Scale That App! - Panel & Happy Hour for #NYTechWeek
Hosted by WeWard
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*◟*Join us for a high-energy session on how to scale a consumer app from launch to global success—growing from 1 to 29 countries. This event is perfect for product managers, marketers, engineers and anyone curious about the behind-the-scenes strategies that fuel international app growth. Expect real insights, hard-earned lessons, and growth tactics you can actually use.
💡 What You’ll Learn
Overcoming the Cold Start Trap:
Tangible strategies to drive your first 100K users—without burning your entire budget.
Retention Playbooks That Work:
Hear what actually moves the needle in user engagement beyond Day 1.
Turning Virality into Habit:
How to shift from one-off installs to a sustainable user habit loop.
Failures First:
Hear the mistakes that nearly killed great products—and how founders turned them around.
Inside the Growth Engine:
Growth loops, referral mechanics, and retention drivers decoded.
🎤 Who’s on the Panel?
Yves Benchimol: founder and CEO of WeWard, one of Europe’s fastest-growing apps with 20M+ users, turning walking into a rewarding, purpose-driven habit through gamification and behavioral science. A graduate of École Polytechnique and UC Berkeley, he was named one of Forbes’ Top 20 French entrepreneurs in 2024.
Makoto Rheault-Kihara: VP Growth at Hopper, a travel booking platform generating billions in annual travel sales, with over 120 million app downloads to date and $700M raised. He leads Growth and Product for Hopper's app and media products.
Ivy Wu: VP of Growth at ClassPass, overseeing strategy and execution across consumer, partnership and corporate marketing. Prior to ClassPass, she established and scaled the B2B marketing function at ZocDoc, ultimately overseeing both B2B and B2C lifecycle teams. She began her career in investment banking and asset management before transitioning to the startup world. Ivy holds an Economics degree from Harvard University and currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, two young boys, and a sweet rescue dog.
Julie is the co-founder of Yuka, a health app with 70M users across 12 countries, whose growth has been driven almost entirely organically. She is also the author of the European best-selling book The Guide to Healthy Eating. Originally from France, she is now leading Yuka’s U.S. expansion from New York. In 2023, she was named Chevalier of the French National Order of Merit for her commitment to public health.
👀 Who Else Is Going?
Growth and lifecycle marketers looking for new levers
PMs and engineers building viral loops, monetization models, or retention mechanics
Founders navigating product-market fit and scale-up challenges
Ecosystem players—from VCs to media—to help your app break out
📣 Why You Should Attend
Get Real Answers
Skip the theory. Hear it directly from the people who’ve gone from zero to scale!
Your 2025 Growth Map
Learn which channels, metrics, and strategies matter in today’s app economy.
Mistakes That Made Millions
Unfiltered lessons from founders who failed fast—and pivoted even faster.
High-Signal Networking
One place. 100% focused on building the next wave of mobile app leaders.
👣 About WeWard
With over 20 million users worldwide, WeWard is rewriting the rules of user engagement through powerful incentives to encourage people to walk. Every step earns Wards, points redeemable for money, gifts, or donations to charities. A fun way to boost health, make a difference, and stay motivated. Backed by tennis champion Venus Williams, we’re scaling healthy habits at massive scale.
This event is a part of #NYTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.
Guest List
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