TL;DR (⏱️ 2-minute skim)
Table of Contents
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50 million registered users across app + web – built patiently over 15 years and rated 4.5★+ on every store
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Privacy before profit: COPPA-compliant funnels, parent-first targeting and “measurement, not tracking” philosophy
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Portfolio strategy: new subject or stand-alone app every 2-3 years keeps LTV climbing and churn low
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Growth stack: Meta, TikTok, ASA, web SEO + a heavy ASO focus—all run inside one lean UA pod
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Biggest lesson: treat laws as product constraints, not blockers; they force better creative and retention loops.
Meet the Guest – Atishay Jain (Director of SplashLearn)
Atishay has spent 6.5 years steering SplashLearn’s paid growth, after having worked with fast-growing Indian e-commerce startups and Cars24. His team juggles Android, iOS and a full web product while navigating the toughest kid-privacy rules on the planet.
1. Building a 50 M User Base Without “Creepy” Tracking
“I keep telling peers: stop tracking, start measuring. Parents hate the word ‘tracking’, but they’re fine with us measuring installs.” – Atishay
SplashLearn re-framed attribution internally:
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Old Term |
New Term |
Why it Matters |
|---|---|---|
|
Tracking |
Measuring |
Reassures parents & aligns with COPPA wording |
|
Targeting |
Nudging parents |
Kids < 13 aren’t targetable on social |
|
IDFA/GAID |
Aggregate SKAd |
Deterministic source of truth post-iOS 14 |
That semantic shift cascaded into creative copy, privacy pages and even sales decks, boosting trust signals during onboarding.
2. Marketing in a COPPA World
Operating in the US means juggling federal COPPA + state-specific edtech laws (California, New York, etc.) . Atishay’s playbook:
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Parent-only UA: all campaigns optimise for 30–45 yr demographics; kids never see the ads.
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Screen-time guardrails: built-in timers & email alerts (30-40 min/day) turn a legal must-have into a retention feature.
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First-party data only: no email/phone for kids; anonymous event IDs roll up into cohort analysis.
3. Product Velocity > Virality
SplashLearn ships a new growth lever every 24–36 months:
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Splash Junior – pre-school skills app
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Splash Box – bedtime reading stories
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Upcoming: Music prototype
Each launch re-segments the parent list and unlocks cross-sell push journeys, lifting blended LTV without CAC spikes.
4. Key Takeaways for EdTech & App Marketers
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Think in decades. 15-year compounding beats 14-day “growth hacks.”
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Law-driven UX can be your moat. COPPA forced SplashLearn to innovate on parent trust, not just ads.
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Words matter. “Measurement” → approvals; “tracking” → red tape.
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Portfolio > monolith. Separate apps let you tailor onboarding, pricing and ASO keywords per age group.
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Invest in boring ops. Atishay spends 1–2 hrs/week just reading new regulations
