Beyond the Install: How Consumer Apps and Brands Keep the Users They Fight to Win

App stores are crowded, paid acquisition keeps getting more expensive, and more people now ask AI tools what to download, buy or try before they ever reach your store page or website. Each new user costs more than the last. So the growth question is changing: it is less about getting more users and more about finding the right ones and keeping them.

This evening is a small, off-the-record conversation among marketing, growth and product leaders at consumer apps, brands and game studios about what happens after the install. No slides, no presentations, no vendor pitches. Just peers comparing what they are testing, what they measure and what they would not do again.

What we will cover

Where new users actually find consumer apps and brands now: storefronts, creators, shared links and AI answers

Where teams are moving budget as paid acquisition gets more expensive

The first session, first week and first month, and what decides whether a user stays

Spotting a change in user behavior fast enough to act on it, and what AI is changing about that

Showing a CEO or board that retention, not just installs, is driving revenue

Who should attend

CMOs and VPs of Marketing, Heads of Growth and Product Growth leaders, Lifecycle and Retention leaders, and Data and Analytics leaders at Bay Area consumer apps, marketplaces, games and consumer brands.

The evening

5:30 PM Arrival, food and drinks

5:50 PM Panel discussion

6:30 PM Open Q&A

6:45 PM Networking

7:30 PM Close

Panel

Dan Usedom, Founding GTM, ThinkingAI (Moderator)

Markiesha Patrice, Head of Startup Platform & Community, Nebius

Sina Farzaneh, VP of Marketing, TrueNAS

Laura Fu, Head of GTM Development, DevRev

Hosts

Murray Newlands, CEO, Open Future Forum

Yvonne Newlands, Chief Business Officer, Open Future Forum

Meena Karnani, Director of Partnerships and Events, ThinkingAI

Dan Usedom, Founding GTM, ThinkingAI

Harsha Vankayalapati, CEO and Co-Founder, AgentWeb

About Open Future Forum

Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley in 2019, creating spaces where leaders expand what’s possible. Through Forum Select, its private gatherings, and Forum Events, its open panels, it brings executives together to build relationships, exchange ideas and learn from peers. It runs series for C-suite leaders (CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs and General Counsel), investors (VC and Private Equity), and builders (YC Founders and AI Leaders). Open Future Forum also publishes original research based on first-party surveys and insights from its community. Learn more at openfutureforum.com.

Our Partners

ThinkingAIThinkingAI helps consumer apps and brands hold on to the users they have worked hard to acquire. Its AI agents spot changes in live user behavior and recommend the fix before users leave, with people approving every decision. Trusted by more than 1,500 companies worldwide.

AgentWebAgentWeb is the company behind Emma, an AI marketing operator that helps teams research audiences, create campaigns, generate content, and manage lead follow-up while keeping marketers in control of strategy and brand.