Zendesk's 2025 AI Summit is now streaming

Zendesk AI resolves routine issues autonomously while your human support team focuses on complex problems. Hear from industry leaders on how AI is transforming support at scale, straight from Zendesk's annual AI Summit.

Check it out now, it’s free.

This is an advertisement.

Jenni AI: A Masterclass in Bundling B2C Apps

Jenni AI is solving the single biggest killer in EdTech: the 20% monthly churn rate.

Most startups try to build better features to keep users. David Park, founder of Jenni AI, decided to give them more products instead.

With a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $775K, the company faced a universal truth: Students graduate, semesters end, and users cancel.

Moving from a single tool to a bundled ecosystem fundamentally changed the math of their business.

The results were immediate. Competitors in EdTech lose 20% of their users every month.

Jenni AI dropped to 9.42% and has sights set on sub-9%.

B2C EdTech runs on terrible margins until you bundle

Selling a single tool to a student for $9/month is a nightmare. Acquisition costs are high. Lifetime value is capped by the length of an assignment or a semester.

If you only solve "writing," a user cancels the moment the essay is submitted.

Jenni AI realized they had to stop competing on features. They started competing on utility density.

They created the Jenni Group, a holding company structure that acquires and integrates complementary tools.

You might cancel a $20 subscription for a citation generator. You rarely cancel a $20 subscription that runs your entire academic life.

The "Lifecycle" Acquisition Strategy

David Park bought the entire student workflow.

The product performance dashboard shows a clear strategy of acquisition and integration. They are not building from scratch. They are buying widely used tools to create an ecosystem where leaving becomes inconvenient.

This bundle locks the user in at every stage.

1. TinyWow (Acquired): Don't Build a Lead Magnet, Acquire a Giant One

TinyWow is a massive top-of-funnel traffic engine offering free tools for PDF, video, and image conversion.

It captures students at the moment they need to fix a file. It is a low-friction entry point that feeds users into the paid ecosystem.

2. ScholarAI (Acquired): Transitioning From "Writing Tool" to "Thinking Engine"

Writing is the output. Research is the input.

ScholarAI searches academic databases and summarizes papers. Bundling this ensures users do not leave the app to do their reading. They own the research phase before the writing even starts.

3. Citesure (Acquired): Monetizing the Fear of Academic Failure

Students are terrified of plagiarism and fake citations.

Citesure verifies claims and checks citations. It provides the safety layer that makes the subscription feel like insurance against failing.

Scale through aggregation: Owning the entire student workflow

This is the Microsoft Office playbook of bundling applied to B2C EdTech startups.

Nobody uses every feature in Microsoft Word or Excel. Yet nobody cancels Microsoft 365 because the perceived value of the bundle outweighs the cost.

And it applies to Google Workspace too. You don't cancel Gmail because you'd lose Docs, Calendar, and Drive. The switching cost becomes the network effect between your own products.

Jenni AI applied this logic to the student demographic.

1. The "Irresponsible to Cancel" Effect: When you offer $50 worth of standalone tools for one affordable price, the consumer feels like they are losing money by churning.

2. Eliminating Competitors: A competitor might build a better writer. Another might build a better citation tool. Very few can afford to build both and sell them for the price of one.

The "Irresponsible to Cancel" Pricing Model

Students are price-sensitive but value-driven. They have limited budgets.

Bundling lowers the cognitive load of the purchase. The student manages one subscription instead of three.

If you cannot make your product stickier, glue other products to it. Increasing the surface area of your value proposition is the fastest way to decrease the exit velocity of your customers.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

There are certain things women excel at than men. Status is one of them.

2/

Phenomenal tip to automate outreach using AI while sounding human.

3/

TikTok SEO is underrated. Years from now, #1 position will get you 10x more views than #2 just like how #1, #2, #3 positions work on Google.

Rabbit Holes

1. After 15 years and 200 mil this my #1 business lesson by Alex Becker Business

2. Content Repurposing for Social Promotion by Michael Taylor

3. Gifting made easy by Adam Thornhill

What’d ya think of today’s newsletter? Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.

Do me a favor and share it in your company's Slack #marketing channel.

First time? Subscribe.

Follow me on X.

More Startup Spells 🪄

1. Monster Hammering Links (LINK)

2. ImagenMIA: Photo AI for Spanish Market (LINK)

3. Content Repurposing: From 'Am I The Asshole' To 'Am I The Jerk?' (LINK)

4. How Google AntiGravity Buried the Antitrust Story using ORM (LINK)

5. Alliterations in Copywriting (LINK)