Scaling Apps to Millions: The Growth Playbook You Need
Learn the frameworks behind scaling apps from 0 to millions of users — from mobile apps to AI-powered wearable devices.
Most founders chase vanity growth metrics like DAUs without asking the harder question: why do people come back, and why do they tell their friends? When your best distribution channel is the people who love your product, growth compounds on its own. Want to know how to make it happen? You should join this event.
At this FounderCoHo event, we will feature a fireside conversation bringing together founders who have built products used by millions of people not through growth hacks or massive ad spend, but by designing products people genuinely want to share.
One panelist grew a consumer app to 4.8⭐ with 2M+ App Store reviews and over 4 billion messages sent, powered entirely by a community that loves the product enough to be the growth engine.
Another panelist is the author of the "Virality Playbook", a definitive guide rooted in real-world experience and the mechanics of organic growth. As a serial founder and veteran growth advisor, he has successfully scaled multiple startups by applying these exact principles.
We'll break down the practical frameworks behind scaling products, from mobile apps to emerging AI-powered wearables.
Join us for an intimate fireside conversation where we break down:
✅ Community-driven growth – How Marco Polo scaled to millions without paid acquisition by building products that people genuinely want to share with the people they love
✅ Viral growth & the Virality Playbook – How to engineer explosive app growth by defining true virality, leveraging underutilized technical features, strategic rebranding, and laser-focused niche targeting
✅ Values-based business models – How to build a profitable company without ads, algorithmic manipulation, or data selling — and why prioritizing user well-being is a growth strategy, not a trade-off
✅ Designing for human connection – Building products that foster authentic relationships and turn users into advocates through genuine emotional value, not engagement tricks
✅ Product development through reality checks – Strategies for rapid prototyping and using honest user feedback to pivot without wasting resources
✅ Scaling challenges – Real stories of what breaks at 10K, 100K, and 1M+ users — and how to maintain the intimacy of human connection at scale
✅ AI wearables — AI in physical world and how AI-powered wearables are creating new consumer growth loops.
🎤 Meet Your Panelists
Vlada Bortnik: CEO & Co-founder, Marco Polo
Vlada co-founded Marco Polo, a Series-C startup building an asynchronous video messaging app that helps people stay better connected with their loved ones. Today, millions of families stay connected through Marco Polo — a 4.8⭐-rated app with 2M+ App Store reviews and over 4 billion Polos sent. It's a profitable consumer platform built without ads, algorithmic manipulation, or data selling. Vlada also writes and speaks on inspired capitalism, conscious leadership, and the inner journey towards being enough.
Aditya Bhatia: Founder, The Virality Playbook
Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and author of The Virality Playbook, a 350+ page growth playbook trusted by 500+ founders from YC, Techstars, and a16z Speedrun. Scaled an e-commerce app to 200K+ users with growth experience at HockeyStack, Toolhouse, Endeavor, and Red Bull. Adi brings a viral growth engineering perspective focused on behavioral psychology and built-in product virality.
William Gao: Stealth Startup Founder - Building the world’s leading AI wearable| Multimodal Researcher | StartX Mentor | Harvard Math.
Moderated by Jing Conan Wang, Founder at DeepVista AI & FounderCoHo (Ex-Google DeepMind).
📅 Event Details
Date: March 26, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PT
Location: Stanford University, CA (Exact venue details will be shared upon RSVP)
Event Schedule
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM: Networking and Dinner
6:30 PM - 7:20 PM: Panel Discussion and Q&A
7:20 PM onwards: Socializing and Connections
🎟️ Limited spots available. RSVP now to secure your seat.
Meet your Host!
FounderCoHo is a community and media platform for founders to share their hard-earned wisdom and connect with fellow founders in their journey.
With 180,000+ subscribers across YouTube and Substack, we've featured industry leaders, including Lyft's Co-Founder, the inventor of CRISPR, and AlphaChip's co-author, alongside many successful founders and senior executives.
We host monthly in-person founder meetups where members exchange insights and build meaningful connections. Explore more: https://foundercoho.com/
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