Nov 19, 2018 ▶ 0:45 20VC: Investing Lessons From Observing Doug Leone and Bill Gurley, Why It Is Easier To Be Contrarian As A VC Than As An Angel & What It Takes To Run Tinder's Product and Revenue Alongside A Seed Fund with Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One
Jul 26, 2019 positive
Assertion Supported
Norgard: Tinder Gold launch became highest-grossing app in App Store
“Probably the largest inflection point for myself was the launch of Tinder Gold. And Tinder Gold today has been this enormous success since number one, the highest grossing app in the app store, and all of these amazing things that we're not worthy of, that are…”
Brian Norgard Jul 26, 2019 ▶ 25:05 20VC: Former Tinder CPO Brian Norgard on His Biggest Product Takeaways from Launching the Top Grossing App in the World, The Top 10 Reasons Why Products Fail Today & How The Best Founders Assess Risk and Use It
May 11, 2020 negative
Opinion
Stebbings: 2008 startup success came from platform shifts, not macro downturn
“For me, I strongly push back on that because I think they're conflating the macro economy with the technology advancements of GPS, of the rise of the app store and of the iPhone with the macro environment that was also simultaneously happening at the same time…”
Harry Stebbings May 11, 2020 ▶ 12:58 20VC: Floodgate's Mike Maples on 3 Key Breakthroughs Startups Experience in Success, The Rise of Angel and Operator Funds, Multi-Stage Funds Re-Entering Seed Investing and The Insight Development Framework
Feb 15, 2021 positive
Assertion Contradicted
Reber: Wunderlist became the most downloaded app worldwide on the App Store
“Super popular there. Most downloaded app worldwide for quite some time.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 5:53 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Oct 23, 2023 positive
Insight
Rouif: App store global distribution enables lean teams without sales staff
“I think there is the App Store story, which is a big part of it. Like, so Apple and Google, like, the App Store and mobile, they're giving you distribution. Yes, they take, like, a cut of it, but Basically, it means they offer, like, a worldwide distribution t…”
Matthieu Rouif Oct 23, 2023 ▶ 11:31 Matthieu Rouif: The Story of PhotoRoom, Is This YC’s Most Capital Efficient Company? | E1074 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 23, 2024
Disclosure
Gurski: Flo Health did not use paid user acquisition until 2020
“Up to the very recent times we didn't spend money for paid user acquisition. It was organic growth, and it was organic growth because users liked our products, and the metrics of our product were so good that App Store and Google Play were promoting it. But we…”
Dmitry Gurski Sep 23, 2024 ▶ 23:07 Dmitry Gurski: From Potato Farm to $200M in Revenue: The Never-Before-Told Story of Flo Health|E1205 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 31, 2025 neutral
Assertion Contradicted
Lemkin: iPhone and App Store drive 75% of Apple revenue
“25% of the revenue is from the App Store, 40% of its profit, right? And 75% of its revenue is iPhone and App Store.”
Jason Lemkin Jul 31, 2025 ▶ 55:38 Why Apple Needs a Management Overhaul & Why Google is Catching Up with Hyperscalers · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 9, 2026 positive
Assertion Supported
Clements: Anthropic's app surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT in the App Store
“Yeah, I mean, they passed GPT in the app store.”
Miles Clements Mar 9, 2026 ▶ 38:49 "Cursor is Dead" is Total BS: Here is Why | Miles Clements · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 25, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Masad: Apple accepts applications created using Replit at a very high rate
“They're accepting apps made on replet. They're accepting them into the app store. I tweeted about one yesterday. There's the acceptance rate. It's very high.”
Amjad Masad Apr 25, 2026 ▶ 39:47 Replit CEO: Why the SaaS Apocalypse is Justified & Why Coding Models are Plateauing | Amjad Masad · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 25, 2026 negative
Assertion Supported
Masad: Replit has been stuck in Apple App Store review for months
“Replit has been on the App Store since twenty-twenty-two doing exactly the same thing, allowing people to generate or write code. And running it in a browser window. Suddenly they're saying that we are you know, we're not complying with their guidelines. And w…”
Amjad Masad Apr 25, 2026 ▶ 38:56 Replit CEO: Why the SaaS Apocalypse is Justified & Why Coding Models are Plateauing | Amjad Masad · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 5, 2026 bullish
Assertion Not yet assessed · timeframe Sep 2026
Weitzman: Speechify holds 98% of B2C text-to-speech App Store installs
“The first one is if you go to the App Store and you search text-to-speech, Speechify has 98% of the installs in text-to-speech for B to C.”
Cliff Weitzman Sep 5, 2026 ▶ 26:47 How to Build Your Own Data Center & Why Every Startup Should Do It
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