Mini-app launch playbook — Hamster, Catizen, Blum patterns

Top mini-apps (Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, Catizen, Blum, MemeFi) reach millions of users using a remarkably consistent playbook. This article breaks down the five stages.

#Stage 1 — bot + mini-app set-up

Register a bot via **@BotFather**, then set its main app via the Mini-Apps menu. Pre-launch checklist:

• Bot username with category fit (e.g. /...gamebot for games)
• Main-app URL pointing to your hosted mini-app
• Description + screenshots + privacy policy
• Language + region settings
• Telegram Stars / TON wallet connection if monetised

This is mechanical work; expect 1–2 days for the first iteration including QA.

#Stage 2 — App Center submission

The Telegram **App Center** is the discovery surface inside the Telegram client. Submission categories: Gaming, Social, Finance, Tools, Productivity, Entertainment. Pick the category that matches your dominant use case — fitness apps in Productivity perform worse than in Tools.

App Center ranking factors (inferred from observed behaviour):

• Daily active install velocity
• Session length × frequency
• Internal share-rate (users inviting via referral)

You cannot pay your way to the top of App Center directly — Telegram Ads, including ads paid with Stars, buy sponsored messages, not App Center placement.

#Stage 3 — seed-user acquisition

The first 1K–10K users are critical because their behaviour calibrates Telegram's recommendation engine. Two patterns:

**Pattern A: in-network referral** — leverage existing Telegram channels/communities. Hamster Kombat did this via Telegram OG-channel network, getting 1M users in week 1 from referrals alone.

**Pattern B: paid Telegram Ads** — run EUR-cabinet creatives in matching topic-channels, with mini-app deep-link as the CTA.

Most launches mix both. Pure paid is more expensive; pure organic is slower.

#Stage 4 — reinvest Stars into ads

Once you have 10K+ users with positive engagement signals (D1 retention >20 %) and your bot earns Stars, you can reinvest them. The Stars balance of a channel or bot can be spent on Telegram Ads for that same channel or bot — and only for it — at a 30% discount: one Star buys $0.02 of ad credit, while withdrawing it pays $0.013 (Telegram API). That makes Stars the cheapest money you have for promoting the bot behind your mini-app.

#Stage 5 — cabinet retargeting

After 100K users, you have enough first-party data to build retention loops:

• **Re-engagement messages** via Telegram bot to dormant users
• **Euro cabinet retargeting** of your own subscribers, plus geo and interest targeting for international expansion
• **Gram cabinet (formerly the TON cabinet)** for cheap tests in the specific crypto channels your cohort reads — it targets explicit channel, bot and keyword lists only
• **Influencer + channel-partner deals** for lateral growth

This is where unit economics become real. If LTV × retention > acquisition cost, scale up paid spend by 5x. If not, fix the product before spending more.

#What kills mini-apps

Three common failure modes:

1. **No tutorial** — users open mini-app, don't understand it in 10 seconds, close forever. Catizen famously has 3-screen tutorial that loops if skipped.

2. **No share mechanism** — no referral bonus = no viral coefficient. Hamster Kombat referral was 10K coins per friend = huge K-factor.

3. **Wrong monetisation timing** — Stars/ads launched before retention proven. Drives early-cohort burn. Wait until D7 retention >15 % before monetising.

#Spy on competitors first

The Telegram Ads Spy bot directory tracks every mini-app launch — see what ads they ran, which channels they targeted, when they pivoted. The public leaderboard at topapps.tg shows current MAU ranking; the editorial picks at bestapps.tg show what is actually well-built (different signals from raw MAU).

#When to hire help

Mini-app launches are operationally heavy — 3–5 cabinets running in parallel, daily creative rotation, App Center optimization. If your media budget is €20K+/month, hire an agency. G.Media Agency runs mini-app launches across the euro and Gram cabinets — book a 20-minute strategy call.