Learn from the best minds in app growth. None of the fluff.

Every other Tuesday, I mine the best talks in app growth for their gems: the experts' own words, the timestamp, and my take. New perspectives, sharper thinking, a few things to try. 320+ experts and 730 talks so far.

Subscribe free 11,100+ subscribers
Sylvain in coal-miner gear, pickaxe on his shoulder
  • Paid UA
  • Creatives
  • App Store Optimization
  • Apple Search Ads
  • Organic Acquisition
  • SEO
  • Influencer Marketing
  • Branding
  • Offline
  • Onboarding and Activation
  • Monetization
  • Ad Monetization
  • Retention
  • Lifecycle Marketing
  • Product
  • Strategy
  • Data
  • User Research
"GG is a huge value add to the community. All the best part of webinars, without the fluff." Thomas Petit, independent app growth consultant

Read by growth people at

  • HelloFresh
  • Rovio
  • Disney
  • Fabulous
  • Gismart
  • Headway
  • Teltech
  • Canva
  • Revolut
  • Codeway
  • MWM
  • Fishbrain
  • Jellyfish
  • Supercell
  • Skyscanner
  • PhotoRoom

The problem

The best thinking in app growth is said out loud. Then it gets buried.

  • Hour-long webinars with five good minutes.
  • Podcasts you'll never finish.
  • LinkedIn slop.
  • AI answers you can't trace.
Sylvain the miner giving two thumbs down

How gems are mined

Thousands of candidates. Only the real gems make it.

  1. 730talks mined

    Sources

    Webinars, podcasts, panels and talks about growing apps.

  2. 7,700+rough gems

    The mine

    AI transcribes every talk and digs out candidate gems.

  3. 1 by 1reviewed by hand

    Polishing

    I review each one: keep or toss, check the quote, tag it, add my take. Not everything said on stage holds up.

  4. 2,600+polished gems

    Polished gems

    In your inbox every other Tuesday, and in your AI through the MCP (beta).

Every gem keeps the expert's meaning and a link to the exact moment they shared the insight, so you can listen to it.

One edition, 15+ gems

Each edition goes deep on one or two talks.

In #148: Thomas Petit, independent growth consultant, across two conversations on paid acquisition, onboarding and monetization.

  • S07, E30: MDM Mailbag #8 (with Thomas Petit)
    Source: Mobile Dev Memo Podcast
  • You're paying Meta to find users who will never convert
    Source: Paddle interview

Meta optimizes toward exactly the event you ask for, and it will fill that event with the cheapest users who won't go further.

"If you ask for an install, they give you the install that don't convert to anything. So, what do they do when you're going to ask for a free trial? They're going to give you the free trial that doesn't become a paid converter."

(12:33) Thomas Petit

For zero-to-5K stage apps, use TikTok organic as your free angle-discovery lab. Find the hook that resonates organically first, then put paid money behind it.

"You can have a fresh account and publish 50 crap videos, and there's a good one, and TikTok is going to show it."

(24:59) Thomas Petit

My take: Thomas shared too many people arrive on Meta with two mediocre videos and torch their entire budget in creative testing; doing a little organic legwork first tells you which hook is catching attention.

Top gem of #148

Signal engineering is growth stage-dependent. Match the sophistication of your signal strategy to your data volume.

"I've seen a lot of early-stage founders apply stuff this and there is a lot of over-engineering that is actually counterproductive."

(14:34) Thomas Petit

Why readers stay

Not another list of tactics.

Sharpen your growth thinking

New perspectives and the reasoning behind what works, so you see growth as a whole. The tactics come along as a bonus.

Learn from the best minds in app growth

320+ experts so far, in their own words and linked to the minute they said it.

Stay ahead without the hours

15+ gems you can read in minutes, from talks you would otherwise have to watch in full.

What readers say

Read by the people you follow.

"Gives me the feeling I never miss out on a hot topic"
Marcus BurkeiOS Meta ads for subscription apps
"Such an incredible resource that you're creating. Absolutely love it and always inspired by you"
Hannah ParvazFounder, Aperture
"Congrats on edition 100! I like that growth gems is bite size info from industry leaders. It's a must read!"
Jenny Kay PollockMobile and subscription revenue, keynote speaker
"One of my top newsletter recommendations for anyone who wants to stay on the bleeding edge of growth. Thank you for your service Sylvain!"
Lisa KennellyGlobal Product Marketing Strategist, Klarna
"Growth Gems: such a great resource for inspiration"
Phillip OuGrowth PM, iOS Growth, Google Photos
"All signal, no noise"
Kurtis MorrisonGrowth, Bunch
"The timesaver every Growth Manager should consider to stay inspired and up-to-date"
Roberto SbrollaGrowth Team Lead, AppAgent
"Thank you, Sylvain Gauchet, for continuing with GrowthGems! It continues to be such a valuable resource- not to mention all the time saved!"
Ryan KelleyASO and mobile growth consultant
"I read Growth Gems to get inspiration / validation for experiment ideas"
Dalma SzaboSenior Product Manager, Babbel
"GG helps me stay fresh on the latest trends and gives me all kinds of new ideas to try and experiment with!"
James LaurainHead of Growth
"my favorite newsletter. Always new interesting ideas, I'm proud when I read in the newsletter some "hacks" that I've already tried with my app."
Francesco CoppolaProduction Manager, Marshmallow Games
"always dig the growth levers that you guys find and/or resurface."
Ben GammonVP of Product, Ladder
"Simply love it! Bite-sized knowledge, full of insights and easy to digest"
Alessio SevarinCo-Founder, motobit
"Always love your growth gems - makes me feel like im always upto date on all things app growth"
Cheryl KitchenerScaling Unscripted App
"One of the few resources that really adds value. Thank you"
Lukas SmolikMobile/App Marketing Manager, Livesport
"By far the most valuable email in my inbox every week! Congrats on 100!"
Alex ShuckDirector of Product Marketing, Elevate Labs
"One of the few newsletters I really look forward to have in my inbox! Always full of gems"
Wendy CzaykaHead of CRM, Aumio
"Some of the best app growth insights out there. Keep it up!"
Lukas MetzmacherHead of Onsite & App Revenue, NZZ
"super useful for any mobile app marketer. Thank you so much!"
Gaelle MartinsHead of Customer Engagement and Retention, Molotov TV
"I discovered the gems relatively recently and learned an awful lot from the gems that I read. Totally recommended!"
Michal JakobFounder & CEO, Umotional
"Thanks for all the epic gems so far, a resource I genuinely look forward to reading from my inbox every couple of weeks :D"
Tom GaleaCo-Founder, Lumenate Growth
"Gems everywhere, thank you Sylvain Gauchet for taking the time to share all that knowledge with us"
Léa SamraniProduct & Growth Consultant, ex-Bumble
"Keep up the great work! Such wonderful nuggets Sylvain Gauchet!"
Julia WuDirector of Performance Marketing, Ten Percent Happier
"My favorite newsletter! Thank you Sylvain Gauchet! Look forward to reading this!"
Madeline McKinnonGrowth Marketer, UA Specialist
"Thanks for all the hard work you put into this Sylvain, these truly are absolute gems!"
Lucia MrvováStartup Growth, Performance
"An amazing resource! Thank you for your service, Sylvain. Congrats on 2 years."
Ngozi Ogbonna MorganGrowth Marketer & Strategist
"The subscription GOAT, thank you for this Sylvain"
Baptiste MalagutiCEO and cofounder, Kuri
"I've been following your newsletter for a while. Thanks for the gems"
Matheus MagalhaesGrowth, UA, ASO, Wildlife Studios
"Wow. Stunning content"
David Sánchez-Camacho GarcíaGrowth, Sololearn
"Sylvain is a pro and gems he finds are really gems. Treat yourself, sign up"
Anton TatarynovichASO Consultant at Phiture
"Absolutely recommend to subscribe to Growth Gems!"
Andre KempeFounder at Admiral Media
Sylvain the miner pointing at you

Polished gems every other Tuesday, in your inbox.

Free. Know a team that would like it? Forward them an edition.

Also from Growth Gems Beta

All 320+ experts, in your AI.

Readers asked for a GrowthGPT. Here it is: the Growth Gems MCP connects the archive of reviewed gems to Claude, so its answers come from vetted experts, with the source and the timestamp.

See how it works

Should an early-stage app engineer its conversion signal for Meta?

Not yet. Thomas Petit has seen "a lot of over-engineering that is actually counterproductive" at early stage: match the signal to your conversion volume. Paddle, 14:34