The Paywall Revolution: How Helium is Modernizing Mobile Monetization

Helium is a cutting-edge startup that empowers growth teams to experiment with and optimize mobile paywalls without writing a single line of code. Founded in 2024, Helium is headquartered in San Francisco and is supported by a lean yet powerful team of three members. The company's mission is to revolutionize the way mobile companies manage in-app paywalls, making it easier, faster, and more efficient to run experiments and boost conversions.

The founding team of Helium comprises three industry veterans: Anish Doshi, Shishir Jakati, and Zach Witzel. Anish, who serves as the Chief Product Officer (CPO), brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles in machine learning (ML) at Meta, Apple, Alteryx, and Berkeley. His background in optimizing ad conversions at Meta through AI is a cornerstone of Helium's AI-driven approach. Shishir, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), has a deep passion for ML, large language models (LLMs), and MLOps, which he honed while working on predictive models for Amazon Alexa. His expertise in reducing cloud costs and improving the quality of Alexa's responses is instrumental in Helium's technology stack. Lastly, Zach, the CEO of Helium, made over $100 million in growth experiments at Uber. His experience in personalizing upsell flows and driving conversions is the driving force behind Helium's vision to help consumer subscription companies double their conversion rates.

Why Are Mobile Paywalls Stuck in the Past?

In today's rapidly evolving mobile landscape, paywalls remain one of the most challenging aspects of monetization. Despite the fact that mobile in-app purchases surpassed $150 billion in 2023, with $45 billion coming from subscriptions, the process of optimizing in-app paywalls is still highly manual and time-consuming. Mobile companies, ranging from industry giants like Headspace to popular dating apps like Hinge, often dedicate a third of their engineering bandwidth to upsell activities. However, these efforts are often hampered by outdated practices that have remained largely unchanged since 2008.

One of the primary reasons for this stagnation is the complexity of making changes to paywalls. Because paywalls are deeply embedded in native mobile code, implementing even minor adjustments can take a minimum of six weeks. This lengthy process involves coding, testing, launching updates to app stores, gaining approval, and finally, waiting for users to install the new version. Furthermore, the sheer number of paywall entry points in a mobile app can turn even simple updates into a logistical nightmare. For instance, one company Helium worked with had 87 different paywalls, each requiring meticulous attention to detail during any rollout.

Personalization, which has proven to be a significant driver of conversion rates, presents another formidable challenge. Customizing experiences for different user segments involves identifying key segments, designing tailored experiences, implementing new logic in code, and managing complex many-variant experiments. These tasks are often beyond the capabilities of most teams, leaving them stuck with one-size-fits-all paywall solutions that fail to maximize revenue potential.

How Does Helium Revolutionize Paywall Management?

Helium is designed to address the pain points that have long plagued mobile companies in their quest to optimize paywalls. By allowing growth and product teams to take control of their paywall experiments without relying on engineers, Helium brings unprecedented speed and flexibility to the process.

At the heart of Helium is its visual editor, a user-friendly tool that enables teams to add new paywalls or multi-step flows with ease. The editor requires just one line of code to integrate with Helium's SDK, making it compatible with React Native, Swift, and Android platforms. This simplicity allows teams to iterate on their paywalls rapidly, cutting down the time from weeks to mere minutes.

Experimentation is another area where Helium excels. The platform allows teams to run A/B tests and more complex experiments with just a few clicks. Whether it's testing different copy, imagery, or UI elements, Helium makes it easy to set up experiments and track results in real-time through analytics tools. This rapid feedback loop enables teams to make data-driven decisions and continuously refine their paywalls for optimal performance.

What Makes SmartSelect a Game-Changer in Paywall Optimization?

One of Helium's standout features is SmartSelect, an AI-driven tool that automates the process of personalizing paywalls for each user. SmartSelect leverages advanced algorithms to analyze user behavior and select the most effective paywall experience for each individual. This level of personalization is critical in maximizing conversions, as it allows companies to tailor their paywalls to the unique preferences and behaviors of different user segments.

SmartSelect addresses several key challenges in paywall personalization. For example, it can determine which call-to-action (CTA) works best in different languages, which features to emphasize for various customer segments, and which paywall to display during onboarding versus regular app use. By automating these decisions, SmartSelect saves teams the time and effort of manually segmenting users and designing custom experiences. The result is a more efficient, scalable approach to paywall optimization that drives higher conversion rates.

How Has Helium's Founding Team Shaped Its Vision?

The collective experience of Helium's founders has played a crucial role in shaping the company's vision and technology. Zach's success in generating over $100 million in growth experiments at Uber highlighted the potential of personalized upsell flows, while Anish's work at Meta demonstrated the power of AI in optimizing conversions. Shishir's contributions to Amazon Alexa underscored the importance of using ML and LLMs to enhance user experiences at scale.

Together, these insights led the founders to realize that while ad optimization had advanced significantly, the software upsell landscape was lagging behind. They saw an opportunity to bring the same level of sophistication and automation to paywalls that Anish had achieved with ads at Meta. Helium was born out of this realization, with the goal of making paywall optimization as fast, efficient, and effective as possible.

What Does the Future Hold for Helium?

As Helium continues to grow, the company aims to expand its offerings and further streamline the process of paywall optimization. The team is committed to building the tools they wished they had during their previous roles at Uber, Meta, and Amazon. By constantly innovating and refining their platform, they hope to empower more mobile companies to unlock their full revenue potential.

Helium's vision is to become the go-to solution for any mobile company looking to improve its paywalls. Whether it's a startup looking to scale quickly or an established company seeking to optimize its existing upsell flows, Helium provides the tools and expertise needed to drive conversion and revenue growth. With a focus on simplicity, speed, and personalization, Helium is poised to lead the charge in transforming the mobile paywall landscape.

In summary, Helium is not just a tool for managing paywalls—it's a comprehensive solution that empowers growth teams to experiment, personalize, and optimize their in-app upsell flows with unprecedented ease. By eliminating the need for code and leveraging AI-driven personalization, Helium is setting a new standard for paywall optimization in the mobile industry.