Simpl Select: Building a BNPL Membership Business
Tested willingness to pay, shaped the membership, and built its app-led growth loop.
- Subscription Business
- Pricing Experiments
- Consumer Insight
- Activation and Retention
- Product-Led Growth
Vidyadhar Sharma
Head of Product at profound.me
From their time as
Associate Director of Product, Consumer Experience
Simpl • 2025 - 2025
Overview
Vidyadhar created Simpl Select by packaging existing high-value features into a paid BNPL membership. He validated demand before building, then scaled it from $0 to $2.4M ARR with 250,000 active paying members and 92% monthly retention.
The Story
Vidyadhar saw that several Simpl features already had habitual usage, but their value had not been packaged as a membership. Consumer conversations indicated that users would pay for the convenience and access those features provided.
He tested willingness to pay before committing significant product effort. Pricing and bundling experiments, including a pay-what-you-want test, helped establish that users would pay even when a free option remained available.
He shaped Select as an exclusive membership, set the initial price at ₹69 per month, and targeted users already using products such as BillBox. In-app discovery across the homepage and feature flows gave the membership a natural distribution path.
The team paired product-led discovery with email, WhatsApp, and SMS campaigns. Some campaigns generated traffic spikes of about 10,000 users per second, twice overwhelming the app homepage.
As the early-adopter pool matured, Vidyadhar and the team refined banners, copy, and value communication. They later added a transparent free trial and clear renewal reminders to broaden adoption while protecting trust.
The business reached 100,000 members in three months and 250,000 in ten months. Select grew to $2.4M ARR and maintained 92% month-on-month retention.
Ownership Snapshot
Broad role
Led consumer product and growth for Simpl Select.
Goal
Build and grow a paid membership around valuable consumer features.
Direct ownership
Owned the idea, experiments, packaging, pricing, launch, and P&L.
Team execution
Worked with product, design, engineering, analytics, growth, and CRM teams.