102: Box Box Club - Ranjith Ramanan & Kamal Kumar

On the podcast: Ranjith Ramanan and Kamal Kumar share how a Formula 1 widget concept posted on Twitter became Box Box Club, the F1 app that Mercedes tweeted about and Charles Leclerc was spotted using. They talk about how a fan's TikTok fueled the early growth, why users asking to pay led to a subscription, how day-one lock screen widgets turned one tweet into 250,000 downloads, what they learned from a legal notice from Formula 1, how going full-time led to GO Club, and the bigger vision for their company, Arkade Club.

Top Takeaways:

🗺️ Launch before you know where your market is
Two founders with no marketing background guessed India and got Brazil, Mexico, and the US instead. Shipping and watching the download map told them more than any plan would have.

📱 Be on the App Store the day a platform feature ships 
Lock-screen widgets on iOS 16 day one took "small design and small coding," put the app inside a trend it didn't start, and turned one F1 team's tweet into 250,000 downloads in a week.

🎨 Design so your users do the sharing 
An app that makes someone say "wow" on first open and then show it to a friend is marketing that runs on its own. Build for the screenshot and the reel, not just the feature list.

💬 When users ask how to pay you, that's your pricing research 
A WhatsApp support line meant for feature requests produced the first "I would like to pay you." A survey with 5,000–6,000 responses then settled what to charge.

🔒 Never take back what you gave away for free 
The paid tier was built from new things (themes, a watch app, complications), so early users kept everything and still had a reason to upgrade.

🏁 Ship your biggest feature at the end of the season, as a beta 
Releasing a new feature in the last two races lets users try it, gives the team real-world feedback, and leaves a cliffhanger for the next season.

About Ranjith Ramanan & Kamal Kumar:
🏁 Co-founders behind Box Box Club, the ultimate app for motorsports racing fans, exclusive content, and a vibrant community of fellow enthusiasts. All the tools you need to stay up-to-date with the latest racing events, including up-to-the-minute news, comprehensive analysis, and customizable alerts and widgets at your fingertips.

👋 Ranjith Ramanan on LinkedIn

👋 Kamal Kumar on  LinkedIn

🏎️ Learn more about Box Box Club

👟 Learn more about GO Club

👾 Learn more about Arkade Club

Follow us on X: 

• Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc
• RevenueCat - @RevenueCat
• Launched - @LaunchedFM 

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] When F1 teams and drivers found Box Box Club
[02:02] Kamal's path into iOS and Formula 1
[06:18] Ranjith's background in design and visual effects
[09:24] Concept habits and discovering F1 through Drive to Survive
[12:17] Meeting Lewis Hamilton at the 2022 Bahrain GP
[14:14] Designing the first F1 widget and searching for a developer
[16:53] Finding a co-founder through an F1 tattoo
[19:57] Building and launching the first version in a month
[22:58] Why design comes before engineering
[27:23] Early growth without a marketing plan
[30:39] Building products people want to share
[32:40] When users started asking to pay
[35:23] Using fan surveys to shape the paid version
[38:58] Day-one lock screen widgets and the Mercedes moment
[43:18] The legal notice from Formula 1
[45:18] Charles Leclerc puts Box Box on his lock screen
[46:16] Raising prices and partnering with a Formula 2 driver
[51:55] Seeing their logo on a Formula 2 helmet and car
[53:28] Letting the app pay for a trip back to Bahrain
[54:19] Quitting their jobs and redesigning the app
[57:34] Inside Apple's Developer Center in Bangalore
[01:02:16] Hiring for passion over skill
[01:04:36] Learning from inside the F1 paddock
[01:06:56] Staying ahead of copycats with the F1 season
[01:10:06] Landing an official Alpine partnership
[01:12:17] Why they built GO Club in the off-season
[01:14:03] Designing GO Club to stand out in a crowded space
[01:17:45] Arkade Club and the quality app studio plan
[01:18:43] Creative influences and inspiration