Podcast Summary: Sub Club by RevenueCat
Episode: How ElevenLabs Builds, Prices, and Grows AI Consumer Apps
Date: February 4, 2026
Hosts: David Barnard, Jacob Eiting
Guests: Jack McDermott (Lead, Eleven Reader) & Tanmay Jain (Lead, ElevenLabs Flagship Mobile App)
Overview
This episode explores how ElevenLabs, renowned for its AI voice technology, has built, priced, and scaled consumer apps alongside its foundational API products. The discussion provides a deep dive into the company’s ambitious strategy to operate at both the developer/API and consumer levels, the challenge of multi-app growth, feature and growth strategies, nuanced pricing decisions, and how the company cultivates a lightning-fast, founder-driven internal culture.
Main Discussion & Key Insights
The Rationale Behind Building Consumer Apps as a Model/API Company
- ElevenLabs sees itself as a research and product company, blurring lines between creators, consumers, and developers (02:20).
- Direct relationships with users—be they developers, creators, or consumers—are central to ElevenLabs’ vision.
- Jack: “We start from the first point of being able to build on top of great research and then to deploy it in a variety of ways and products.” (02:20)
- Being their own best customer enables rapid iteration and higher quality for APIs.
Operating as a Company of “Mini-Startups”
- Internal structure resembles 10-12 startups (“speedboats” or pods) with small, self-contained teams focused on different products (04:17).
- Teams are intentionally kept small for velocity and ownership: “Our mobile team is about 12 people right now and growing... each team that we kind of set up as a pod or a speedboat...” (04:17 - Jack)
- Fluid movement between web and mobile teams, trusting team leaders to “just go ship, go ship fast.” (05:23 - Tanmay)
Strategy for Multiple Consumer Apps
- ElevenLabs leverages the horizontal breadth of its platform to address distinct user needs with separate apps (06:03 - Jack).
- For example, ElevenLabs flagship app targets creative short-form use; Eleven Reader is focused on turning PDFs into audio.
- Lessons from previous companies (Canva’s failed multi-app experiment) inform deliberate brand differentiation for each app (07:27 - Tanmay).
Knowledge Sharing and Cross-App Learning
- Teams intentionally carve out space between apps to avoid overlap but benefit from a shared design system, technology, and inter-app experimentation, especially in paywalls and monetization (09:22 - Jack, 12:13 - Tanmay).
- Tanmay: “We almost double or quadruple our surface area for learning.” (07:27)
Growth Approaches: Paid and Earned Media
- Growth engine divided between “earned media” (big launches, viral moments) and “sustainable, forecastable” paid user acquisition (UA) (13:37 - Tanmay).
- Polished video content, purposeful launch storytelling, and a staff creator drive organic reach (19:37).
- “We hired our own internal creator who’s... on staff to... create short-form content.” (17:57 - Jack)
- Extensive use of paid channels: Meta, TikTok, Apple Search Ads, Google, with creative strategies tailored for each (14:49 - Jack).
- Earned media compounds: each launch sets up bigger momentum for the next (16:33 - Tanmay).
The Social Media Litmus Test for Features & Product Messaging
- Product features are vetted for “tweetability” or viral potential. If it doesn’t work as a Twitter thread, it may not resonate with users (21:05 - David).
- David: “If you’re working on a feature and it doesn’t make for a good Twitter thread, like you better have a really good reason…” (21:05)
- Lessons from Amazon and Canva: at ElevenLabs, product cycles are fast, launches frequent, and market fit is tested socially and through quick feedback loops (19:37; 22:13).
Product Development Culture & Hiring at ElevenLabs
- Strong preference for “product-minded engineers” or former founders—engineers act as mini-PMs, growth leads steer product traction (23:47 - Jack).
- “We have a belief that, that we want to either be building or growing.” (23:47 - Jack)
- Tanmay: “...it is whatever it takes... I will review Figma designs... show paywall experiments myself... review creative content.” (25:05)
- Small, autonomous teams buttressed with centralized support functions (creative, ops, SEO) to maintain consistency (27:31 - Jack).
- Structured hiring: screening for product instigators, side-project builders, and using reference networks to compound the culture (30:21).
Balance: Fast Iteration vs. Substance & Retention
- Emphasis on action leading to information: “...action gets information…” (34:46 - Jack referencing Brian Armstrong).
- Not every feature has to be a “flash in the pan.” Some viral campaigns yield critical learnings even if they don’t last.
- “In hindsight, it might be a flash in the pan, but in forward sight it might help guide your future decisions.” (34:46)
- Avoid copying viral formulas blindly (e.g., “Spotify Wrapped” clones)—look for natural, meaningful shareable moments (37:23 - Tanmay).
- “What people miss is you have to think about what your natural shareable moment in your product is.” (38:03 - Tanmay)
Unlocking Shareable Experiences & Onboarding Learnings
- On Eleven Reader, “the aha is when you can bring your own ebook... and then pick a specific voice... to read that story or book to you.” (43:38 - Jack)
- Quickest value realization and allowing users to get hands-on is prioritized over complex onboarding flows.
- “We’ve actually found more success in trying to get out of the way a little bit and trying to shorten the time between... content and voice.” (43:38)
Product, Pricing, and the Commoditization Threat
- ElevenLabs’ moat is focus: unmatched quality and breadth of voice models (over 600 voices), relentless launch cycles, tight brand focus (47:50, 53:28).
- On pricing, simplicity wins: instead of credits/tokens, pricing is communicated as hours of content or single-tier plans for mobile to increase clarity and retention (54:30 - Jack; 55:46 - Tanmay).
- Commoditization by LLM giants (OpenAI, Google) is addressed by moving up to the application layer, brand compounding, and providing unique, high-quality user experiences beyond just the underlying model (49:38 - Jack; 53:28 - Tanmay).
- “Every time someone thinks about voice or speech and audio, ElevenLabs is the name that floats to mind immediately.” (53:28 - Tanmay)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “We really think one of the underlying parts of 11 Labs is... the blurred line between creator and consumer.” (02:20 - Jack)
- “Our mobile team is about 12 people... each team... is their own self-contained development, design, growth product and can operate within that.” (04:17 - Jack)
- “The first thing you’re going to do is turn [your launch pitch] into a Twitter thread and think about the main headline, the interesting hook…” (19:37 - Tanmay)
- “If you’re working on a feature and it doesn’t make for a good Twitter thread, like you better have a really good reason to be.” (21:05 - David)
- “Brand is always really hard [to measure], but…every launch earns more eyeballs…it's compounding down in our paid media.” (16:33 - Tanmay)
- “Action gets information.” (34:46 - Jack referencing Brian Armstrong of Coinbase)
- “Making your price cheaper won’t drive meaningful retention if people don’t care about the product.” (58:39 - Tanmay)
- “Speed is becoming the moat…and have tried to really embrace just the speed and size of iteration and the amount we ship.” (32:27 - Jack)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Why Build Consumer Apps as an API Company? (02:20)
- Inside the “Mini-Startup” Structure (04:17)
- Strategy for Multiple Consumer Apps; App Differentiation (06:03, 07:27)
- Growth Approaches: Paid vs. Earned (13:37, 14:49)
- Social-First Feature Development (19:37, 21:05)
- Cultural Hiring: Product Instincts & Founder-Led Teams (23:47, 25:05)
- Viral Launches, Action-Oriented Product Cycles (34:46)
- “Don’t Just Build Spotify Wrapped” Shareability Insights (37:23)
- Onboarding & Pricing Simplicity Lessons (54:30, 55:46)
- Facing Commoditization: Brand, Focus, Application Layer (49:38, 53:28)
Lightning Round: Biggest Wins, Fails, & Wishes
- Most Impactful Changes:
- Jack: Simplified pricing—moved away from tokens/credits in favor of hourly, consumer-focused communication (54:30).
- Tanmay: Simplicity in mobile product and pricing structure; distilling web features to mobile (55:46).
- Biggest Fail/Lesson:
- Jack: Overspent cycles optimizing onboarding; realized simpler, “get to value” flows win (57:06).
- Tanmay: Lower pricing doesn’t drive retention if users don’t value the product (58:39).
- Wish for Growth:
- Jack: Tools in the modern growth stack don’t talk to each other—“if tools could talk as well as our voice models...” (59:39).
- Tanmay: Too many stakeholders understanding partial tools; wishes for a “mega translation app” for growth stacks (61:08).
Final Notes
- Hiring: ElevenLabs is expanding its mobile team and looking for iOS, Android, web, and growth talent (61:57).
- Core Takeaway: ElevenLabs exemplifies the power of founder-driven, fast-moving pods, a focus on brand and product quality, and an obsession with both viral and sustainable growth levers to build durable moats in the age of rapidly advancing AI.