consumer-software
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Scorp and the art of outgrowing your first idea
A Turkish social app gave people fifteen seconds to speak. The company behind it went on to build a much broader business around what people do with their phones.
invi Labs and the trouble with inviting everyone
A messaging startup wanted to put the internet inside a text conversation. Its most revealing move was letting people talk to friends who had never installed it.
The Second Life of a One-Tap Wonder
Prisma Labs made a filter app famous enough to break its own servers. Six years later, a paid portrait feature made the company viral again - and showed the price of making AI feel effortless.
Kape bought the VPNs. Then it bought the comparison sites.
ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and Private Internet Access share a parent with a VPN review publisher. Inside Kape Technologies, where the business of privacy meets the business of being chosen.
The Mac Cleaner That Wants to Become Your Mac's Operating Layer
CleanMyMac made digital housekeeping into a global business. Now MacPaw is spending that trust on a harder bet: security, software distribution and an AI assistant that can actually do things on your Mac.
The Photo Editor That Refused to Chase Photoshop - and Outlasted Almost Everyone
Two founders bootstrapped a photo editor for 16 months on family money, turned down the growth-at-all-costs playbook, and built a quietly profitable creative tool used by tens of millions - one Cartoonizer click at a time.