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Companies' dependence on advertising platforms is driving them to seek out their own acquisition channels, which is why a fintech and crypto growth marketing leader with over 7 years of experience has developed apps that can evolve from a user's everyday task into a real acquisition tool.
An American court ordered Google to amend some of the rules governing its advertising technologies and to appoint an in-house compliance officer to oversee antitrust compliance. The court did not order the company to spin off its advertising business, but the ruling has once again drawn attention to just how heavily publishers and advertisers rely on the infrastructure of the largest tech platforms. Reuters notes that advertising accounted for about 73% of Alphabet’s revenue last year.
Meanwhile, U.S. digital ad spending hit +13.9% in 2025. Top tech platforms dominate due to data and integrated ecosystems, leaving businesses dependent on external algorithms and ad pricing. One possible solution is to turn not an ad, but a standalone, useful product into a customer acquisition channel.
This is precisely the approach – one that sets him apart from standard methods – that Aliaksei Karavaichyk, User Acquisition & Mobile Growth Director at Binance.US, employs in his work. Over the career in fintech and crypto, he has progressed from performance marketing to product management and organic growth. At Capital.com, Karavaichyk worked as Mobile Marketing Team Leader and later as a Head of Organic Growth, led a team of several specialists and managed multi-million marketing budgets across more than 60 markets. He also developed referral and mobile user acquisition products.
His experience allows us to view a companion app not as a marketing gimmick, but as an independent element of product strategy. Two services he helped create demonstrate the conditions under which such a model truly works in today’s marketing landscape.
An add-on product differs from a typical lead magnet in that users are willing to install and regularly open it regardless of whether they intend to purchase the main service. It solves a specific problem that arises often enough to become a habit.
“My background in economics has allowed me to view growth as a measurable system rather than a set of guesses. I work across the entire chain, from ad creative and ASO to UX and monetization, so as to build user acquisition into the product itself, rather than just buying media around it,” Karavaichyk explained.
For the user, the exchange is simple: there is no immediate sales pitch or mandatory commitment, only a tool that saves time or makes information easier to access. For the company, repeated use creates a direct point of contact, builds familiarity with the brand, and provides data on which functions people actually need. That relationship lasts only as long as the product continues to be useful.
This is why installation numbers alone do not demonstrate whether the model works. The more important questions are whether people return to the app, whether it becomes part of their routine, and whether some of those users eventually move to the core service. The difference becomes clearer in Karavaichyk’s two projects: one placed cryptocurrency prices on the user’s home screen, while the other helped retail traders prepare for market-moving economic releases.
Aliaksei’s first model was implemented at the project he did for a regulated broker, following the release of iOS 14, which allowed users to place widgets on the iPhone’s home screen. Karavaichyk proposed creating a separate, free app called ‘Bitcoin & Crypto Price Widget’ and led its launch alongside the product and design teams.
The idea was based on a simple observation: cryptocurrency owners might check prices several times a day, but to do so, they have to open an exchange, a brokerage app, or a website. The widget eliminated these extra steps – selected quotes were always displayed on the phone’s screen.
“The first test version was built in two weeks. After attracting an initial audience, the team continued to develop the product, adding new currencies, customization options, an Android version, lock screen support, and Apple Watch support,” he shared.
Crucially, the widget did not require users to open a brokerage account immediately. First, it solved a specific task on its own, and only then provided access to the trading platform. Later, the experience gained from this standalone app was used to develop native widgets within the company's main product.
“The approach starts with identifying a recurring audience need, developing a focused tool around it, promoting it organically, and guiding engaged users toward the main product, while insights from usage help inform its further development,” Karavaichyk said.
However, the user value did not lie in the number of available assets. The quotes were displayed right where people already look dozens of times a day. One user of the U.S. App Store described a familiar scenario: if the price of Bitcoin comes up in conversation, all he has to do is glance at his phone screen, without having to search for the information in other apps.
In the second case, the user’s problem was different. A retail trader doesn’t necessarily need all the features of a professional financial trading platform. But before data on inflation, employment, or interest rates is released, it’s important for them to know the report’s release time, analysts’ forecasts, and the previous reading.
Macroeconomic data remains scattered across ad-heavy economic schedules, news outlets, and trading platforms, forcing traders to manually track and gather key announcements. Aliaksei recognized this problem while using professional financial software during his Policy Economics studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
To address this challenge, he self-funded and launched the Forex Calendar mobile app through his company, Maverick Forge Limited. Operating on a freemium model that provides core features for free while locking advanced tools behind a subscription, the app delivers an event timeline, historical graphs, analyst forecasts, and push notifications.
Rather than directing traffic to a third-party broker, this companion product operates as an independent business. Nevertheless, it employs the same fundamental growth model: addressing an ongoing user need, capturing organic traffic through search and app store optimization, and converting highly engaged users into paying subscribers. As a result, Forex Calendar has generated tens of thousands of downloads across platforms and maintains roughly 1,500 active monthly users.
“Both cases also highlight the model’s limitations. A standalone app does not become an acquisition channel simply because it features the company’s logo or a link to the main service. It requires a product team, support, analytics, feedback management, and constant updates. If the app’s standalone value disappears, so do user retention and organic growth,” Karavaichyk commented.
Therefore, product-led acquisition should not be evaluated solely based on installs. It’s more important to understand whether people return to the app, what problem they’re solving, and whether the habit they have formed leads to the desired action. Paid advertising buys attention for a limited time. A useful product can earn a place in a user’s daily routine – but only as long as it truly makes their life easier.
