Tenjin is a San Francisco based, Y Combinator backed startup selling a high end analytics tool and related services. We started with a very technical product description that was lacking a human context. So we explored what was driving the individual users, as well as the motivations of the decision makers above them. The result was a narrative about personal growth and the hidden forces at play in a fiercely competitive market.
Tenjin helps you acquire profitable new users for your app. We back you up with training and community, so you can grow as a professional, spot opportunities and avoid costly mistakes.
If User Acquisition is your job, you’re feeling the pressure right now
Whether you’re a UA Manager, a Growth Marketer or a hardcore Data Analyst, if it’s your job to find and buy mobile users for your app, my guess is you’re having a hard time.
Competition in the app world is off the charts
There was a time when all you needed to succeed was to create a great app and place it in the app store. Those days are gone. In 2011, Apple’s app store alone contained 500,000 apps. Within two years that had doubled. By 2016 it had doubled again to over 2,000,000. This is a trend we’re seeing in app stores around the globe.
And that means higher prices to acquire new users
As the cost of acquiring new users skyrockets, it becomes more and more important to find a smart way to compete and stay in the game.
None of them expect to, but most apps fail
17% generate no revenue*.
18% make less than $100.
50% make less than $1,000 per month.
According to one source, 86%* of apps at any one time are Zombies. They stumble around the app stores, unloved, unlisted and unfindable.
Whilst at the same time, a small number of app developers (623 to be precise) are winning, and winning big
94% of all revenue, about $1.43 Billion goes to just 623 app developers*.
Think about that for a moment. There are over 2,000,000 apps in the app store. And just 623 developers are making all the money.
It’s not an accident.
It’s not luck.
It’s not the illuminati.
So, what is the common thread among the 623?
They all use Growth Data Infrastructure.
And the common thread amongst the laggers, losers and zombies?
No Growth Data Infrastructure.
I know what you’re thinking
WTF is Growth Data Infrastructure? Let me explain...
The marketing data you need to win is already out there
We’ve never had access to so much data to help us acquire new users. But the data is disorganized, overwhelming and hard to compare across channels.
Growth Data Infrastructure is the secret weapon of the 623
It helps turn marketing data into actionable decisions. Decisions that allow you to find and buy more profitable users than anyone else.
But building and maintaining infrastructure is expensive
On average, members of the 623 spend around $500,000 building their growth stack. With the top dogs coming in as high as $50,000,000. And that’s not counting the cost of taking their engineers away from making and maintaining a great app.
Expensive or not, without the right tools it’s impossible to do your job
User acquisition should be about using your smarts to make competitive decisions. Not the daily grind of logging into 20 different channels, exporting data, and wrangling it into spreadsheets so you can compare performance.
You’re exposing yourself to costly mistakes
The more manual work you have to do, the higher the risk of making a costly mistake and the less time you have for creative insight.
But now you have a choice
You don’t have to be a second class citizen in the app stores. You don’t have to be one of the mass of outsiders who are fighting over the scraps. You don’t have to be a data wrangler and risk screwing something up.
We’ve built the data infrastructure you need and it’s affordable
With the Tenjin Platform you get your own Growth Data Infrastructure, a team of experts and a community to support you.
You can compete with the 623
With a level playing field, your app has a real shot at the title. You can focus on making creative user acquisition decisions, not grunt work. And your engineers can focus on making a killer app.
And grow as a Marketing Scientist
If slicing and dicing data gets you excited, it’s a great time to be alive. We’re here to help you make the most of your smarts and your ambition. Data nerds unite, this is our time!
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Writer is a word processing tool from UI pioneers Information Architects. Its successful focus on simplicity and minimal design has resulted in lots of competition. With that competition comes a pressure to add more features, potentially threatening the apps original simplicity. So, in this project we went back to the roots of the problem, from the human, not the technical point of view. Why do we need a writing app that helps us focus? Why is focusing hard? And what's the hardest part of writing? By connecting those dots we created a clear connection between the human problems and the technical solution.
[Long version]
Writer removes distractions. Giving you a calm, focused, writing space. So that you can express yourself clearly.
When the writing is important, getting started is the hardest part
The cover letter for your dream job. The story you’ve been bursting to share with the world. The business proposal that will turn everything around. The love letter, telling them how much you care.
But few of us grow up without a fear of being judged for our writing
Why is it so hard to get started? Sometimes our childhood comes back to haunt us. A teacher, a parent, a page full of red crosses. Or a more recent judge, an impatient boss, breathing down our neck. Or is it the ever present internal critic? Reminding us of past rejections, humiliations, and opportunities lost. We learn to protect ourselves.
So we pause, we hesitate, we procrastinate, while others advance
There are so many voices in this world. And we're so connected, we hear them all. They talk about love, they talk about hate. They talk about unity, but also division. They talk about hope and despair. Some, speak from the heart. Some are processed by algorithms.
But when we put ourselves on the line and share who we really are, how we really feel, it's a beautiful thing
Has it ever been more important for us to express ourselves clearly? To be heard by the people that matter to us? But to be heard, we must be clear. To be clear, we must be focused. Everything we seek in life lies on the other side of that first step.
Our Philosophy is simple. We believe in removing distractions, giving you a calm, focused writing space
We stripped away everything that might stand between you and how you feel, so that you can write from the heart. This is how great writing gets started.
We believe in gentle encouragement
We created focus mode. An experience where everything fades away. Everything but the sentence you are writing, the thought that you are expressing right now. Focus mode helps you dive into the flow. As each sentence is set free onto a clean slate, it’s accepted, as is. “Yes, keep going” it says. There are no objections while you create. It’s a completely calm writing experience.
There's a powerful engine underneath the hood, but it never gets in your way
First, you write from the heart. Then you write with the head. There’s a time to edit, to shape. To care about the details and the options. Headline sizes, tables, logo positioning and export file types. And when that time comes, we have you covered.
Writer is a tool for the brave
Because starting something new is not easy. Telling someone who you really are, never feels entirely comfortable. It takes courage. I wonder how Bowie felt when he sat down to write Space Oddity? Or Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs? Or Ogilvy, pouring himself a glass of rum and wondering what was interesting about the new Rolls Royce? Maybe their genius just flowed onto the page. Or maybe, just like us, they were uncertain at first. A little nervous, a little excited. But they focused. They got started. And they reaped the rewards.
Made by Information Architects
Our history is rooted in the search for clarity, through philosophy, dialog and design. Since 2005, we have been working with major media companies like The Guardian, Nikkei and Wikipedia to help them share what’s important. Our heroes are Socrates, Spock and Costante, a Great Grand Uncle with a big heart. They have inspired us to help over 2,000,000 people get focused and express themselves using Writer, so far.
“Astonishingly simple. Everything goes away except for the writing experience.” Stephen Fry
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[Short version]
Writer removes distractions. Giving you a calm, focused, writing space. So that you can express yourself clearly.
When the writing is important, getting started is the hardest part.
But few of us grow up without a fear of being judged for our writing.
So we pause, we hesitate, we procrastinate, while others advance.
But when we put ourselves on the line and share who we really are, how we really feel, it's a beautiful thing.
Our Philosophy is simple.
We believe in removing distractions, giving you a calm, focused writing space.
We believe in gentle encouragement.
There's a powerful engine underneath the hood, but it never gets in your way.
Writer is a tool for the brave.
Made by Information Architects.
“Astonishingly simple. Everything goes away except for the writing experience.” Stephen Fry.
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