February 6, 2026. An app called Locked was doing about $300 a day — decent for a new product, but nothing special. Then a creator named Jeremiah Jones posted a video. Within 24 hours, daily revenue jumped to $728. Then $600. Then nearly $1,000. By the time the views settled, that single piece of content had generated roughly $3,000 in revenue and 1,800 downloads from approximately 1 million views across platforms.
The founder behind Locked is Evan — a young entrepreneur who built the app in about six weeks and scaled it to $14,000 per month in four months without paid ads and without an existing audience. The entire growth engine was a single strategy: influencer partnerships structured around a specific financial formula that most app founders never learn.
This is a breakdown of how he did it — the deal structure, the creator selection criteria, and the specific numbers that made the math work.
Table of Contents
- What Locked Is — And Why Gamification Matters Here
- The Problem Every First-Time App Founder Hits
- The CPM vs RPM Formula: The Core of Evan's Strategy
- How to Find the Right Creators (Evan's Exact Process)
- The 4 Deal Structures Evan Uses — And When to Use Each
- The Jeremiah Jones Case Study: What Made It Work
- The Tech Stack Behind a $14K/Month App
- What I Learned From This Story
- Key Takeaways
- FAQ
1. What Locked Is — And Why Gamification Matters Here
Locked is a gamified productivity and fitness app. The pitch is simple: instead of a standard habit tracker with checkboxes and streaks, the app wraps the same core behavior — staying on task, completing goals — inside game mechanics. Characters you choose at onboarding. XP points for completing tasks. Leaderboards against other users. Badges, levels, a motivational screen. The kind of UI logic you'd recognize from any mobile game, applied to the problem of actually getting things done.
The pricing is straightforward: $40 per year or $7 per week. Users who exit the paywall without converting are shown a discounted offer at $20 per year — a transaction-abandon paywall that recaptures users who were interested but hesitated. It's a standard SaaS conversion pattern applied to consumer mobile.
The gamification angle matters for what comes next, because it shapes exactly which creators Evan could approach — and why those partnerships converted so well. A productivity app that looks like a video game has natural alignment with creators who talk to audiences about focus, discipline, and staying locked in. That alignment is the foundation of the entire growth strategy.
2. The Problem Every First-Time App Founder Hits
Evan didn't arrive at Locked as a first idea. Before it, he built Problem Pal — an app that peaked at $2,000 per month before he sold it. Then he built Clear AI, which went nowhere. The pattern most early founders follow: build the product, figure out distribution later. It almost always fails because "figure out distribution later" usually means "run some ads and hope."
Paid ads for mobile apps are expensive. Mobile app install ad spend globally is projected to reach $118 billion by 2026 — which means you're competing with well-funded teams bidding on the same users. For a solo founder with a limited budget, that's a losing game from day one.
Evan went a different direction. Instead of buying impressions through ad platforms, he bought them directly from creators — at a price he controlled, using a formula tied to his actual revenue metrics. The difference sounds simple. The execution requires understanding two numbers most app founders don't track carefully enough.
3. The CPM vs RPM Formula: The Core of Evan's Strategy
The entire influencer strategy runs on two numbers: CPM and RPM.
RPM (Revenue Per Mille) is how much revenue your app generates per 1,000 views of content promoting it. Evan calculated his at $2 to $3. That means for every 1,000 people who see a video featuring Locked, he earns roughly $2–$3 in app revenue.
CPM (Cost Per Mille) is how much you pay an influencer per 1,000 views of their content. Evan's target was $1 to $1.50 — consistently below his RPM.
The math is simple: if you pay $1.50 per thousand views and earn $2.50 per thousand views, every deal is profitable by design — as long as the view counts are real and the audience converts. The entire strategy is built around keeping CPM below RPM. Not sometimes. Every deal.
Deal cost: $800 with a 600,000 minimum view clause
Actual views: ~1,000,000 across platforms
Downloads generated: ~1,800
Revenue generated: ~$3,000
Effective CPM paid: ~$0.80
Effective RPM earned: ~$3.00
Net result: $2,200 profit from a single influencer deal.
This is why the formula matters. Most founders approach influencer marketing by asking "how much does this creator cost?" Evan asked "what is my RPM, and can I close this creator below it?" Those are fundamentally different questions — and only one of them leads to a deal structure that scales.
4. How to Find the Right Creators (Evan's Exact Process)
The search process is low-tech but systematic. Search terms related to your niche on Instagram or TikTok. Scroll through videos. Click into accounts. Send the same opening message every time: "Paid promo?"
That's intentionally blunt. It filters for creators who are already comfortable with brand deals and saves everyone time. A creator who doesn't reply or who responds negatively isn't a fit. A creator who responds is the start of a conversation.
But reaching out is only step one. Before closing any deal, Evan looks for three things in a creator — and the Jeremiah Jones example illustrates all of them clearly.
Engagement quality over follower count. The most important factor isn't how many followers a creator has. It's whether their comments look real — specific, conversational, responding to what the creator actually said. High follower counts with generic comments ("great video!", "love this!") signal bought engagement that won't convert to downloads. Genuine comments from an engaged community are the signal Evan looks for first.
Content-app alignment. The creator's content should naturally connect to what the app does. Jeremiah Jones made content about staying locked in and focused — the same language Locked uses, the same audience Locked serves. When the integration feels native to what the creator already makes, it performs better than a standard ad read dropped into unrelated content. This also matters for trust: an audience that follows a creator for focus and productivity content is already predisposed to be interested in a gamified productivity app.
App shown in the first 15 seconds. This is a requirement Evan builds into every contract. Not a preference — a deliverable. If the app doesn't appear in the opening 15 seconds, viewers who drop off early (which is most viewers) never see the product. The first 15 seconds are the highest-attention window in any short-form video. Missing it wastes the deal.
5. The 4 Deal Structures Evan Uses — And When to Use Each
Most founders negotiate influencer deals informally — a flat fee, a handshake, hope for the best. Evan has four distinct deal structures, each suited to a different situation. Understanding which one to use is as important as the CPM formula itself.
Deal 1: Flat Rate. Pay a fixed amount — $500 for a single reel, $1,200 for four reels. Use this only with creators who consistently generate high view counts and where you're confident they'll hit your CPM target without needing a contractual minimum. The risk is that a creator has one bad week and you overpay for underperformance. Reserve this for creators with a proven track record.
Deal 2: CPM Deal. Pay $1 or $2 per every 1,000 views, with a cap. If the creator gets 10 million views but your cap is $500, you pay $500. Always include the cap — without it, a viral video becomes an unexpected bill. This structure aligns incentives well: the creator is motivated to push for views, and you're protected on the downside.
Deal 3: Minimum View Clause (MVC). Pay a flat fee — say, $500 — with a contractual minimum view requirement of 500,000 views. If the creator hits the minimum, the deal is done. If they don't, they're obligated to post additional content until they reach the threshold, or return a portion of the payment. Evan describes this as his default structure. It protects against underperformance while keeping the CPM predictable and below RPM.
Deal 4: Bonus Deal. Pay a base fee ($500) with a performance bonus ($500 more if the video hits 1 million views). This works well with creators who are motivated by upside — it keeps the base cost manageable while giving the creator a reason to push the content harder on their end.
| Deal Type | Best For | Main Risk | Evan's Default? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Rate | Proven high-volume creators | Overpay if views underperform | No |
| CPM Deal | New or unproven creators | Viral surprise without a cap | No |
| MVC Deal | Most partnerships | Creator may need multiple posts | Yes |
| Bonus Deal | Motivated mid-tier creators | Higher total cost if viral | No |
Every deal goes out with a contract and a one-week deadline for the first video. If a creator performs well, Evan continues the relationship and scales to larger deals. If not, the MVC structure ensures he's not paying for views that never materialize. The process is repeatable — find creator, qualify engagement, get on a call, close below RPM, send requirements and contract, launch.
6. The Jeremiah Jones Case Study: What Made It Work
The Jeremiah Jones deal illustrates the strategy at its best — not just because the numbers worked, but because of why they worked.
Jones makes content about staying locked in and focused. His comment sections — the primary signal Evan uses to evaluate creators — were filled with specific, engaged responses. Not bots. Not generic praise. People actually responding to what he said. That's the audience quality that converts when you put a product in front of them.
The content itself was built around the same language as the app. A video about staying locked in and on task, with Locked appearing in the first 15 seconds as a natural part of how Jones personally manages focus. Not a scripted ad read. A seamless integration where the product makes sense in the context of what the creator was already saying. Research on influencer-driven app marketing consistently shows that native integrations outperform standard ad reads — and this deal confirms it.
The deal was structured as an MVC: $800 with a 600,000 minimum view clause. The video cleared 1 million views. Effective CPM paid: roughly $0.80. Revenue generated: approximately $3,000. The deal paid for itself nearly four times over.
7. The Tech Stack Behind a $14K/Month App
The app itself was built lean. Design in Figma — roughly two weeks of work. Development in Xcode, using YouTube tutorials, existing knowledge, and Claude Code for AI-assisted coding help. Total time from idea to live on the App Store: about six weeks.
The ongoing tech costs are three tools. Superwall handles paywall A/B testing — critical for optimizing conversion between the primary $40/year offer and the abandon-flow $20/year offer. It takes 1% of earnings. Supabase handles the database and is free at this scale. Claude Code, used during development, runs on the $200/month Max plan. That's roughly $202/month in tooling costs against $14,000/month in revenue — a lean operating structure that most bootstrapped apps would envy.
The paywall structure itself is worth noting. The primary offer ($40/year with a 3-day free trial) is standard for productivity apps. The transaction-abandon flow ($20/year for users who exit without converting) is the layer most founders skip. A user who gets to the paywall and exits is not a lost user — they showed intent. The abandon paywall recaptures that intent at a lower price point, which matters more at lower traffic volumes when every conversion counts. If you're building a digital product with subscription revenue, this kind of paywall sequencing is worth studying closely.
What I Learned From This Startup Story
The part of this story that most breakdowns miss is the failed apps that came before it. Problem Pal, Clear AI — Evan built and abandoned two products before Locked. That context matters, because the influencer strategy he used didn't come from nowhere. It came from someone who had already learned, through actual failure, that building the product is the easy part. Distribution is the actual problem. By the time he launched Locked, he wasn't figuring out growth for the first time. He was applying a framework he'd been developing across multiple attempts.
The CPM vs RPM formula sounds obvious in hindsight. Don't pay more per thousand views than you earn per thousand views. Of course. But the number of founders who run influencer campaigns without ever calculating their RPM first is surprisingly high. Most people approach influencer marketing by asking "can I afford this creator?" The right question is "does my RPM support this CPM?" Those are different questions with very different implications. One leads to deals that feel affordable. The other leads to deals that are profitable by design.
The uncomfortable truth in this story is that the app itself is not the business. Locked is a gamified habit tracker in a category with hundreds of competitors. There is nothing about the core product that's defensible. What Evan has is a repeatable, profitable distribution system — and that's the real asset. If the app stopped converting tomorrow, the influencer playbook could be applied to the next product. Most founders think about building defensible products. What Evan actually built is a defensible acquisition process. That's a more durable advantage than any feature set.
My honest read: this strategy works at this scale, but it has a ceiling. Influencer markets get saturated as more app founders discover the same playbook. CPMs rise as demand for creator partnerships increases. The $1–$1.50 CPM target that worked in early 2026 may not hold at scale — and the path from $14K/month to $100K/month probably requires either building an organic content channel that reduces dependence on paid partnerships, or developing enough product differentiation that conversion rates stay high even as acquisition costs rise. The foundation is solid. The question is what gets built on top of it.
Key Takeaways
- Calculate your RPM before approaching any creator — every deal should be structured to keep CPM below RPM.
- Engagement quality in comments is the primary signal for creator selection — not follower count.
- Content-app alignment converts better than standard ad reads. The creator's topic should naturally connect to the app's use case.
- The Minimum View Clause deal is the most risk-protected structure for most partnerships — it keeps CPM predictable and ensures you get what you pay for.
- Require the app to appear in the first 15 seconds as a contract deliverable — not a suggestion.
- Transaction-abandon paywalls (discounted offer shown after exit) are an underused conversion layer that recaptures users who showed intent but didn't buy.
- The real asset isn't the app — it's a repeatable, profitable acquisition process that can transfer to future products.
FAQ
How did Evan find influencers for his app?
He searched for niche-relevant terms on Instagram and TikTok, scrolled through results, clicked into creator profiles, and sent a simple opening message: "Paid promo?" Creators who responded were moved to a call. The filter is intentional — it identifies creators already comfortable with brand partnerships and saves time on cold outreach to people who aren't.
What is RPM and why does it matter for influencer deals?
RPM is Revenue Per Mille — how much revenue your app generates per 1,000 views of content promoting it. Evan's was $2–$3. Before structuring any influencer deal, you need to know this number. The core rule is simple: never pay more in CPM (cost per thousand views) than you earn in RPM. If you do, every deal is a guaranteed loss regardless of view counts.
How long did it take to build the Locked app?
About six weeks from idea to App Store submission. Two weeks on design in Figma, the remainder on development in Xcode using a combination of YouTube tutorials, existing knowledge, and Claude Code for AI-assisted coding. The lean build timeline was possible because the app's core features — task tracking, leaderboards, XP, badges — are well-understood patterns in mobile development.
What is a Minimum View Clause and why does Evan prefer it?
An MVC deal pays a flat fee with a contractual minimum view requirement. If the creator doesn't hit the minimum, they're obligated to post additional content until they do. Evan uses this as his default because it keeps CPM predictable, protects against underperformance, and aligns the creator's incentive (they need to reach the minimum to be paid in full) with the brand's goal (actual views and downloads).
Can this influencer strategy work for apps outside fitness and productivity?
The CPM vs RPM framework is applicable to any app category. What changes is the niche of creators you target and the RPM you'll realistically achieve. Categories with high purchase intent audiences — finance, health, education — tend to have higher RPMs. The key requirement is that creator content and app use case must align naturally, otherwise conversion rates drop and the math stops working regardless of view counts. If you're building towards a bigger business with multiple revenue streams, reading about business models with real demand in 2026 is worth your time.
What should you do first if you want to replicate this strategy?
Before approaching a single creator, calculate your RPM. Run a small test — even $200–$300 with a micro-creator — and track views to revenue conversion carefully. Once you have a reliable RPM figure, you can evaluate every subsequent deal against it. The Minimum View Clause deal is the safest starting structure. Send the same "Paid promo?" opener to every creator you're considering — it filters the right partners efficiently and keeps outreach scalable. Plenty of businesses that keep producing serious returns are built on exactly this kind of repeatable, measurable acquisition logic.
The Specific Next Step
If you're building a mobile app and haven't calculated your RPM yet — that's the one thing to do before anything else in this article. Open a spreadsheet. Run a small influencer test at any price point. Divide revenue generated by thousands of views. That number is your baseline. Every deal you structure after that should be anchored to it.
The rest of Evan's playbook — the four deal structures, the MVC default, the 15-second requirement, the engagement-quality filter — only works if the CPM vs RPM math is in your favor first. Get that number. Then the rest follows.