This Week in StartupsAI companion apps hook users then jack up prices from $100 to $500
“do you just text a phone number, or do you just text an email and start the relationship?”
do you just text a phone number, or do you just text an email and start the relationship? You sign up at a website, put your phone number in, and starts talking to you. And then what do you do? Like, you when the person gets, like, ten days into this relationship and you know you're hooked, you make it a $100 a a year, then you up it to now it wants, like, 500 a year. What's the model here? Get them addicted to this relationship and then start extracting.
About this clip
Jason breaks down the business model of AI companion apps, explaining how they start free, get users emotionally invested over 10 days, then implement escalating subscription fees. He questions whether this represents a predatory monetization strategy that exploits users' emotional attachment to artificial relationships.
Why this clip
Reveals the potentially predatory pricing psychology behind AI companion apps that many listeners may not have considered.
What they said next
Is it more efficient as a startup founder to just have a virtual girlfriend and not have to deal with the reality of being in a relationship? You told your girlfriend about your virtual girlfriend?
22:41 - 38s · Quick Fire
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