At TechCrunch Disrupt last week, I was shocked by the consumer apps I spoke with. Their long-term monetization plans were… nonexistent. When asked, “Cool that you have 10k users, but how are you going to monetize?” most consumer founders just shrugged and said, “We’ll turn on subscriptions down the line.” For a venture-backed company, that’s a crazy take. Here’s why: Churn risk: When users are forced to pay in the future, churn will be high, especially if they joined for free. Scale challenge: Consumer subscriptions alone are unlikely to achieve a venture-scale return. Sustainable growth needs multiple revenue streams. To me, it’s obvious that AI-native apps serving consumer needs—from search to entertainment—must monetize through brand partnerships, affiliate links, or advertising to survive long-term, unless targeting a high-end market. These companies need to catch up fast, or they’ll be outpaced by free alternatives already monetizing with ads and affiliate links (through KOAH Labs, of course).
