When people download subscription-driven apps, they typically decide whether to purchase a subscription the first time they open the app. Optimizing pricing to ensure that users see the value of a subscription is thus crucial for the people and companies behind these apps, and Charlotte startup Botsi gives them the tools to do so.
Co-founded by Jacob Rushfinn and Jason Schubert, Botsi uses AI to show the optimal subscription price to different users to ensure that they purchase the subscription.
Prior to cofounding Botsi, Rushfinn worked in marketing and growth and noticed how different startups all emphasized optimizing that first experience to capture subscriptions. Schubert, meanwhile, had coded and developed his own business-to-business startup for mobile apps.
“It’s been a great combination of his technical experience and my marketing background to really come together and build Botsi.”
Botsi receives various pieces of users’ data from subscription apps and then feeds that data to its AI. The AI in turn creates a unique model for each app that offers distinct optimal price points for different types of users.
The type of data used varies depending on the specific app in question; some apps only employ data from users’ devices (such as the type of device and location), while others depend on specialized data (such as why users signed up for the app).
As an example, a subscription app that provides workout videos might collect data about how often users exercise. Botsi would analyze that data and recommend lower subscription prices to users who exercise less frequently, who otherwise be less inclined to purchase a subscription than users who exercise on a daily basis.
Specializing in mobile app subscriptions
Botsi is specifically focused on optimizing subscription prices for mobile apps—a focus that is not shared by other startups offering AI-driven pricing optimization.
This specialization, combined with Rushfinn and Schubert’s shared experience in growing mobile apps, enables Botsi to create customized AI models for mobile subscriptions apps.
Other startups often approach pricing optimization solely through A/B testing and paywall design. By contrast, Botsi’s use of AI to build individual models for each app means the price optimizations can be more tailored.
“We’ve been working and building subscription apps for years, so we intimately know what is needed here,” Rushfinn said.
Botsi also hosts a variety of other tools relevant to mobile subscription apps, including a customer relationship management system and a refund guard, that are included when mobile apps use Botsi. Still, the startup is primarily focusing on supporting and refining its AI-driven subscription pricing optimization, Rushfinn said.
When Botsi conducted a private test of its software prior to launch, mobile apps using its AI-driven subscription pricing optimization saw revenue growth of 10-30%.
Beyond just increasing revenue, however, Rushfinn said Botsi allows mobile apps to gather insights and data about their users based on who is actually subscribing, which can then be used to further expand and improve the apps.
Revenue-based subscription model
Botsi offers its software through four subscriptions that vary in price and included features. The free subscription does not give access to Botsi’s AI-driven pricing optimization, but it does offer the software’s purchase infrastructure and access to subscriber analytics.
Rather than setting a defined price for each subscription tier, Botsi has optimized its own subscription prices by charging a percent of revenue for the mobile subscription apps that use the software.
Compared to the popular pricing model of charging apps based on how many users they have, Botsi’s revenue percentage approach makes it more accessible and valuable for the people and companies behind mobile apps. These apps often have a large number of users but a smaller number of paying users, so pricing subscriptions based on revenue ensures that mobile apps are only paying more money if they are making more money.
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Startup: Botsi
Co-Founders: Jacob Rushfinn, Jason Schubert
Founded: 2024
Team size: 10
Location: Charlotte, NC
Website: botsi.com
Funding: Pre-seed
Botsi’s most affordable paid tier takes 1% of revenue from mobile apps; the second paid tier takes 1.2%.
“We only need to increase your revenue by 1% for the whole product to pay for itself,” Rushfinn said. “And so, we hope we can do more than that, but it’s a pretty compelling value prop.” He added, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much you really want to try something, if it’s not the right price for you, you’re not going to do it.”
The subscription app market is estimated at $60 billion and is expected to grow to $150 billion by 2030, Rushfinn said. In order to capture that growing market, the startup is focused on refining its AI-driven pricing optimization tools and getting more users. The hope is that as that subscription app market grows, so will Botsi.
