really strong presence for app store optimization.
optimization.
That's great. And would you have any
advice for how to be helpful in 2025?
You probably talked to a lot of people
that are just starting to build apps.
What's your advice on being helpful and
doing something similar to what you did?
I'd say not leading with, hey, this is
my app. Go download it, but actually
maybe even answering something like a
question online that your app answers. I
would almost take something like from a
rooted lesson. So, let's say there's
somebody makes a post saying that, you
know, they had this like horrible
experience with anxiety on a run today.
Then I could like kind of share like why
that might have happened and why, you
know, it's normal. it's okay and whatnot.
whatnot.
Okay. So, beyond the tactics which we
talked a little bit about, I want to
know now, you know, what's the bigger
strategy? What does it take to build a
successful app in 2025? What would be
your playbook that you'd give to someone
who is just starting out today?
Right. So, step one, build a product
that actually delivers what your page
promises. That'll lead not only to more
positive downloads, aka like people
leaving positive experiences, but people
will also then share it. and like the
word of mouth engagement is quite
important. Step two, listen to your
users. So user reviews are super
important. Oftentimes everything you
need to know is written in the user
reviews and sometimes your own
assumption of what a user needs might
not actually be what they do need. Step
three, optimize app store presence
continuously. Doing a release frequently
shows that you continue to work on the
app. I do one once every week and that
shows that you're constantly working on
fixing bugs, improving the user
experience. And step four, partner
strategically. So be that a wellness
organization, um we've done a few B2B
contracts as well, a ton of different
therapy groups and psychologist offices
are recommending and using Rooted and
this has been something that's been
helpful now in 2025. One thing that I'm
curious about as someone who's built a
really successful app, also helped a lot
of people build successful apps. What is
like the most important metrics to be
tracking? Is it revenue downloads? What
is it?
Well, for me, and I think especially
being in the mental health space, it's
been about user reviews. So, our rating,
we've been able to maintain a 4.8 out of
five rating. And this is really, really
important to me. users leave comments
about how Rooted has helped them go back
to work, go back to school, and just
reclaim confidence in their lives. We've
also realized that based on usage that
we're able to now take a panic attack
and users are feeling better from the
panic attack within under 2 minutes.
It's just been really exciting to to
work on that and kind of see really how
effective Rooted is and what users say
about it. I think actually our focus on
tracking user reviews and the quality of
rooted over revenue has been a big
factor as to why we've grown.
All right, so we talked all about how
you built this app, how you came up with
the idea, how you grew it to millions of
users. Can we see the app? How does it
actually work?
Yeah. So, when you first open the app,
you're greeted with this blue app mascot
named Ron. The main feature here is if
you're in the middle of a panic attack,
you'll see this red button. This is an
SOS button. And it'll basically ask you
how you're feeling based on either
wanting to feel okay in the moment or
wanting to face the panic attack
head-on. And it walks you through these
prompts which help to essentially
activate the parasympathetic nervous
system. And the parasympathetic nervous
system is the one that calms us down.
There's also this tool for deep
breathing. And probably my favorite
features are these lessons. They're
actually lessons on understanding
anxiety, what the physical mental
effects are, the causes and theories and
so forth. We also have a journal tool
where you can kind of share what your
feelings are, share what you've
accomplished, what's weighing you down,
what you're grateful for. We also have
over 100 visualizations and sleep
sounds. And then most recently, we have
a games tool. And these are supposed to
be really simple, relaxing games. Users
have asked for this for many years. So
the idea is for the games to be really
simple things that you can play when you
are on a plane or in a busy subway. Just
things to kind of distract you when
you're feeling a little anxious in the
moment. Now that we have as many
downloads as we have, whenever I launch
something, I almost instantly like
within a week I get to see thousands of
people use it, right? So that's just
been incredible.
All right. Well, thank you for showing
me that. I think what you built is
awesome and it's an amazing tool for
millions of people to use. You've done
it. You built an app. It's really
successful. You quit your full-time job.
You do this for a living now. Uh what
would be your advice to someone who's
maybe just starting out, maybe they've
just started building an app or they
have an idea for an app. What would be
your advice to someone who's starting out?
out?
I would suggest that you listen to users
very closely. They will have the answers
you need. They'll help you know what to
focus on. And I believe, especially in
the mental health space, at the end of
the day, that's who we're most
responsible. Launching Rooted with the
MVP and getting that original feedback.
I mean, to this day, I still read all
the user reviews, even though I have
somebody else do the responses now. I
still go in and I make sure I know
what's going on and just to have a pulse
on what users are saying. I'd also
recommend taking care of yourself along
the way. I think there were definitely
quite a few points where I almost
reached burnout. I was building
something really intense and that level
of intensity was with me at all times.
And I think I looking back I wish I
celebrated a few of the smaller moments
more because now I realize that those
were like the most awesome moments
whereas really I was just focus on the
next thing and ready to get to the next
thing. So I would recommend taking care
of yourself and also celebrating the
small wins.
Well, thank you Ana for coming on to the
channel. I think what you built is
awesome. I'm so excited to share it with
all of our subscribers on YouTube. I
think what you built is really needed in
the world. So thanks for coming on.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks again to Ana for coming on to the
channel. Personally, I loved hearing
about how she grew rooted from just a
painful personal problem, like a panic
attack, into an app that's been
downloaded over four million times and
made over a million dollars. But
reminder, it all started from finding
that simple problem and building
something. You can't skip that step if
you want to build something that could
potentially change your life. And this
is exactly why we launched Starter Story
Build. We'll help you take a problem
from your own life and turn it into a
working app using only AI tools. So, if
you're ready to build and launch your
app, just head to the first link in the
description to check out Starter Story
Build. That's it for this episode. Let
me know what you think in the comments.
Thank you again for watching. We'll see
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