GospeLib: Go-to-Market Strategy
Version: 1.0.0
Status: Working Document
Last Updated: 2026-03-07
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Market Context
- Customer Segments & Personas
- Positioning & Messaging
- Pricing Architecture
- The CFM Engine — GospeLib's Structural Advantage
- Pre-Launch Strategy (Months 0–6)
- Launch Strategy (Months 6–9)
- Channel Strategy
- Partnership Strategy
- Content & Community
- Paid Acquisition
- Retention & Lifecycle Marketing
- International & Multilingual Expansion
- Metrics, KPIs & Decision Gates
- Phased Roadmap & Timeline
- Budget Guidance
1. Executive Summary
GospeLib enters a market with a structural gap that no competitor has addressed in the twenty years since serious Bible study software became mainstream: no product combines LDS canonical texts with academic-grade scholarly tools. Gospel Library has 10M+ downloads and zero scholarly features. Logos and Accordance have deep linguistic tools and zero LDS orientation. GospeLib occupies the uncontested center of a Venn diagram that, until now, has had nothing in it.
The LDS market is demographically unusual — 17.5 million members with the highest scripture-reading rate of any religious group in the United States (60% read weekly), above-average household income, high smartphone penetration, and a tightly networked media ecosystem organized around a shared weekly scripture curriculum. This is not a diffuse general consumer market. It is a dense, identifiable, reachable community with a clear existing behavior (weekly Come Follow Me study) that GospeLib can slot directly into.
The go-to-market strategy is built on three interlocking pillars:
The CFM Engine. Every week, millions of LDS members follow the same scripture reading schedule. Every podcast, YouTube channel, blog, and social media account in the LDS scripture study space produces content around this schedule. GospeLib aligns with this weekly heartbeat from day one — not as a Come Follow Me app, but as the tool serious students of the curriculum reach for when they want to go deeper.
The Trust Stack. The LDS community trusts specific voices: BYU religion professors, podcasters like Hank Smith and Emily Belle Freeman, organizations like Scripture Central and the Maxwell Institute. Distribution through these voices is categorically more effective than advertising. The GTM strategy is built around earning those endorsements through genuine product quality and strategic relationship-building, not paid placements.
The Freemium Ramp. The base reader is free and better than Gospel Library in the dimensions that matter most to serious readers (typography, gesture system, offline reliability, organization). This earns an installed base. Premium scholarly features (interlinear, manuscripts, knowledge graph, AI) convert the serious students who represent the true target customer. The free tier is not a gimped product — it is a recruiting tool for the paid tier.
Total addressable market: $5M–$9M annually (US primary market). Conservative conversion assumptions (2–3% freemium conversion) suggest $1.5M–$3M ARR at maturity with 20,000–40,000 paying subscribers. The bound custom scripture print product (Phase 3) and future institutional licensing represent meaningful upside beyond the subscription model.
2. Market Context
2.1 The LDS Market
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had 17,509,781 members on record as of December 31, 2024, with approximately 6,929,956 in the United States. Activity rates run 35–50% depending on region, yielding roughly 2.8–3.5 million active members in the US and 6.1 million globally.
Key demographic advantages for app monetization:
- 60% read scriptures weekly outside of services — #1 among all US religious groups (Pew Research, 2023–24)
- 69% attend worship weekly — #1 among all US religious groups
- 29% of LDS households earn $100K+ — above national average
- 61% have some college education
- 37% have children under 18 at home — strong family orientation
- 93–96% smartphone penetration among active US LDS adults
The Come Follow Me home-centered curriculum (launched 2019) permanently restructured scripture study from a Sunday activity to a daily household practice. This created the behavioral foundation GospeLib needs: millions of people are already sitting down every week with their scriptures, looking for more.
2.2 Market Sizing
| Scenario | Paying Subscribers | Annual Price | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative (US, 2% conversion, Scholar only) | 18,000 | $79.99/yr | $1.4M |
| Moderate (US+global, 3% conversion, mixed plans) | 35,000 | $85/yr avg | $3.0M |
| Optimistic (2% Scholar + 0.5% Academic + print revenue) | 55,000 | $95/yr avg | $5.2M |
These figures assume a realistic install base of 600,000–1,200,000 free users reachable through the channels described in this document — roughly 10–20% of active US LDS adults.
2.3 Competitive Landscape Summary
| Product | Price | LDS Content | Scholarly Depth | GospeLib Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel Library | Free | Full | None | Scholarly tools |
| ScripturePlus | Free | Full | Partial | Interlinear, graph, AI |
| Logos Premium | $100–$200/yr | Apologetics | Extensive | LDS orientation |
| Accordance | $49–$2K+ | None | Extensive | LDS content |
| OliveTree | $60/yr | None | Basic | LDS content |
| GospeLib | $0–$150/yr | Full | Full | — |
There is no direct competitor. The competitive risk is not an existing product — it is inertia. Most LDS members don't know they're missing anything because they've never seen what academic-grade scripture study looks like inside their own canonical framework.
2.4 Market Timing
The faith-based app market is in a sustained growth phase:
- Spiritual wellness app market: $2.16B (2024) → $7.31B projected (2033), 14.6% CAGR
- Bible software market: $799M → $1.5B projected (2035), 5.9% CAGR
- YouVersion: 1 billion cumulative installs by late 2025, 19M daily active users (18% YoY growth)
- AI Bible apps charging $59–$80/year have established a premium pricing tier
- Logos moved to subscription specifically to fund AI — validating the subscription + AI model
The moment for GospeLib is now, not in three years. The AI wave is creating a window where LDS members are actively looking for AI-powered study tools and finding nothing built for them.
3. Customer Segments & Personas
GospeLib's market is not monolithic. Five distinct segments exist, each with different motivations, willingness to pay, and acquisition pathways. The product must serve all five, but GTM resources should concentrate on Segments 1–3 first.
Segment 1: The Serious Student
Size: ~200,000–400,000 US active members
Willingness to pay: High ($8–$15/month)
Conversion likelihood: Highest
Who they are: Adults who study scriptures daily, not just weekly. They already use more than one study resource simultaneously. They've read the scriptures multiple times. They notice when translations differ. They've wondered what a word means in Hebrew. They own Hugh Nibley books. They use footnotes. They would describe themselves as "serious" about scripture study.
Pain they feel today: Gospel Library is too basic. Logos doesn't understand LDS theology. They've stitched together 3–4 imperfect tools. They've never been able to look at a Hebrew word and understand its relationship to Book of Mormon usage in one place.
Acquisition pathway: Word of mouth from peer enthusiasts, followed by organic search ("LDS interlinear scripture," "Book of Mormon original manuscript comparison"). High-value early adopters who will evangelize within their wards and stakes.
Key message: "Finally — a scripture study tool that matches how seriously you take this."
Segment 2: The Educator
Size: ~50,000–100,000 (seminary teachers, institute instructors, Gospel Doctrine teachers, BYU/BYUI/BYUH religion faculty, mission presidents, stake leaders)
Willingness to pay: High, often on institution's behalf
Conversion likelihood: High, and high leverage (one educator × 30–200 students)
Who they are: People who teach the scriptures professionally or semi-professionally. They prepare lessons weekly. They need credible sources. They've been using a combination of Gospel Library, commentaries they own physically, and ad-hoc web searches.
Pain they feel today: Lesson preparation is fragmented. Finding and cross-referencing scholarly sources takes hours. They can't easily build a structured lesson plan that connects passages, commentary, and original language insights.
Acquisition pathway: BYU/CES institutional partnerships, direct outreach through Seminary and Institute coordinator networks, educator-specific use cases in product marketing.
Key message: "Prepare better lessons in less time. Every tool you need, in one place, built for Latter-day Saint teaching."
Segment 3: The Come Follow Me Devotee
Size: ~500,000–1,000,000 US active members (the engaged weekly CFM studier)
Willingness to pay: Moderate ($5–$8/month)
Conversion likelihood: Medium — needs the right hook
Who they are: The largest addressable segment. They follow Come Follow Me every week, often use a podcast or YouTube channel as their primary resource, and would describe themselves as spiritually engaged but not "academic." They are not intimidated by depth — they just haven't been introduced to it.
Pain they feel today: They don't have a single pain point; they have a low-grade awareness that there's more depth available than they're accessing. A whisper card that says "This word appears 34 times in the Old Testament — here's the pattern" is precisely the kind of discovery they'd respond to.
Acquisition pathway: CFM podcast sponsorships (followHIM, Don't Miss This), social media content showing the discovery experience, annual CFM cycle alignment creating natural re-engagement moments.
Key message: "Go deeper into what you're already studying."
Segment 4: The Scholar
Size: ~10,000–25,000 (BYU religion faculty, graduate students, Maxwell Institute researchers, FAIR apologists, serious amateur scholars)
Willingness to pay: High ($15/month Academic tier)
Conversion likelihood: Medium (high standards, skeptical of new tools)
Who they are: People who read Nibley and Bradshaw for pleasure. They know what a BHS is. They cite JST variants in Gospel Doctrine class. They've attended FAIR Conference. They may be working on published papers. They are the ones who, if they love GospeLib, will write about it in BYU Studies.
Pain they feel today: No tool exists that holds the full scholarly conversation about LDS texts — the pseudepigrapha connections, the manuscript variants, the ancient Near Eastern context — in relationship to each other and to LDS theology. They've been doing this manually in spreadsheets and footnotes for decades.
Acquisition pathway: FAIR Conference, Maxwell Institute relationships, direct outreach, academic word of mouth, BYU faculty partnerships.
Key message: "A knowledge graph of everything you already know, finally in one place."
Segment 5: The Missionary / Young Adult
Size: ~100,000–200,000 (full-time missionaries, returned missionaries, young adults in institute)
Willingness to pay: Low-moderate ($4–$6/month)
Conversion likelihood: Low initially, high long-term value
Who they are: 18–28-year-olds in high scripture-engagement periods. Full-time missionaries are studying daily for 2 years. Institute students are taking religion courses. This segment has low immediate purchasing power but extremely high lifetime value — they will become the Serious Students of Segments 1–2 in 5–10 years.
Pain they feel today: They're using Gospel Library on a device that's used for nothing else. They want tools that match their curiosity but don't have the money for expensive software.
Acquisition pathway: BYU/BYUI campus programs, institute discount pricing, missionary-specific pricing (free during service, discounted for 2 years post-mission).
Key message: "Learn the scriptures at a depth you'll carry for life."
4. Positioning & Messaging
4.1 Positioning Statement
GospeLib is the scholarly scripture study environment built for Latter-day Saints who take their scriptures seriously.
It is not:
- A Come Follow Me app (though it integrates with CFM)
- A Gospel Library replacement (though it is better for serious study)
- A Logos clone for LDS people (though it surpasses Logos in LDS context)
- A devotional app (though it supports devotional reading)
It is:
- The only tool that holds LDS canonical texts and the ancient texts that illuminate them in a single connected knowledge structure
- The only app with original Hebrew/Greek interlinear tools built with LDS theological understanding
- The only place to compare Book of Mormon manuscript witnesses alongside commentary, original language analysis, and topical connections
- The most beautiful scripture reading experience anyone has built
4.2 Messaging Architecture
Messages should cascade from the brand level to segment-specific proof points.
Brand level — what GospeLib is:
"Every answer the scriptures contain is already there. GospeLib helps you find it."
Product level — what it does:
"The scriptures, the original languages, the ancient texts, the scholarship, and your own notes — connected into one living study environment."
Segment-specific hooks:
| Segment | Hook |
|---|---|
| Serious Student | "The tool you've been improvising for years, finally built properly." |
| Educator | "From today's passage to a fully cited lesson, in minutes." |
| CFM Devotee | "Go deeper into what you're already studying." |
| Scholar | "All of it, connected." |
| Missionary/YA | "Learn the scriptures at the depth you'll carry for life." |
4.3 Proof Points by Feature
These are the specific product moments that convert skeptics. Every channel should be equipped to demonstrate at least one of them:
-
The Word Journey — Tap a Hebrew word, see every place it appears across scripture. Watch "chesed" (loving-kindness) light up from Genesis through the Psalms through the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon.
-
The Constellation — Pinch out from a passage and watch the knowledge graph reveal itself. Every connection, every theme, every related text. No one has seen anything like it in an LDS scripture app.
-
The Witness Comparison — Open Original Manuscript vs. Printer's Manuscript vs. 1830 edition side by side for a Book of Mormon passage. Watch a word variant highlight. Understand the transmission history of sacred text.
-
The Annotation System — Apply a yellow highlight for Christ/Atonement and a green underline for Godhead to the same verse. Watch doctrinal complexity become visible at a glance.
-
The AI Study Session — Ask "What questions should I be asking about this passage?" and receive a scholarly Socratic response, fully cited to original sources in the graph.
4.4 What GospeLib Never Says
- "Revolutionary" — the product demonstrates this without claiming it
- "The only LDS app you'll ever need" — too defensive and sets up disappointment
- "Better than Gospel Library" — never compete with the Church's official product by name
- "Endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" — it isn't, and implying otherwise creates legal risk
- "For serious members only" — exclusionary, and the product should welcome everyone
- Any urgency language in subscription copy ("Limited time," "Don't miss out") — violates the brand's reverent tone
5. Pricing Architecture
5.1 Tier Design
Three tiers, one free and two paid, with a 14-day free trial on all paid tiers.
Free Tier — "GospeLib Reader"
Everything needed for beautiful, organized scripture reading. Better than Gospel Library in the dimensions that matter to serious readers. This tier is not crippled — it is genuinely good.
What's included:
- Full LDS canonical scriptures (Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, KJV Bible)
- The complete reading experience (all three density modes, typography control, dark/night warm modes)
- Full highlight and note system (all 8 doctrinal colors + 4 personal colors, all annotation layers)
- Bookmarks and reading history
- Come Follow Me schedule alignment
- Basic search (reference lookup, word/phrase)
- Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary browsing
- Home screen widget
- Scripture card sharing
- Offline access for recently read books
- Annual study summary
What's not included (shown with the ◆ diamond, not hidden):
- Interlinear Hebrew/Greek tools
- Manuscript witnesses
- Knowledge graph / constellation view
- Scholarly commentary (Clarke, BYU NTC)
- Pseudepigraphical texts
- AI Study Assistant (full)
- Advanced semantic search
- Live Share (hosting; joining is free)
- PDF export
- Custom scripture print (Phase 3)
Scholar Tier — $7.99/month or $79.99/year (save 17%)
Target: Segments 1, 2, 3
Everything in Free, plus:
- Full interlinear Hebrew/Greek with all display modes
- Strong's numbers, morphological tags, word journey
- Manuscript witnesses for Book of Mormon, Bible, JST
- Knowledge graph and constellation view
- Adam Clarke's Commentary (full)
- Topical Guide subgraph explorer
- Pseudepigraphical texts (1 Enoch, Jubilees, Testaments, etc.)
- AI Study Assistant (50 sessions/month)
- Advanced semantic search and natural language query
- Collections / binders with full organization tools
- Scripture heat map and mastery view
- Study schedules and lesson prep tools
- Live Share (host sessions, up to 10 participants)
- PDF export (GospeLib-branded premium layouts)
- Priority offline sync
Academic Tier — $14.99/month or $149.99/year (save 17%)
Target: Segment 4 (scholars, BYU faculty, serious apologists)
Everything in Scholar, plus:
- BYU New Testament Commentary (when licensing secured)
- Additional scholarly commentary sets as licensed
- AI Study Assistant (200 sessions/month)
- AI cross-reference discovery (AI-inferred connections across graph)
- Full graph export (JSON/CSV for researchers)
- Live Share (unlimited participants)
- API access for personal tools (Phase 2)
- Early access to new features
- Direct feedback channel to the product team
Institutional Tier — Custom pricing (Phase 2)
Target: BYU/BYUI departments, CES, seminary/institute networks, missions
Seat-based pricing for organizations. Includes:
- All Academic features
- Admin dashboard for usage tracking
- Bulk seat management
- Custom content integration (institution-specific syllabi, study plans)
- Priority support
5.2 Pricing Rationale
Why not free everything? The LDS scholarly market is underserved precisely because no one has built it. The business must be sustainable to build and maintain the graph, the AI infrastructure, and the licensing relationships. Scholars in the segment understand this — Logos charges $200/year and they pay it. $80/year for something built for them is clearly fair value.
Why the diamond instead of locks? Free users see what exists. Discovering that original language tools are available — and then seeing what they look like when you tap through — is itself a conversion event. Hiding features removes this. The diamond communicates invitation, not deprivation.
Why annual pricing incentives? Annual subscribers have 5–6× the LTV of monthly subscribers at equivalent churn rates. The 17% discount (two months free) is standard across the category. Logos, OliveTree, and Bible Gateway Plus all use this model. Prioritize annual at checkout.
Why a 14-day trial? The product has to be experienced to be understood. A scholar who sees the constellation view and the word journey for the first time does not need to be convinced by copy — they need to see it. Free trials eliminate the risk barrier for a product that cannot be adequately described.
5.3 Pricing Sensitivity Considerations
The LDS market has an unusual characteristic: members expect spiritually meaningful content to be free (Gospel Library is free; Come Follow Me is free; church attendance is free). This creates a price sensitivity floor at roughly $5/month for casual users. However:
- Deseret Bookshelf PLUS+ charges $7–$10/month and has paying subscribers
- LDS Living subscription content has paying readers
- BYU's inspired.byu.edu charges $69/year
- Members spend $30–$60 on Come Follow Me study guides annually
The $7.99/month Scholar price is calibrated to sit just below the Deseret Bookshelf price point — familiar territory for members who buy physical study materials. The Academic tier at $14.99/month targets users who have paid for Logos and can clearly articulate why $14.99 for something better is worth it.
Do not discount on religious grounds. The product is valuable because it is excellent. Apologizing for the price by framing it as "helping members study the scriptures" undermines the premium positioning. The product stands on its own merit.
6. The CFM Engine — GospeLib's Structural Advantage
Come Follow Me is not just a distribution channel. It is the architectural fact around which the entire GTM strategy is organized.
6.1 What CFM Creates
Every week, every active LDS member is assigned the same scripture reading. This creates:
- A shared focal point — all LDS content creation orbits this weekly reading
- A content calendar — 52 weeks of known topics, years in advance
- A built-in re-engagement cycle — the annual reset creates a natural "new year, new study tool" moment every January
- Influencer leverage — every CFM podcast, YouTube video, and Instagram post is targeting the same passage the same week GospeLib's whisper cards and AI content are focused on
6.2 How GospeLib Aligns
CFM alignment is not a feature — it is a product philosophy:
- Weekly content curation: The GospeLib graph team highlights the most compelling connections, original language insights, and pseudepigraphical parallels for each week's assigned reading. These surface as whisper cards in the reader for all users.
- Scholarly depth for each week: A weekly "deeper dive" for each CFM unit, surfaced in the AI assistant and in push notifications for subscribers.
- Influencer content hooks: Each week, the product team provides briefing materials to podcast partners (followHIM, Don't Miss This) about what GospeLib reveals in that week's reading — content they can mention on air and link to.
- App store optimization: Update the app store description and screenshots quarterly to reference the current CFM year/theme.
6.3 The Annual Acquisition Cycle
Two peaks per year drive the majority of new user acquisition:
January — New Year, New Study Cycle
Every CFM year begins in January with Genesis. The entire LDS scripture study ecosystem produces "new year, new study tools" content. GospeLib's heaviest paid acquisition, PR pushes, and influencer campaigns run in December/January. The product team ensures the Old Testament/Genesis experience is polished to the highest standard before the year begins.
September — Back to Institute/Seminary
BYU fall semester begins. Seminary begins nationwide. Institute enrollment spikes. This is the second acquisition window — academic-year-oriented, targeting Segment 2 (educators) and Segment 5 (young adults).
Secondary spikes occur around General Conference weekends (April and October) — two days of intensified scripture engagement across the membership, with discussion and social sharing that drives discovery.
7. Pre-Launch Strategy (Months 0–6)
The pre-launch period is not waiting — it is building the audience that will convert at launch.
7.1 Founding User Program (Month 1)
Recruit 200–500 founding users before public launch. These are not beta testers — they are future evangelists.
Who to recruit:
- 50–100 BYU religion students (through faculty connections)
- 30–50 seminary/institute teachers (through CES network contacts)
- 20–40 active members in LDS scholar communities (FAIR, Maxwell Institute mailing lists, r/latterdaysaints)
- 20–30 LDS content creators (smaller ones who will engage deeply, not just post)
- 20–30 serious Come Follow Me students identified through podcast communities
What they get:
- Free lifetime Scholar access in exchange for a 90-day commitment to weekly feedback
- First look at features as they ship
- Named acknowledgment in the app's "Thank You" credits
- Input into the design of features they care most about
What you get:
- Real-world usage data from motivated users
- Testimonials and screenshots from genuine use
- A 200-person word-of-mouth network primed to talk about GospeLib at launch
- Identification of critical issues before public launch
How to recruit: Personal emails to faculty contacts at BYU. Posts in FAIR Forum and Maxwell Institute mailing lists with an honest description of the product. Direct messages to smaller LDS content creators. Reddit post in r/latterdaysaints framed as "Looking for serious scripture students to preview a new study tool."
7.2 Relationship Building (Months 1–4)
BYU Ancient Scripture Department
Contact: Chair Kerry Hull. The goal is not an endorsement — it is an academic relationship. Offer free Academic tier access to all faculty in exchange for feedback and a willingness to mention it to students. Begin a conversation about a potential BYU partnership for NEH grant applications.
Maxwell Institute
Contact: Executive Director (currently Scott Esplin). Similar offer: free access, feedback channel, and a conversation about scholarly collaboration. The Maxwell Institute's newsletter and publications reach exactly Segment 4.
FAIR Conference
Apply to present at FAIR Conference (August 2026). A 30-minute presentation on "GospeLib: building a knowledge graph of LDS canonical and pseudepigraphical texts" is genuinely interesting to this audience. This is not a sales pitch — it is a scholarly presentation that demonstrates the product. Conversion happens through demonstration, not persuasion.
Scripture Central / Book of Mormon Central
Scripture Central is a nonprofit that produces the ScripturePlus app and KnoWhy articles. They are technically adjacent but not direct competitors — they serve a different depth level. A relationship here (offering to display GospeLib links in their content, or licensing the GospeLib graph data to their researchers) could be mutually beneficial. Key contact: Taylor Halverson, John W. Welch.
followHIM Podcast (Hank Smith & John Bytheway)
Do not cold pitch. Build toward this. Get a BYU faculty member who knows Hank Smith to make an introduction. Offer free lifetime Academic access for both hosts. Prepare a "What GospeLib finds in this week's reading" briefing for 3–4 specific upcoming CFM units that would make compelling podcast content. Let them discover the value before asking for anything.
7.3 Content Infrastructure (Months 2–5)
Build the content assets before launch so distribution can begin immediately.
The GospeLib Newsletter
A weekly email: "What GospeLib Finds This Week." One original language insight, one connection from the graph, one pseudepigraphical parallel — all for the current CFM reading. Free to any subscriber. This newsletter is the primary pre-launch audience-building tool and the primary organic retention driver post-launch.
Launch goal: 2,000 subscribers before public launch. This is achievable through:
- Founding user network sharing
- One guest contribution to an existing LDS newsletter (LDS Daily, 200K+ list)
- 3–4 threads posted in LDS Reddit communities showcasing interesting findings
- Early blog posts optimized for specific search queries (see §9.4)
Social Media Presence
Instagram and TikTok are primary for visual discovery demonstrations. YouTube for longer demonstrations. X/Twitter for academic LDS community (Maxwell Institute, FAIR scholars are active there).
Content series to begin 3 months before launch:
- "What This Word Actually Means" — weekly original language explainer for the CFM reading. Short-form video. Designed for Instagram Reels and TikTok.
- "Connections You've Never Seen" — showcasing a surprising cross-reference or ancient text parallel discovered in the GospeLib graph. Static image + short caption.
- "Behind the Text" — longer-form blog posts (1,000–2,000 words) on specific manuscript witnesses, original language nuances, or scholarly discoveries. Optimized for search.
7.4 App Store Preparation (Months 4–6)
App Store Optimization (ASO)
Primary keywords: "LDS scripture study," "Book of Mormon study," "Come Follow Me," "LDS scriptures," "scripture study app."
Secondary keywords: "interlinear Bible," "Hebrew Greek Bible," "scripture journal," "scripture highlight."
Screenshots should not show UI chrome — they should show the product experience:
- The reader, mid-chapter, with annotations visible (establishes beauty)
- A word tap revealing the lexicon bubble (demonstrates depth)
- The constellation view zoomed out from a passage (demonstrates uniqueness)
- The annotation system with doctrinal colors applied (demonstrates system)
- Live Share session in progress (demonstrates social features)
Review seeding: Ask the founding user cohort to leave reviews on launch day. Brief them in advance on what to write — authentic, specific, not templated. A 4.8+ rating in the first 30 days is the App Store ranking threshold for sustained organic discovery.
8. Launch Strategy (Months 6–9)
8.1 Launch Timing
Optimal launch window: Early January (CFM year beginning) or early September (BYU fall semester + new CFM unit).
January is preferred because:
- The entire LDS social media ecosystem is producing "new year, new study tools" content simultaneously
- The CFM cycle begins with the Old Testament — the corpus with the richest original language content, making GospeLib's interlinear tools immediately impressive
- Post-Christmas device upgrades mean users are primed for new apps
If January is not achievable, September is the backup.
Avoid launching: During General Conference (April/October) when the LDS social media ecosystem is fully occupied with Conference content. During the summer slow period (June–August) when CFM engagement drops.
8.2 The Kickstarter Option
A Kickstarter campaign launched 6–8 weeks before app launch serves multiple functions simultaneously:
- Capital: Target $75,000–$125,000. Achievable based on comparable campaigns (Bibliotheca raised $1.4M; Dwell raised $95K in a less LDS-specific product).
- Validation: A funded Kickstarter is a press story in LDS media.
- Audience building: Every backer is an email subscriber and day-one user.
- Social proof: A live funding counter creates ongoing social sharing from backers.
Reward tiers:
- $15 — 3 months Scholar access
- $50 — 1 year Scholar access (founder pricing, never available again)
- $100 — 1 year Academic access (founder pricing)
- $250 — Lifetime Scholar access (limited: 250 spots)
- $500 — Lifetime Academic access (limited: 100 spots)
- $1,000 — Founding Patron (name in app credits, lifetime Academic, early access to all new features)
Campaign framing: The Kickstarter narrative is not "help us build an app" — the product exists. It is "join the founding community of the most serious LDS scripture study tool ever built." The campaign video should feature 3–4 founding users (an institute teacher, a BYU student, a 65-year-old Gospel Doctrine teacher) describing specific moments of discovery. No talking-head founder pitch. Testimonial-driven.
8.3 Launch Week Execution
Day -14: Send launch announcement to founding user cohort and newsletter list. Ask them to share with their ward/stake networks and write reviews on Day 1.
Day -7: Press releases to LDS media (LDS Living, Meridian Magazine, Deseret News). Not "new app launches" — pitch a specific story: "A researcher has mapped every connection between the Restoration scriptures and the ancient texts that illuminate them."
Day 0:
- App goes live on App Store and Google Play
- Kickstarter campaign launches (if applicable)
- Newsletter announcement with a 30-day free trial offer (extended from standard 14-day, Day 0 only)
- Social media launch posts, including one short-form video of the constellation view and one of the word journey feature
- Founding users receive a personalized email asking for their review
Day 1–7: Daily social content showing a specific feature in the current CFM passage. One per day. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts.
Day 14: First "Week in Review" — metrics transparency post to newsletter (installs, reviews, what users are discovering). This builds the "we're on this journey together" trust that sustains long-term loyalty.
8.4 Launch PR Strategy
LDS media beats to target:
| Outlet | Contact Approach | Story Angle |
|---|---|---|
| Deseret News | Pitch via editor | "Building the scholarly LDS scripture study tool the Church doesn't make" |
| LDS Living | Editorial contact | "The app serious Come Follow Me students have been waiting for" |
| Meridian Magazine | Editor | "Original language tools and ancient text connections inside an LDS scripture reader" |
| BYU News | BYU partnership relationship | "BYU researchers and alumni build knowledge graph connecting LDS and ancient texts" |
| FAIR Journal | FAIR conference relationship | "Towards a comprehensive digital framework for LDS scripture scholarship" |
Avoid pitching the secular tech press for the initial launch. TechCrunch does not know what Come Follow Me is. Focus all PR energy on LDS media, where the audience is already primed and the journalists understand the context.
9. Channel Strategy
9.1 Channel Priority Matrix
| Channel | Segment | Effort | Expected CAC | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast sponsorships (CFM podcasts) | 1, 2, 3 | High | $8–$20 | Tier 1 |
| Organic social (short-form video) | 3, 5 | High | ~$0 | Tier 1 |
| Newsletter ("What GospeLib Finds") | 1, 2, 3 | Medium | $5–$15 | Tier 1 |
| BYU/CES institutional | 2, 4, 5 | High | $2–$10 | Tier 1 |
| Organic search (SEO/ASO) | 1, 2, 3 | Medium | $5–$25 | Tier 1 |
| Word of mouth | All | Low (earned) | $0 | Tier 1 |
| Paid social (Instagram/Meta) | 3, 5 | Medium | $15–$40 | Tier 2 |
| FAIR/Maxwell Institute | 4 | Medium | $5–$15 | Tier 2 |
| YouTube (long-form) | 1, 4 | High | $10–$30 | Tier 2 |
| Email/newsletter cross-promotion | 1, 2, 3 | Low | $10–$20 | Tier 2 |
| Kickstarter (launch only) | All | Very High | $3–$8 | Tier 1 (launch) |
9.2 Podcast Channel (Primary)
Podcasts are the dominant media format in the LDS CFM ecosystem. The audience is exactly right (scripture-engaged, weekly commitment, skews toward Segments 1–3), and podcast host endorsements carry the kind of trust that no advertisement can buy.
Tier 1 Podcast Targets:
followHIM (Hank Smith & John Bytheway)
Reach: #1 CFM podcast, 816+ episodes, 5 languages, massive download numbers
Approach: Do not cold pitch. Get a BYU Department of Ancient Scripture faculty introduction. Offer lifetime access. Prepare a weekly "What GospeLib finds in this reading" briefing.
Value exchange: Not a paid ad read — a genuine product endorsement woven into episode content. If Hank Smith says "I was using GospeLib this week and found something incredible in the Hebrew of this passage," that is worth more than 100 paid ad slots.
Don't Miss This (Emily Belle Freeman & David Butler)
Reach: 145,000+ YouTube subscribers, 92,000+ Instagram
Approach: Emily Belle Freeman is now General Young Women President — direct approach may be complex. Route through her team or through David Butler. Focus on how GospeLib enhances their visual/exploratory style of teaching.
Sunday on Monday (Tammy Uzelac Hall)
Reach: Deseret Book/LDS Living production, active Facebook communities
Approach: Direct contact through LDS Living editorial. This is more accessible than followHIM and still has significant reach.
One Minute Scripture Study (Kristen Walker Smith & Cali Black)
Reach: Strong Apple ratings, physical books in Costco
Approach: Direct DM/email. These are accessible creators who would likely genuinely enjoy the product.
Book of Mormon Central / Scripture Central
Reach: 288,000 YouTube subscribers, institutional credibility
Approach: Scholarly angle — offer to share graph data or provide exclusive "GospeLib Insights" for their KnoWhy articles.
Tier 2 Podcast Targets (regional, niche, smaller but engaged):
- Saints Unscripted — younger LDS audience
- Latter-day Lens — thoughtful members
- All In (LDS Living) — general member audience
- Any BYU religion professor-hosted podcast
Podcast engagement model:
Provide weekly briefing materials — 3 bullet points of specific, surprising things GospeLib reveals in the current CFM reading. This gives hosts content, not just ad copy. The distinction matters enormously — hosts who use the product authentically are far more persuasive than hosts who read an ad.
9.3 Social Media Channel
Instagram (Primary visual platform)
Format: Reels and static posts. Mix of discovery moments (showing a specific feature) and doctrinal/scholarly content (standing on its own merit, not just product demo).
Content series:
- "What This Word Actually Means" — 30–60 second Reels showing a word in its original language, its usage pattern across scripture, the GospeLib word journey feature. One per week, keyed to the current CFM reading.
- "Connections" — Static carousels showing a constellation view with labeled connections. The visual product experience.
- "Your Notes" — Showcase user annotations (with permission). Real annotations from real users in the annotation color system. This is aspirational content — it shows readers what serious study looks like.
TikTok (Discovery platform)
Format: Reels-equivalent, slightly rawer and faster. Same content series, slightly different cuts. TikTok's algorithm is stronger for cold discovery; Instagram is stronger for warm retention.
YouTube (Long-form credibility)
Format: 8–20 minute tutorials and demonstrations. "How I study the Book of Mormon with GospeLib." "Understanding the Hebrew of Isaiah: a GospeLib walkthrough." Not product tutorials — scholarly demonstrations that happen to show the product.
Cadence: 2–4 videos per month. Quality over quantity.
X/Twitter (Scholar and institutional)
The Maxwell Institute, BYU religion faculty, and FAIR scholars are disproportionately active on X/Twitter. Short original language notes, graph insights, and manuscript variant observations positioned as scholarly observations (not product marketing) build credibility in this segment over time.
9.4 Organic Search (SEO/ASO)
The LDS scripture study search landscape is currently dominated by Church-owned properties (churchofjesuschrist.org), Scripture Central, and LDS Living. There is a large unserved long-tail.
High-priority target keywords:
| Keyword | Monthly Search Volume (est.) | Intent | Content Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| "come follow me study tools" | High | Tool discovery | Landing page |
| "LDS scripture study app" | High | Tool discovery | App store + landing page |
| "Book of Mormon interlinear" | Medium | Feature discovery | Blog post |
| "what does [Hebrew word] mean" | Long-tail, recurring | Research | Individual word pages |
| "Book of Mormon original manuscript" | Medium | Research | Feature explainer |
| "[CFM passage] deeper study" | Long-tail, seasonal | CFM-aligned | Weekly blog content |
| "LDS original languages scripture" | Medium | Feature discovery | Blog post |
| "1 Enoch LDS" | Low, high intent | Scholarly | Blog post |
SEO content strategy:
One long-form blog post per week on a specific scholarly topic related to the current CFM reading. Example: during the week covering Alma 32 (faith as a seed), a post on "The Hebrew word 'emunah and its relationship to the Book of Mormon concept of faith" that demonstrates the GospeLib word journey feature organically.
These posts rank for long-tail queries and establish scholarly credibility. They are not product marketing — they are genuine scholarship that happens to be produced by the company behind the scholarly tool.
9.5 Email / Newsletter Channel
The GospeLib newsletter ("What GospeLib Finds This Week") is both an acquisition channel and a retention channel.
Acquisition: Guest slots in LDS Living newsletter (321K), LDS Daily newsletter (200K+), and specific Come Follow Me email lists. A brief paragraph + link to subscribe drives cold audience capture.
Retention: Weekly delivery keeps non-active subscribers engaged with the product's value without requiring them to open the app.
Content:
- One original language insight for the week's CFM reading
- One graph connection or pseudepigraphical parallel
- One "what a founding user discovered" (real annotation or note, shared with permission)
- Brief product update (new feature, improvement)
- One question posed to subscribers ("What did you notice in this reading?")
Frequency: Weekly, same day (Thursday — giving subscribers the weekend to read before Sunday discussion).
Growth tactics: Newsletter referral program (share with a friend → both get 1 week added to trial). Embedded subscribe CTA in every blog post. QR code on scripture cards shared via the app.
10. Partnership Strategy
10.1 BYU Partnership (Highest Priority)
A BYU partnership is the single highest-leverage strategic move available in Year 1. It provides:
- NEH grant eligibility — For-profit companies cannot apply directly to the NEH; a university partner unlocks up to $400,000 in Digital Projects for the Public grants
- Academic credibility — "In partnership with Brigham Young University" transforms the product's positioning with Segments 1 and 4
- Access to 34,000+ students — BYU requires every student to take religion courses every semester; this is a captive audience
- Faculty access — BYU religion faculty are the product's ideal power users and most effective word-of-mouth agents
- Maxwell Institute collaboration — The Maxwell Institute's research output (Nibley, Bradshaw, et al.) is exactly what the GospeLib graph should be connecting
Partnership structure to propose:
- Free Academic tier for all BYU Department of Ancient Scripture and Department of Religious Education faculty
- Institutional rate for student access (discounted or free through course inclusion)
- Collaborative grant applications (GospeLib does technical development, BYU provides academic oversight and serves as fiscal sponsor)
- Optional: BYU-exclusive content integration (specific BYU NTC commentary, Maxwell Institute research) in exchange for licensing access
Who to approach:
Start with a faculty member who is already a GospeLib user and enthusiast. Do not start with administration. A bottom-up institutional relationship — where a faculty member champions it to their department, which then champions it to administration — is more durable than a top-down administrative deal.
10.2 CES / Seminary-Institute Partnership
The Church Educational System operates Seminary programs for high school students and Institute programs for college students globally. A partnership with CES would provide access to a massive, captive, highly scripture-engaged audience.
The Church is notoriously careful about endorsing third-party products. The realistic goal is not a formal endorsement but an informal referral pipeline through individual Seminary and Institute coordinators who become users and recommend the product to students.
Approach: Direct outreach to regional CES coordinators (not Church HQ). Offer a free teacher tier. Ask for nothing except feedback. Build the relationship over 12–18 months before asking for any formal recognition.
10.3 Scripture Central / Book of Mormon Central
A non-competitive partnership. Scripture Central produces content (KnoWhy articles) that would be dramatically more powerful if linked to the GospeLib graph. GospeLib gains academic credibility and an existing distribution channel (288K YouTube subscribers).
Possible structures:
- GospeLib provides a "View in GospeLib" deep link in every KnoWhy article
- Scripture Central researchers get Academic tier access in exchange for contributing to the GospeLib scholarly annotation layer
- Co-produced content: "Book of Mormon Central × GospeLib" deep-dive series
10.4 Deseret Book Relationship
Deseret Book is the largest LDS publisher and retailer. They own LDS Living, Sunday on Monday, and Bookshelf PLUS+. They are not a natural technology partner, but they are the closest thing the LDS market has to a major media company.
The opportunity: Deseret Bookshelf PLUS+ is a content subscription (books, magazines). GospeLib is a tool. They are complementary, not competitive.
Long-term goal: Co-marketing arrangement where Deseret Book promotes GospeLib to their subscriber base (hundreds of thousands of LDS adults) in exchange for a discounted bundle rate or co-branded content.
Short-term goal: Get GospeLib featured in LDS Living editorial content (not paid placement). This requires a genuine relationship with LDS Living's editorial team, not an ad buy.
10.5 Publishers / Licensing Relationships
Several publishers hold rights to scholarly content GospeLib needs for Academic tier features:
Intellectual Reserve, Inc. (Church IP)
Priority: High. The Church's Topical Guide, footnotes, and cross-references represent 40+ years of scholarly work. Licensing these for GospeLib would dramatically accelerate content completeness.
Approach: Initial contact via permissions.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Frame the request narrowly (digital display license for the Topical Guide within a private study app, attribution required). Expect 45–90 day response times. Accept that the Church may decline — the product works without these, and original alternatives can be built.
Oxford University Press (Milik's Books of Enoch)
Priority: Medium (Phase 2). The Charles 1913 translation is available for Phase 1; Milik's 1976 translation is the scholarly standard.
Approach: Academic digital licensing inquiry through Oxford University Press's permissions department.
Hendrickson Publishers (Charlesworth OT Pseudepigrapha)
Priority: Medium (Phase 2). The standard scholarly collection of OT pseudepigrapha.
Approach: Direct licensing inquiry. Hendrickson is generally receptive to digital academic licensing.
BYU Studies (BYU New Testament Commentary)
Priority: High for Academic tier. The BYU NTC is the most significant LDS-oriented New Testament commentary in existence.
Approach: Through the BYU partnership relationship. Frame as an institutional arrangement — BYU Studies licenses to GospeLib in exchange for revenue sharing, with GospeLib providing the distribution platform.
11. Content & Community
11.1 The GospeLib Blog
The blog is the primary SEO content engine and the scholarly credibility signal. It should read like Lawfare for LDS scripture scholarship — serious, specific, accessible to non-academics.
Content categories:
Original Language Insights — One per week. "What does 'light' mean in Genesis 1:3 and what does it tell us about 'let there be light'?" These rank for long-tail Hebrew/Greek queries and demonstrate product capability.
Manuscript Notes — Monthly. Deep dives into specific Book of Mormon manuscript variants, their scholarly significance, and what they reveal. These are unique to GospeLib — no other blog is producing this content for a general LDS audience.
Ancient Text Parallels — Monthly. "What 1 Enoch reveals about the Book of Moses: 5 connections you've never seen." This is the pseudepigrapha content that Nibley spent his career on, made accessible.
Scholar Profiles — Quarterly. Interviews with LDS scholars (Maxwell Institute researchers, BYU religion faculty) about their work and how they use primary sources. These serve both as content and as relationship-building with the scholars themselves.
User Discoveries — Monthly. Real discoveries made by GospeLib users (shared with permission). "A member in Colorado found a connection between Alma 5 and the Sermon on the Mount that we'd never mapped." This is community-building content that celebrates users.
11.2 Community Platforms
Discord Server (Power Users)
An invite-only Discord for founding users and Scholar/Academic subscribers. Three channels: #discoveries (share what you found), #feedback (product feedback), #weekly-deep-dive (discussion of the current CFM reading).
Moderation: Keep it focused and scholarly. This is not a general LDS discussion forum. The purpose is high-signal product feedback and community connection among serious users.
Reddit Presence
Active participation (not moderation) in r/latterdaysaints and r/mormonscholar. Post genuine content (discoveries, insights) without promotional framing. Let the account's posting history speak — users who are interested will find the product through the profile.
Do not post promotional content in these subreddits. This is a community to contribute to, not a channel to extract from. The LDS Reddit community is sophisticated and will smell self-promotion immediately.
GospeLib Forum (Phase 2)
A dedicated community within the app itself. Passages and topics can have threaded discussion. A "public note" feature lets users share annotations with a group. This keeps community engagement in the product rather than on external platforms.
11.3 User-Generated Content Strategy
The annotation system and scripture card generator are natural UGC engines. The goal is to make sharing a by-product of the study experience, not an additional step.
Scripture card sharing: Every shared scripture card carries the GospeLib mark and gospelib.io link. This is passive brand exposure at scale — if 10,000 users each share 2 cards per month, that's 20,000 branded brand impressions per month at zero marginal cost.
Annotation sharing: When users share their annotation layers (collections with highlights visible), they're sharing a demonstration of the doctrinal color system. This is the most compelling product demonstration that exists — it makes abstract features concrete and personal.
User spotlight: Monthly posts on Instagram featuring a real user's annotation page (shared with enthusiastic consent). Caption explains what they were studying and why the connections they marked matter. This is aspirational content — it shows CFM devotees what serious study looks like.
12. Paid Acquisition
Paid acquisition is Tier 2 — it amplifies organic momentum rather than driving primary growth. Spending on paid acquisition before achieving organic product-market fit is a common mistake. The channels in §9 should demonstrate pull before significant paid spend begins.
12.1 Meta / Instagram Ads
When to start: After achieving 5,000 organic installs and 4.7+ App Store rating. Not before.
Ad format: Video ads only. Static ads do not convey the product experience. The word journey feature (tap a word, watch it light up across scripture) and the constellation view (pinch out, watch the graph materialize) are both cinematic and work in 15-second clips.
Targeting:
- Primary: LDS app install audiences + interest targeting (Come Follow Me, scripture study, Latter-day Saint, Hugh Nibley, BYU)
- Secondary: Lookalike audiences from email list and existing installs
- Exclude: Gospel Library users (reached via app engagement targeting — they are already at base level, not growth target)
Budget: Start at $500/month. Scale if CAC < $25 and 14-day trial-to-paid conversion > 15%.
Creative rotation: 3–4 active creative variants. Rotate every 3 weeks. Track which features drive the highest trial-start rates.
12.2 Apple Search Ads
Highly efficient for app categories with clear intent keywords. Target:
- "LDS scripture study" (high intent, lower volume)
- "Come Follow Me" (very high volume, moderate intent)
- "scripture study app" (moderate intent, high volume)
Apple Search Ads for niche apps often achieve CAC of $3–$12 with the right keyword targeting. Allocate $300–$500/month initially.
12.3 Podcast Advertising
Paid host-read ads on Tier 2 CFM podcasts (where a genuine endorsement relationship isn't possible). Budget: $1,000–$3,000 per episode on mid-tier shows. Track via unique promo codes.
Do not buy ads on followHIM or Don't Miss This before attempting organic endorsement relationships. A paid ad on a podcast where you could have earned a genuine endorsement is both more expensive and less effective.
12.4 Newsletter Sponsorships
LDS Daily (200K+ subscribers): sponsored content placement, approximately $500–$1,500 per send.
LDS Living email: more expensive ($2,000–$5,000), higher reach, appropriate for launch and major milestone moments.
13. Retention & Lifecycle Marketing
Acquisition without retention is a leaky bucket. In a subscription business, the LTV equation means a user who churns in month 2 is worth a fraction of a user retained for 3 years. GospeLib has a structural retention advantage: the annual CFM cycle means there is always a reason to return.
13.1 Onboarding to First Value
The most critical window is the 14-day free trial. The user must experience the product's unique value before the trial ends. "Time to first wow moment" is the most important metric to optimize in Year 1.
The "wow moments" from the product spec:
- First word tap → lexicon bubble (should happen in onboarding walkthrough)
- First constellation view (should be surfaced in onboarding for "Go deeper" path)
- First whisper card discovery (automatic, within first reading session)
- First annotation with doctrinal color system (prompted during onboarding)
7-day onboarding email sequence (trials):
- Day 0: Welcome. "Here's the one thing to try first." (Word journey)
- Day 2: "What GospeLib found in [current CFM reading]" — passive discovery
- Day 4: "You haven't tried the constellation view yet. Here's why it matters." (Feature prompt based on behavior tracking)
- Day 6: "Your 14-day trial ends in 8 days. Here's what subscribers get." (Feature showcase, not urgency)
- Day 12: "Two days left. What would you lose access to?" (Specific features they've used)
- Day 14: "Your trial has ended. Continue with Scholar for $7.99/month."
The Day 12 email is the highest-converting lifecycle email in subscription apps. The frame is not "subscribe now" — it is "what would you lose?" This reframes the decision from spending money to avoiding loss.
13.2 Engagement Triggers
Behavioral triggers (in-app):
- User hasn't opened app in 7 days → push notification: "This week's CFM reading has [N] original language connections. Come explore."
- User completed their first word journey → whisper card: "You just discovered how words travel through scripture. Here are 3 more [current passage] words worth following."
- User hasn't tried constellation view after 14 days → in-app card: "You're using one dimension of a 3D tool. Here's the other two."
CFM-based re-engagement:
- Monday morning push: "This week in Come Follow Me: [passage]. GospeLib finds [specific insight]."
- Thursday newsletter: always includes one discovery hook that requires being in the app to fully experience.
13.3 Annual Retention Levers
The CFM year reset:
Every January, the study cycle begins again. Send a "New Year, New Cycle" email to all users (including churned users) with the year's first genuine discovery from the new CFM cycle. Offer a discounted annual plan in January only. This is the highest-conversion window of the year.
Annual summary:
As designed in the product — a quiet, emotionally resonant recap of the year's study. This is not a retention tactic; it is a product experience. But it incidentally creates a powerful renewal moment: seeing "362 chapters, 147 notes, 1,204 connections" makes the decision to renew emotionally obvious.
Upgrade path:
Scholar → Academic upgrade prompted when:
- User exhausts AI session limit 3 months running
- User engages with a feature that is Academic-only
- User is identified as a potential educator or researcher (signal: intensive use patterns)
13.4 Winback Strategy
Users who cancel (not trial expiration — actual cancellations) should receive a 3-email winback sequence:
- Day 7: "Was it something specific? We'd genuinely like to know." (Single reply-to email with no links, asking for honest feedback)
- Day 30: "We shipped [new feature] since you left. Want to come back?" (Feature-focused, includes a 7-day free return trial)
- Day 90: "New CFM cycle starts in [N] days. Join us." (Seasonal hook)
After 90 days, no further email. Never badger former subscribers.
14. International & Multilingual Expansion
14.1 Phase 1 (Launch): English-Only
The initial product is English-only. This is not a limitation — it is a correct prioritization. The English-speaking LDS market (US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand) contains the highest density of serious scripture students, the most developed podcast/influencer ecosystem, and the highest average willingness to pay.
Do not dilute the launch by attempting simultaneous multilingual support.
14.2 Phase 2 (12–18 Months Post-Launch): Spanish
Spanish is the correct first expansion language. Rationale:
- ~3–4 million active Spanish-speaking LDS members globally
- Large and growing US Hispanic LDS population (concentrated in Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada)
- Come Follow Me materials are already in Spanish; the CFM podcast ecosystem in Spanish is growing but underserved
- Spanish-language LDS scholarly content is essentially nonexistent — GospeLib would be instantly the best product in this space
Spanish localization priority: UI strings, App Store listing, scripture text (Spanish LDS scriptures are public domain). Original language tools (Hebrew/Greek) are language-agnostic and transfer directly.
14.3 Phase 3 (24–36 Months): Portuguese, French, German
Brazil alone has approximately 1.4 million LDS members. Portugal/Brazil combined represents the second-largest non-English LDS population. France, Germany, and West Africa (French-speaking) represent meaningful additional markets.
International expansion decisions should be data-driven: which countries show the highest install rates and longest session times in analytics before localizing for them.
15. Metrics, KPIs & Decision Gates
15.1 North Star Metric
Weekly Active Scholars — the number of users with active Scholar or Academic subscriptions who open the app at least once per week.
This metric captures the core product promise: not just paying subscribers, but paying subscribers who are actively using the tool as a weekly study companion. It is harder to game than raw subscriber count and more predictive of long-term retention and word of mouth.
15.2 Metric Hierarchy
Acquisition:
- Weekly new free installs
- Install source breakdown (organic / paid / referral / search)
- App Store rating and review count
- Trial start rate (free installs → trial)
Activation:
- Time to first wow moment (median time from install to first lexicon tap, first constellation view)
- 7-day retention of trial users
- Feature adoption rates (what % of trial users try each major feature)
Conversion:
- Trial-to-paid conversion rate (target: 15–20%)
- Monthly vs. annual plan split (target: 60%+ annual)
- Scholar vs. Academic tier distribution
Retention:
- Monthly subscriber churn rate (target: <3%)
- Annual renewal rate (target: >75%)
- Weekly active user rate among paid subscribers (target: >65%)
Revenue:
- MRR and ARR
- Average revenue per user (ARPU)
- LTV / CAC ratio (target: >3:1)
Engagement:
- Average session length
- Average sessions per week per active user
- Feature usage depth (% using interlinear, % using constellation, % using AI)
- Notes and highlights created per active user per week
15.3 Decision Gates
These are specific metric thresholds that trigger specific decisions.
| Gate | Condition | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Paid acceleration | CAC < $25 AND trial conversion > 15% | Increase paid acquisition budget |
| Spanish localization | >5% of installs from Spanish-speaking countries OR 500+ active Spanish-speaking subscribers | Begin Phase 2 localization |
| Institutional pricing | >10 educators requesting institutional pricing in a 30-day period | Build institutional tier and admin tools |
| BYU partnership formalization | >500 active BYU student users | Approach BYU administration with formalization proposal |
| Academic tier launch | Scholar base > 5,000 subscribers | Launch Academic tier (was in beta) |
| Print product development | >1,000 Scholar subscribers AND >20 survey respondents express interest in bound print | Begin Phase 3 print product development |
15.4 What Not to Measure
Downloads: Downloads are a vanity metric. An app with 500,000 downloads and 1% weekly active rate is underperforming an app with 50,000 downloads and 60% weekly active rate. Never lead with download counts in investor materials or press.
Social media followers: A lagging indicator of content quality. Followers do not pay for subscriptions. Track social content performance by trial-start rate, not follower count.
App Store rank: A useful diagnostic but not a KPI. It fluctuates based on factors outside product control.
16. Phased Roadmap & Timeline
Phase 0: Foundation (Months 0–3)
Product: Core reader, annotation system, basic search, CFM integration. Free tier fully functional.
GTM:
- Founding user program recruitment (200–500 users)
- Newsletter launch and initial 500 subscribers
- BYU/Maxwell Institute relationship building begins
- Social media presence established (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube)
- App Store listing optimized
- Kickstarter planning and campaign asset creation
Goal: 500 engaged founding users. Newsletter at 1,000 subscribers. App Store assets polished.
Phase 1: Pre-Launch Build (Months 3–6)
Product: Scholar features (interlinear, manuscripts, constellation, Clarke commentary, pseudepigrapha, AI). Freemium model live with founding users.
GTM:
- Newsletter at 2,000 subscribers
- 3 months of weekly social content published
- BYU relationship formalized (faculty access, student pilot)
- followHIM relationship initiated
- FAIR Conference presentation submitted
- Kickstarter campaign prepared (goes live Month 5 or 6)
- Press outreach begins (LDS Living, Deseret News, Meridian Magazine)
Goal: 2,000 newsletter subscribers. 3 podcast relationships initiated. App Store 4.8+ from founding users.
Phase 2: Launch (Months 6–9)
Product: Public launch. All Scholar features stable. Academic tier in beta for founding users. Live Share MVP.
GTM:
- Kickstarter campaign live (target: $75K–$125K)
- Public App Store launch
- First podcast sponsorships / earned endorsements live
- Instagram Reels campaign for CFM January cycle (if January launch)
- Apple Search Ads running
- Press coverage in LDS media
- FAIR Conference presentation (August 2026)
Goals:
- 10,000 free installs in first 30 days
- 500 paying subscribers (Scholar) in first 30 days
- 4.7+ App Store rating
- Kickstarter: 500+ backers
Phase 3: Growth (Months 9–18)
Product: Academic tier public launch. AI feature expansion. Study schedules and lesson prep. Live Share full version. Scripture card generator enhancements.
GTM:
- followHIM endorsement (target by Month 12)
- Newsletter at 10,000 subscribers
- BYU institutional partnership formalized
- NEH grant application filed (with BYU as partner)
- Spanish localization begun
- Paid acquisition scaled to $2,000–$5,000/month
- Institutional pricing tier launched
- Annual summary feature driving Year 1 renewal spike
Goals:
- 5,000 paying subscribers by Month 18
- $400K ARR by Month 18
- 60% annual vs. monthly plan split
Phase 4: Scale (Months 18–36)
Product: Spanish version. API access for Academic tier. Custom scripture print product development. Live Share expansion (larger group sizes, remote audio).
GTM:
- Spanish influencer strategy (Spanish-language CFM podcasts and YouTube)
- CES formal partnership
- Kickstarter for custom print product (anticipated: $200K+ campaign)
- Institutional licensing to BYU, BYUI, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College
- Faith-tech accelerator engagement (Praxis, OCEAN, or Missional Labs)
Goals:
- 20,000 paying subscribers by Month 36
- $1.7M ARR by Month 36
- International installs >10% of total
17. Budget Guidance
17.1 Year 1 Marketing Budget Allocation
Assumes $150,000–$200,000 total Year 1 marketing budget (post-Kickstarter, which is capital-raising)
| Category | Budget | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content production (video, photography) | $18,000 | 10% | Social video production, 2–3 product demo videos |
| Podcast sponsorships (Tier 2 shows) | $24,000 | 13% | 8–10 podcast placements at $2,000–$3,000 each |
| Newsletter / email tools | $3,600 | 2% | ConvertKit or similar at $300/month |
| Apple Search Ads | $6,000 | 3% | $500/month; scale after Month 9 |
| Meta/Instagram ads (post-PMF) | $12,000 | 7% | Begins Month 9 after 4.7+ rating confirmed |
| LDS media PR / newsletter placements | $8,000 | 4% | 2–3 LDS Living/LDS Daily placements |
| FAIR Conference (travel, booth) | $3,000 | 2% | Presentation + presence |
| BYU relationship development | $5,000 | 3% | Faculty events, academic access costs |
| Design / brand assets | $15,000 | 8% | Launch assets, ongoing social templates |
| Founding user program / perks | $5,000 | 3% | Lifetime access given to founding users |
| Tools and analytics | $6,000 | 3% | Mixpanel, Sentry, analytics stack |
| Reserve / opportunistic | $20,000 | 11% | Unplanned sponsorships, emerging opportunities |
| Total | $125,600 | 70% | 30% held in reserve for Year 2 |
17.2 CAC Benchmarks and Break-Even
| Channel | Estimated CAC | Break-Even Months |
|---|---|---|
| Organic (word of mouth, SEO) | $0–$5 | Immediate |
| Podcast endorsement (Tier 1) | $3–$12 (indirect) | Month 1–2 |
| Apple Search Ads | $5–$15 | Month 2–4 |
| Newsletter (owned) | $8–$20 | Month 2–5 |
| Podcast sponsorship (Tier 2, paid) | $15–$30 | Month 3–6 |
| Meta/Instagram | $20–$45 | Month 4–9 |
At $79.99/year (Scholar annual) with a 2.5% monthly churn rate, average subscriber LTV is approximately $280–$320. This justifies a CAC of up to $90 (3:1 LTV/CAC ratio), though a CAC of $20–$40 should be achievable through the channels above.
17.3 Revenue Milestones and Reinvestment
GospeLib should be cash-flow positive or at break-even by Month 18. At that point, growth reinvestment decisions should be driven by data:
- If organic LTV/CAC > 5:1, increase content and SEO investment
- If paid LTV/CAC > 3:1, scale paid acquisition
- If institutional interest exceeds organic, shift resources toward B2B sales motion
- If Spanish installs > 10% of total, accelerate localization
The goal is not to maximize subscriber count at any cost — it is to build a sustainable, profitable product that justifies the kind of long-term investment (scholarly licensing, AI infrastructure, print product) that will make GospeLib genuinely irreplaceable.
Appendix A: Influencer / Partner Contact Priority List
| Priority | Contact | Organization | Approach | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kerry Hull (or dept. chair) | BYU Dept. of Ancient Scripture | Via founding user introduction | Not contacted |
| 2 | Scott Esplin | Neal A. Maxwell Institute | Academic partner inquiry | Not contacted |
| 3 | Hank Smith | followHIM Podcast | Via BYU faculty introduction | Not contacted |
| 4 | David Butler | Don't Miss This | Direct contact | Not contacted |
| 5 | Taylor Halverson | Scripture Central | Scholarly collaboration | Not contacted |
| 6 | John W. Welch | Book of Mormon Central | Scholarly collaboration | Not contacted |
| 7 | Tammy Uzelac Hall | Sunday on Monday / LDS Living | Via LDS Living editorial | Not contacted |
| 8 | Regional CES Coordinator | Church Educational System | Direct teacher outreach | Not contacted |
| 9 | Intellectual Reserve, Inc. | Church IP | permissions.ChurchofJesusChrist.org | Not contacted |
| 10 | Oxford University Press | Milik IP | Academic permissions dept. | Not contacted |
Appendix B: Key LDS Media Properties
| Property | Owner | Reach | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| LDS Living | Deseret Book | 321K Instagram, 312K Facebook | Feature placement, newsletter |
| Deseret News | Deseret News Co. | Largest LDS newspaper | Launch PR |
| Meridian Magazine | Independent LDS | Large email list, devout readership | Long-form editorial |
| LDS Daily | Independent | 200K+ email list | Newsletter sponsorship |
| BYU News | BYU | Academic/student audience | BYU partnership announcements |
| FAIR Blog/Journal | FAIR | LDS apologist community | Scholar segment |
| followHIM Podcast | Independent | #1 CFM podcast | Primary endorsement target |
| Don't Miss This (YouTube) | Independent | 145K YouTube | Visual discovery demo |
| Book of Mormon Central (YouTube) | Scripture Central | 288K YouTube | Scholarly partnership |
Appendix C: Conference and Event Calendar
| Event | Date | Location | GospeLib Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| RootsTech | March 2026 | Salt Lake City | Attend; network with LDS community leaders |
| FAIR Conference | August 5–7, 2026 | In-person (TBD) | Present; Academic tier demo |
| FAIR Conference (Virtual) | October 8–10, 2026 | Online | Session replay distribution |
| BYU Education Week | August 2026 | Provo, UT | Faculty networking |
| General Conference | April 2026, October 2026 | Salt Lake City / Global | Social campaign; re-engagement push |
| BYU Fall Semester Start | September 2026 | Provo, UT | Student acquisition campaign |
| CFM New Year Cycle | January 2027 | Global | Primary acquisition window |
This document should be treated as a living strategy, updated quarterly as market conditions change, new channels prove out, and the product evolves. The most important thing it establishes is not any specific tactic, but the underlying principle: GospeLib earns distribution by being genuinely excellent at a thing no other product does. Every channel strategy flows from that.