A common pattern in consumer AI over the last couple years: An app that generates AI portraits of you will go viral—but then users churn after a few days. I started advising one of these apps last year called @vybeappp and the goal was to turn it into a durable app. We started with this question: In what context would people need generative portraits on a recurring basis? The founder @mandelapatrick_ dug into the data and found that some users were sticking around: they were trying on different clothes using the app. So we redesigned the app to be exclusively focused on this use-case. But most importantly, we integrated it into their existing patterns of behavior: a mobile safari extension that would intercept the user every time they were shopping. Just tap a button to try on the item on any page. They just shipped it and the results blew past all expectations: Retention nearly 4x. Once the user enabled the extension, they were essentially retained for life. And even better, it unlocked a better revenue stream: instead of a subscription that users would inevitably cancel, VYBE simply collects a commission in the background off every purchase into perpetuity.