No single target. The roadmap climbs the MRR ladder in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md one rung at a time. Each phase has a checkpoint. At each checkpoint you decide whether to climb, hold (run it profitably at that level), or change course.
Rule: no later phase starts until the current checkpoint is hit. Days 1–90 are in 08-90-day-plan.md.
Phase 1: Prove people pay twice (Months 0–3)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | Concierge readings for 50 payers, then the thin web app for 150. |
| Product | Tested chart engine → calibration quiz → rectified chart → grounded chat with memory (Hindi, Hinglish, English) → personal daily card on WhatsApp → shareable compatibility result. Guardrails and one-tap cancellation from day one. |
| Team | A paid Jyotish advisor (a few hours a month) who reviews the interpretation rules and the quiz. |
| Checkpoint | 150 payers (~$0.6k MRR), ≥45% month-2 renewal, LLM cost <15% of revenue |
Phase 2: Make it a habit (Months 4–6)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Family and partner profiles, transit and dasha-change alerts, favourable-window requests, voice questions, question credits and annual plans. |
| Distribution | A daily short-video routine (automated from the day's transits), a "real ascendant" share card, referral credits, and long-tail content pages on specific transits and dasha periods. |
| Checkpoint | $1.5k MRR, ≥30% of new users from shares or referrals, day-30 retention of free users ≥12% |
Phase 3: Raise value per user (Months 7–12)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | USD pricing and English-first positioning for Indian-origin users abroad (US, UK, Canada, UAE, Australia). One regional language, chosen by demand. Calibrated life-timeline report as a one-time purchase. |
| Distribution | Community partnerships with diaspora groups and temple or cultural associations (content, not ads). Test paid acquisition only in channels where CAC pays back within 3 months. |
| Checkpoint | $4k MRR, ≥25% of MRR in USD, payer churn ≤10%/mo |
Phase 4: Scale what works (Months 13–24)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Native app wrappers only now, if the web version retains (and after checking store review rules). A Western tropical toggle, if English-speaking non-Indian users show up organically. |
| Distribution | Double down on the one channel that produced the most payers. Cut the rest. |
| Team | A part-time content and community person before any engineering hire. |
| Checkpoints | Month 18: $7k MRR. Month 24: $10k MRR. $20k is the stretch outcome, which usually needs profitable paid acquisition. |
What each level takes
Assumptions: blended ARPU about $4.50 a month per payer (70% India at ₹199–299, 30% USD at $7.99–9.99), payer churn about 10% a month, and 3% of activated users paying.
| MRR | Payers needed | New payers a month (to replace churn at steady state) | Activated new users a month | What usually gets you there |
|---|
| $1k | ~220 | ~22 | ~750 | One working organic channel and the concierge base |
| $3k | ~670 | ~67 | ~2,200 | Organic content plus a working share loop |
| $5k | ~1,100 | ~110 | ~3,700 | Content plus share loop plus higher USD mix |
| $10k | ~2,200 | ~220 | ~7,400 | All of the above plus one paid channel that pays back |
| $20k | ~4,450 | ~445 | ~15,000 | Profitable paid acquisition at scale, or a breakout content presence |
| $50k | ~11,000 | ~1,100 | ~37,000 | A funded growth team. Not reachable on organic channels alone. |
Two levers matter more than any feature:
- Churn. Cutting payer churn from 10% to 6% a month cuts the new payers needed by 40%. The calibration quiz, memory and family profiles are churn features.
- The USD share. Each USD payer is worth about 3 Indian payers. Moving the mix from 30% to 50% USD lifts blended ARPU from ~$4.50 to ~$5.70, about 20% fewer payers for the same MRR.
Budget guardrails
- LLM and API costs below 15% of revenue. Meter chat, cache chart facts, and route routine questions to a small model.
- No paid acquisition before month 6. After that, only channels with CAC payback under 3 months.
- Gross margin after payment fees and model costs ≥75%.