By skyforbes 
What do B2C startups like Yope, Gauth, Shelf and MinutesAI have in common? They’re all leveraging a UGC (user-generated content) acquisition strategy that’s helping them go viral. By producing a huge volume of content (200+ videos per week) on TikTok, they consistently make it to the top of the Apple App Store charts
How does this strategy work? The foundation is scale. These startups hire 10+ micro-influencers and pay them $10+ per video, asking them to create 2–3 videos per day on brand-new TikTok accounts
With enough volume and strong hooks, 2–3% of the videos will surpass 100k views: some even hit 2–3 million (here’s an example of Gauth that achieved 2.8MM)
The typical format: Short videos (~8–10 seconds), usually featuring a Hook + App Demo. Some startups (like Tolan) experiment with different structures, but this remains the most common. Examples:
- Yope (social app): Starts with the hook “OK, but why did no one tell me about this app?” → followed by a 12-second app demo Link
- Musa (health app for women): Opens with “Our faces change during ovulation????” → followed by a 4-second demo Link
- Storia Journal: Begins with “This app is for the girlies in their glow-up era” → then shows the product Link
- Gauth (education app): Uses “Me looking at the ‘no, this won’t be on the exam’ question on the exam” → and then shows the app Link
This strategy works especially well for Gen Z-targeted B2C apps in categories like Education (Gauth), Productivity (MinutesAI), Health & fitness (Ladder, Aavia, Musa), Social (Yope, Shelf), etc
Let’s deep dive with one example: Gauth, AI study companion that let’s you “Ask anything, get right answer” that’s consistently a top app in the Education category
Gauth
Gauth operate more than +40 different tiktok accounts (@nathanstudiess, studytipswithsofia, kaylastudies, etc) each posting +5 videos weekly. That’s +200 videos per week!
This brings in 1M+ weekly views, with <5 videos accounting for ~80% of total views. Some highlights
- Average video length: 8 seconds
- Hooks are humor-based, faces are shown, audios are funny, and situations are highly relatable: → e.g., “Me looking at the ‘this won’t be on the exam’ question on the exam”
- Often, the app isn’t shown — just mentioned in the caption → See example: TikTok video
- Always use hashtags like #college, #studytok, #studyhacks
- Creators include “Partnered with @Gauth 🧠” in their bios to boost visibility and credibility.
In the next part, we’ll break down more examples and reveal how these teams pull this off behind the scenes