Nov 8, 2020 · 19m · top-founders
MySwimPro Hit 15k Customers, $1m in ARR Selling Swim Instructions
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Nathan Latka interviews Ferris Spetty, founder and CEO of MySwimPro, on how he bootstrapped and scaled a digital swim coaching app to over one million dollars in annual recurring revenue. Spetty breaks down his iterative pricing strategies, equity crowdfunding rounds on Wefunder, pandemic pivots to dryland workouts, and expanding into brand sponsorships.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 36.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 4.7 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 1.7
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:52 Clarifying Apple commission fee structure
Spetty politely rejects Latka's premise that Apple takes a flat 30% cut across their revenue by detailing cross-platform billing and year-two 15% rates.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 4:41 Latka presses on year-one revenue numbersLatka interrupts and restates his question to ensure the exact timeline between zero revenue in 2015 and first monetized revenue in 2016 is clearly defined.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 17:52 Educating on subscription app store feesSpetty educates Latka on App Store fee reductions to 15% after 12 months of retention and how multi-platform payments bypass the 30% take rate.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:19 Latka details equity crowdfunding mechanicsLatka displays deep domain knowledge by laying out the exact playbook for priming crowdfunding campaigns with soft commits to guarantee day-one targets.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Traction, Monetization Timeline, and Pricing Evolution | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Latka methodically tracks the company timeline from sweat equity in 2015 to paid subscription launch in 2016. Spetty explains why they transitioned into annual pricing to optimize unit economics and avoid monthly re-commitment friction. | |
| Download Growth, Apple App of the Year, and Pandemic Impact | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Latka presses on the exact acquisition strategy behind hitting 500k downloads. Spetty explains their category dominance in swimming, Apple App of the Year placement, and the download deceleration caused by pool closures during the pandemic. | |
| Revenue Streams, Paying Customer Count, and Brand Sponsorships | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Latka drills down on customer count and flat year-over-year revenue figures at $1.1 million. Spetty explains how brand sponsorships were introduced as a new revenue stream to offset pandemic-induced subscription headwinds. | |
| Sponsor Break: Flippa Valuation Calculator | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | The segment features an ad read for Flippa before Latka inquires about total audience reach and capitalization history. Spetty outlines their multi-channel subscriber base and initial equity crowdfunding campaigns. | |
| Equity Crowdfunding Strategy and Launch Mechanics on Wefunder | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Latka shares his tactical formula for equity crowdfunding success based on prior founder interviews, detailing how soft commitments drive launch momentum. Spetty confirms the approach and shares metrics on team size, churn, and acquisition costs. | |
| The Famous Five Questions and Reflections | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Spetty clarifies app store commission nuances when Latka asks if Apple takes a full 30% cut of their revenue. Spetty notes the 15% reduction for retention beyond year one and web/Android revenue diversification before wrapping up the Famous Five. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Spetty: 90% of world's pools shut down in 2020
“So there was that one point here in 2020 where 90% of the world's pools were shut down completely.”
Spetty: MySwimPro pivoted to offer at-home dryland workouts
“So we actually pivoted the business and in the app we actually have at home training programs To do without a pool.”
MySwimPro charges $180 annually or $30 monthly for full app access
“Today it's a 180 for a full package for the year or 30 dollars a month.”
MySwimPro reached roughly 500k downloads by 2018
“2018, at that point we were probably around half a million.”
Apple named MySwimPro App of the Year in 2016
“We were app of the year by Apple... We were app of the year in 2016.”
Pandemic closures cut MySwimPro daily app downloads from 1,200 to 300
“2018, 2019, we've gotten up to about, you know, 800 to 1200 downloads per day. And the unfortunate thing about the pandemic of 2020, you know, with pool access being shut down for 30 to 50%, we've actually been cut back pretty significantly. You know, now, tod…”
MySwimPro counts 7,000 to 8,000 active paying subscribers
“Yeah, we have about between seven, 8000 paying across both of those.”
Spetty expects sponsorships to drive 20% to 30% of 2021 revenue
“Next year, I could see 20 to 30% of our revenue being spot, that new revenue.”
MySwimPro reports 500,000 email subscribers and 500,000 social followers
“So we have an email that's about half a million social media audience of also about half a million. And then we have the in-app placements. Our YouTube channel alone is about 50 something thousand subscribers going, growing three to 5000 subscribers per month.”
MySwimPro has raised approximately $1 million in total lifetime funding
“We've raised about a million dollars in the life of the business.”
MySwimPro raised $600,000 from 300 investors via Wefunder equity crowdfunding
“We did two rounds of equity crowdfunding, which is actually probably the most, a lot of people ask me about that. We raised online via WeFunder. So we have 300 investors across 36 different countries through those two campaigns that we did, which totaled about…”
Spetty: Successful equity crowdfunding requires leveraging an existing loyal audience
“So the key is to figure out where is your loyal audience? Like who knows who you are already, because that's what you have control over. So if you have an email list or people know who you, the entrepreneur, if you're a category expert or something, right, tha…”
Latka: Crowdfunding campaigns must secure major soft commitments before public launch
“If you want to raise 200 grand, what you do is you say, We're raising 300 grand. You go get soft commits of 200 grand, so that you hit 200 grand on day one, and so you're definitely gonna hit your target, and then other people who you don't know coming into th…”
MySwimPro employs 10 full-time and two part-time staff across five countries
“We have 10 full-time and two part-time distributed across five countries.”