From Free App to
$5M ARR in 52 Days.

Mobile Passport had 8 million free users, a 5-star rating, and had never generated a dollar of revenue. Investors needed a monetization path — fast — without alienating the loyal user base that made the app worth monetizing.

The constraint: a strict no-data-collection policy — a deliberate privacy choice for a digital identity product — meant no conventional targeting or analytics. I had to triangulate performance from indirect signals.

I led a cross-functional team of 14 to land on the right model: monetize the existing app at $14.99/year as Mobile Passport Plus, offer a limited free tier to protect the base, and use a 7-day trial to ease the transition.

I drove the pricing analysis and led all launch comms: press release, email sequence, and in-app messaging — plus a crisis plan I built in case loyal free users pushed back. They didn't. Revenue hit $1M in 52 days (370% above projection), ratings held, and the app ranked #2 on the App Store.

Airside had a firm no-tracking policy — a principled stance for a digital identity company, but one that made conventional paid digital marketing nearly impossible. With no user-level data, attribution was opaque, and I had to triangulate performance from indirect signals: referral traffic, app store ranking movements, and revenue spikes correlated to media moments.

This forced a different playbook. Instead of paying for reach, we had to earn it. PR and content became the primary acquisition channels — which meant the quality of the story mattered more than the size of the budget.

Thanksgiving Airport Wait Time Report: I independently analyzed 150,000+ data points from CBP's Airport Wait Time tool to predict the busiest travel windows at 25 airports. I packaged the findings into a 42-page report with a summary infographic — then independently pitched national media and local outlets near each featured airport hub. It landed in USA Today, CNBC, and several local outlets. I was personally quoted by name.

Summer Travel PR: I identified a freelance PR agent, collaborated on talking points and pitches, and targeted national travel and tech media during the summer surge. Coverage included Wired, Condé Nast Traveler, CNBC, Forbes, Washington Post, and LifeHacker. Mobile Passport was named Apple's App of the Day. The campaign drove a 350% month-over-month revenue lift — the highest download week in the app's 5-year history.

Mobile Passport had strong consumer brand recognition — but Airside (the company) was nearly invisible. The existing brand used the all-caps “AIRSIDE” treatment that didn't reflect the company's vision or its enterprise ambitions. The website was a single page: minimal content, no SEO, no lead generation.

As the company prepared to launch new products under the Airside name — including AirsideX, a B2B digital identity platform for passenger facilitation from curb to gate — the brand needed to work harder across both consumer and enterprise audiences.

I identified and selected an up-and-coming agency that offered exceptional quality relative to investment — a critical consideration for a capital-efficient Series A company. I served as client lead and project manager across a 6-month engagement, providing substantial creative direction throughout.

The new brand emphasized privacy, security, and simplicity. We dropped the “Mobile” prefix, rebranded to simply “Airside,” and co-branded the Mobile Passport app for continuity. The website expanded from a single page to 25+ pages with simplified messaging, SEO optimization, and visit-to-lead conversion paths. Consistently positive feedback from prospects followed — and a Series B round came next.