How She Built a $33M/Year Photography Startup with ZERO Ads | Tezza Barton

Video Description

Tezza Barton bootstrapped the Tezza app from a two-person passion project into a 25M+ download, $33M/year creative-tech brand—with just 15 employees and zero paid ads for the first four years. In this interview, Tezza breaks down the scrappy path from negative bank balances and collage kits in a 250-sq-ft apartment to building a category-defining editing app and community that creatives actually love. From community-led growth and brand-first product design to pricing pivots, lean teams, and culture-shifting collabs, you’ll learn exactly how she scaled profitably while staying fan-obsessed and creatively uncompromising. What you’ll learn from this interview: • How Tezza grew a bootstrapped, creator-led app to 25M+ downloads and $33M revenue • The community-first playbook: DMs, feedback loops, and building demand before launch • Product-led marketing: naming filters (e.g., “Wildflower”), seasonal drops, and experiential launches • Pricing and retention: recovering from a bumpy subscription rollout and increasing LTV • Why a lean, high-leverage team can out-execute bigger competitors • Collaboration strategy: pitching value, co-creating effects, and tapping partner audiences • Creative brand building: designing an app like a beauty brand, not a utility • Where AI helps (ops, grunt work) without replacing human taste, curation, and intent By the end of this interview, you’ll walk away with a proven roadmap to build, market, and scale a profitable consumer app—so you can turn audience insight and great creative into durable, compounding growth. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application → Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/ CONNECT WITH TEZZA BARTON Website → https://www.shoptezza.com/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/tezza.barton/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-barton-6b73091b3/ 00:00 – How Tezza Barton Bootstrapped a $33M App With No Ads 02:46 – From Negative Bank Account to Building Her First Product 04:29 – Losing Her Sister & Finding Creative Purpose 07:28 – Building Tezza With Her Husband & the Power of Creative Synergy 12:17 – Scaling to 25M Downloads & Staying Small on Purpose 15:28 – How Tezza Built a Loyal Community Before Launching 18:49 – The Launch Disaster That Turned Into a Breakthrough 22:49 – Why Bootstrapping Forced Better Decisions & Creative Freedom 25:04 – The Struggle of Letting Go & Becoming a True CEO 34:19 – Collaborations, Marketing Wins & The Future of Creator Culture 49:30 – How Tezza Balances AI, Creativity & Building a Brand That Lasts FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt Website → https://www.foundr.com Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast