Who has a product built but is struggling to find customers?
Post your URL and/or tell us why you're struggling.
This can even just be mental e.g. "I'm afraid to email people" "Don't feel like it's ready" etc.
Post your URL and/or tell us why you're struggling.
This can even just be mental e.g. "I'm afraid to email people" "Don't feel like it's ready" etc.
Yep, that's pretty much me. I was planning to buy a domain, hosting, and start advertising two months ago but got caught in a loop of no spare money to do so. Add to that the fact that I don't feel my product is sellable (yet, hopefully), so it's not like I don't want to spend money to make money.
Anyway, the product is a distraction-free desktop editor for writers. I launched a website on heroku ( https://bookva.herokuapp.com ) but didn't tell anyone about it.
Besides, I don't really want to sell the app itself, but can't think of a good service idea to be built on top.
Really like the website and the typewriter function sounds amazing :D
Thank you! The typewriter function was one of the easiest to add but I really like it too, and I use it often when I write.
I think at this stage you are sabotaging your own creation. Softly release it as an alpha and get as much feedback as possible. People will not expect much from Alpha, yet you will get valuable data and input.
Downloading now :)
Have you thought about putting this on the Mac App Store?
I might. Gotta look into it closer.
You just told someone! Congrats :)
hi Alex. That looks really good! Like others have mentioned, App Store would be a great place to get started. good luck!
I agree with what everyone has said insofar as this is more sellable than you might be giving it credit for.. writers are only going to be judging your software on whether it does what it advertises it will do. I would imagine the differentiators between you and other providers would be non-technical attributes like marketing and design.
I'm working on something similar. We should connect.
SELL IT!!!!
It looks good. I like the idea of the typewriter mode and would take it a step further to have two basic modes: write and edit. I do a lot of writing in word and the most annoying thing is seeing the blue and red squiggly lines showing my errors when I'm trying to get something on paper. I know there's a way to turn that off, but I'd like to get stuff down, then go back and see my grammar errors.
I had a similar idea about separate modes for write/edit. Would be lovely to get something like Grammarly going in the edit mode, helping with complex grammatical mistakes.
Seems like a great idea! love the typewriter function to force you to write on. Is there a pricing model?
"Add to that the fact that I don't feel my product is sellable" - You may be overestimating what it takes to have a sellable product. Not everyone needs all the features that your competitors offer. Some people are just looking for a simple writing app that looks good. Nice work, good luck!
I find myself in an interesting spot where the MRR is interesting level to continue development (€2K/MRR) but haven't been able to properly market what it is, and 305 users after a successful launch) and have been putting off doing that because I'm in the middle of refactoring from the MVP to a more stable product. Users are growing each month, and churn is low but it's only going up a very small.ount each month. I'm just pretty aversive to market something that isn't a great experience yet. Idk, but I'm worried about the point the trend starts reversing. Obviously it's a decent position to be in, but it's kinda the 'trough of disillusionment' I've heard so much about.
Https://char.gd/recharged
If you want feedback (I hope you do :D), my first reaction to the sales page is that it looks great!
My second is that it has no social proof. Even the checkout page has a little bit, with the "Join X others" bit. Throw some nice tweets on there! I found one with just a quick search :)
Of course! That's great feedback, hadn't considered how valuable this type of thing would be. There's a bunch of good tweets out there, such an easy win. Thank you!!
Dude, this is waaaaay better! Way to go! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Hi Owen, so much better now with the testimonials! Maybe you could also mention that you already have 359 members near the top of the page?
You are in a good place right now. If your MRR grows 10% each month is more than ok. Even if it's not, with some marketing, it may grow really fast...not sure why you're so negative about this, lots of people here wish to be in your position.
Hi Owen, glad to see that Charged is doing well. As crysper said you are in an amazing position.
Reading your comment made me think of the following article https://baremetrics.com/blog/long-slow-saas-ramp-of-death, you might find it helpful.
ps: When are you coming back to Welly ;)
Heya @ow – I've come across your newsletter a few times. What kept me from pulling the trigger though was that (seemingly) you didn't offer up a sample of what I'd be getting.
I see now, buried in the first heavy paragraph you link to two issues from the past – move that way up the page. Heck, even stick a big button next to the "Join Now" cta at the top ("See a sample").
For what it's worth, I also pay for the Stratechery from Ben Thompson (https://stratechery.com/).
Keep at it man – you've got some stellar traction for a paid newsletter!
This is great feedback! I had never thought about putting a giant button at the top even though it seems kinda obvious 😅. Looks like I need one on the sign up page too.
Happy to help, Owen 🙌
How did you get your initial 300 users? Maybe that's how you can get more.
www.Visualbonus.com
I can't seem to get in front of agents. It's quite a niche market as there are only 19k StateFarm agents.
I have had exactly 9 demos and 1 sign up in about 40 days of marketing.
I understand that I can open this up to more customers, but I was hoping and still am hoping to get a baseline with StateFarm as brokers/other insurance companies have different rules and would require more dev time.
For the 8 demos that didn't lead to a sign up, what feedback did you get?
https://www.tutilize.com
Targeting private tutors. I'm not really sure how many cold emails I should send before deciding it's not working. I've sent less than 20 (no responses) so not very many but I felt like I was pitching too much up front and perhaps coming across as spammy so decided to pause that tactic.
I want to actually meet up with tutors to discuss their issues but not sure how to do ask without being creepy. While this is B2B in that the tutors are running businesses, they are also just individuals so I'm not sure how to adapt my pitch compared to the typical examples which are usually aimed at someone in a company.
I've also started writing content and even a subreddit to build some trust/community but I'm expecting these won't pay off in the short term.
I also had an idea to build some websites for tutors (£5 per month charge) with the intention of earning trust and being able to upsell them to my main product (which would hopefully bring in a lot more than £5 per month) later. I have one of those on the go now. Maybe this is just a distraction though, I don't really have any numbers to estimate conversion here.
I really just need to get my first user at this point. I easily lose faith in my projects so I want to put together a solid plan for this one and keep going until I succeed or it's abundantly clear that it won't work.
Hi Emile,
Here's a cold email template I've been using to arrange interviews with my target audience. Best to build a big spreadsheet first, with the contact, url, name then you can quickly send in batches and adjust as you go. In the UK would look for tutors on gumtree, at notice boards in a library and linkedin. Searching for local tutors allows you to go meet them in person and discuss problems in more detail.
Hey 👋
My name is Tom. I'm looking for feedback on a potential idea to help with _this problem and this problem. I'm in the research stage and want to learn more about you do x y.
I don’t have anything to sell, I’m trying to determine if it’s a problem worth solving.
Would you be available to answer a few questions and get your feedback over a fifteen minute phone call sometime next week?
Thanks for your help,
Tom
Thanks Tom, I'll put that template into practice.
maybe go offline to reach tutors.
That's certainly the best option but there's no easy way to reach them. There's the occasional meetup but no dedicated or frequent place where independent tutors to hang out as far as I can tell.
i don't know how things work in your country but over here (Nigeria) a lot of teachers also double as independent tutors and they might know some tutors
https://www.billabl.co
I had a “launch” week where I emailed about 100 people. Posted on some sub Reddits, posted here. I got lots of good constructive feedback.
But I only got two sign ups. Friends, who I suspect signed up because they like me, not the product. I didn’t even get one person who thought “neat idea, I’ll give that a go”.
It’s a side project, I’m not too bothered about turning a profit. It would be nice if I could break even. I do think that I’ve got a decent product though. It’s something I use daily to solve a problem I have, I can’t be the only one.
I think my next steps are to improve the sales pitch. Write a blog post about what problems it solves. Maybe some paid adverts (although that will cost lots in this market). A video intro?
I’m just feeling demotivated about selling it to people. I’ve spent my free time this week adding new features.
I think the landing page can be better. Invest more time in design and copy. Add some screenshots/gif interactions. See cushionapp.com for some ideas.
You got some useful replies here. I will also mention https://toggl.com/
They offer a free-forever basic plan and then subscriptions for more advanced use-cases. You can use them as an inspiration as well.
Hey William,
Logging time by adding an event to your calendar is very cool and very easy to use.
I noticed this phrase "Perfect for freelancers who need to send invoices"
Try picking a small slice of your target audience, lets say freelance graphic designers. Build a landing page which speaks specifically to how your product solves a problem for them and try posting this new landing page where they hang out.
How does your website/product compare to competitors?
Why is yours better?
Be honest with yourself and try to do a comparison. Why some user should choose your product and not the others?
If you don't find at least 2-3 big reasons, you'll have a hard time to make it work.
Offer this for free. Build an audience first, then worry about monetizing. I bet you make close to nothing with your 2 customers, so open up, get as much feedback as you can, turn the feedback to features and offer them as a premium package.
my product is excel autocomplete tool at http://excelautocomplete.com/.
I'm bad at SEO. Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
We've just launched https://punch.club/ and quietly started mentioning it rather than going all-out publicising it. Trying to get some early-adopters (then feedback to polish details) before we have the confidence to get it out there further.
That "don't feel like it's ready" line resonates though!
https://www.downloadanysong.com
https://base.run - Backend for your MVP (database, email, user management).
Skip database setup, email setup and the basic user auth routes when starting a project. Jump right into code.
Last summer I started using GDAX more often (like a lot of other people) for trading cryptocurrencies. I realized the CoinBase exchange and GDAX do not trade in lockstep of one another - that is, prices on GDAX differ a bit from CoinBase. That results in CoinBase iOS app notifications for price targets to lag behind GDAX prices. So I built a script that sends SMS notifications based on GDAX prices (hits the GDAX api). I shared the idea with a couple buddies who thought it was a good idea. So I wrapped a signup/pay wall around it and 'launched it'. After several thousand hits (using Facebook Ads, Google Ads and Twitter Ads), i have zero users. i think it's the classic approach of not validating with potential paid users ahead of development whether this was something worth building / paying for as a service. I'm not sure what to do with it now. however, I continue to use it personally. Thoughts? Pivots?
https://toTheMoonExpress.com
I'm too anxious to contact people for feedback.
https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9NBLGGH20429
Also, I learned so much making it, that now I feel compelled to go back an d re-write 50% of it and can't shake feeling a little self conscious until I do.
How are you planning to sell if you don't talk to people?
https://remote.report
I just went from running a newsletter to building a job platform — specifically for remote, support focused jobs. Even after a tough Product Hunt launch, which did bring in a number of customers, I'm unsure how to approach or attract remote employers who are hiring and need a place to post a job listing.
Advice, suggestions, feedback of any kind is welcome!
Intro: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1223963451
Intro is an iPhone app for connecting more effectively with people. Target markets include network-intensive workers (sales, business coaches, real estate) and a separate market for people who want to support the memory... people like me who have real issues learning and remembering people's names.
Initial uptake large enough to give me a sample, but analytics were showing many users didn't engage enough to actually discover the 'Pro' features, let alone start the free trial. This was previously a free trial that led automatically on to an App Store subscription if not cancelled. It didn't get the hoped for traction in terms of % of users, so an update just released yesterday has a completely unencumbered free trial... you just get a free "month pass" without any commitment of purchase to begin. (This was never possible in the App Store previously, but Apple recently seem to have relaxed their view on this and it got approved yesterday.) Business model with the change is the main differentiating features are the "Pro" features, which require either an ongoing monthly subscription, or you can now buy one-off "month passes" if you feel more comfortable unlocking the features for a fixed time for each discrete purchase. (Yearly subscriptions and year passes planned.)
Too soon to know if this will get better traction. Not that keen to spend money to drive traffic until I am convinced there is sufficient uptake among downloading users to make the lifetime customer value sufficient to justify marketing expenses.
I've been working on https://404sentry.com/, a scheduled website scanner for broken links, for a little while now. There are a lot of features on my roadmap (e.g., increasing scan speed, better report formatting), but I'm trying really hard not to build anything more without hearing what's important from potential users.
My target users are bloggers making decent money from affiliate marketing and companies running blogs who care about their reputation. I've been trying to validate 404Sentry with these groups to see if it's something they'd pay for -- I've done some cold emailing, twitter posts, and google ads but haven't gotten any paying customers or much constructive feedback, positive or negative.
Maybe this is sufficient validation in and of itself, and I should move on?
When you demo it to potential customers and try to close the sale, what do they say?
Generally, something like "the pricing is reasonable but I don't want another subscription".
I made basically a notification dashboard for chrome's new tab. It includes email, calendar, to do, news, etc. I have around 1000 active users but have struggled to greatly expand that number or get meaningful feedback as to which direction I should take/ what improvements to make.
Check it out here: http://getnewsreel.com
https://bytesandcrafts.com
I set out to make it dead simple to communicate an at-a-glance project status to stakeholders, whether they be in an internal product organization or external clients by aggregating activity across one or more apps (Trello, JIRA) into a curated list.
My MVP has a three-section questionnaire (SCRUM format) and pulls in a list of recent tasks from Trello via oAuth. You can then pick and choose which of those are attached to the update you're drafting.
I'm working on several other adapters (JIRA, Bitbucket, Github, etc) before I really want to market the site as feature complete, but I would love to start gathering feedback. I'm just not sure how to find beta users.
who has the problem this solves?
Anyone who has to--or should be for that matter--regularly communicate with their stakeholders.
I built the tool with freelancers and their clients in mind, but I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from demoing to a few product org types who communicate regular status updates on their products to internal stakeholders.
I do. My product is a bit controversial. And not just that, I introduced an agressive pay wall. So I am fixing that in the next version.
Hi, I have built KiboPush http://kibopush.com/ , a messenger marketing tool but now I am struggling to get the early adopters. there are several strategies I am considering right now which also include Facebook Ads and Google Adwords. I already have a pretty good idea of what my target audience is, let me know what are your opinions on using paid ads to get some early adopters, is there any better way than this?
Interesting product just been getting my head around messenger bots and they look very powerful. I'd love to know more about your product and why it might be a better platform than something like ManyChat. You say you know who your ideal audience is could you share more about this? One thing I did try to look at was P
pricing but I couldn't see any info about this anywhere.
We are offering our product for free to initial users who will serve as beta testers. We are targeting three market segments e-commerce, publishers/bloggers/writers and political parties.
Would love to chat with you some more if that's ok? I definitely think e-commerce should be using bots more. This area really interests me and I don't know if I can provide you with some feedback to help improve the product.
Elliott that would be amazing, we are looking for early adopters who can give us useful feedback and we are willing to offer them our services for free lifetime, here is my email dayemsiddiqui@gmail.com . Feel free to contact me, also I can also give you a demo of the product on hangouts or skype if you dont mind :) .
I'll drop you an email shortly :)
Thanks :) !!!
Is your target audiences users or businesses? What about marketplace ads for personal items?
Our ecommerce and political party target segment is B2B while for publishers and bloggers it can be both B2C for individual writers and B2B for publishers like Techcrunch and Wall Street Journal