Inside the Growth Engine: How Nooro Scaled From Zero to $4M ARR in Just 8 Months
Last Edited: Sarah Peterson - September 24, 2025
(Stonewell CEO Amin Bagheri (left) and Nooro Founder Marek Bednar (right), celebrating the sprint win in Vienna, Christmas 2024)
From E-Commerce to Subscription App: The Challenge
When Nooro approached us, they weren’t an app company. They were solely a direct-to-consumer fitness brand with a bold objective:
Build a subscription app to generate recurring revenue
Increase the company’s valuation ahead of a potential exit
Compete with giants like BetterMe, YogaGo, and Muscle Booster from day one
The challenge was speed. They needed an MVP live fast, and they needed revenue even faster.
YogaGo (left) and Muscle Booster (right).
Competing in a category dominated by giants
The Growth Engine:
Paid Ads + Content at Scale
Most apps start with organic marketing. Nooro didn’t have time for that.
We engineered a paid ads machine from the ground up:
Platform Mix: Facebook, Instagram, Native.
Creative Testing: Dozens of direct-response video hooks, image ads, and lifestyle creatives each week.
Quiz Funnels: 30–40 question personalized funnels that guided cold traffic from curiosity → trust → subscription.
By pairing relentless creative testing with funnels designed for conversion psychology, we slashed CAC and built a repeatable growth engine.
Want to see how we’d design a growth engine like this for your app?
Product Execution: From MVP → Retention Machine
We launched the initial MVP in just one month across iOS, Android, and Web — then iterated weekly based on real user data:
Onboarding Optimizations: Small tweaks that cut drop-offs.
Feature Refinements: Added micro-habit loops inspired by category leaders.
Review & Data Feedback Loops: Every week, retention curves got tighter.
This mattered because retention = higher LTV, which meant we could spend more on ads → faster growth.
Curious what retention tweaks could add millions to your LTV? Let’s talk
Sample dashboard for illustrative purposes only. Figures shown do not represent real financials.
Monetization: No Revenue Left on the Table
We treated monetization as a living experiment.
7+ paywall variations tested across platforms
Quiz → paywall personalization to increase trial conversions
Optimized upsell flows to maximize AOV
These refinements stacked over time, compounding into significant revenue lifts.
The Result?
In under 8 months, Nooro went from an idea to a serious competitor in fitness apps:
📈 60,000 users across iOS, Android, and Web
💰 $4M ARR annualized revenue run rate
🥊 Head-to-head competition with BetterMe, YogaGo, and WellTech
All without VC funding. All with a lean, focused team.
Next Step:
If you’re building an app and want to see how we’d apply this same system to your business: