From 10 users to #1 on Product Hunt, here's how it went

This post originally appeared on Blurt: "From 10 users to #1 on Product Hunt, here's how it went"

It's been a week since launching Blurt on Product Hunt. 😅

For the months leading up to launch, I'd been tinkering away, mostly in isolation at the local coffee shop. It's so awesome to have a place like Product Hunt to be able to reach out to the world.

I thought I'd share the results and thoughts on the experience.

If you're not familiar, Blurt is a writing tool optimized for productivity and focus. I'm bootstrapping it as a side project while working a full-time job. There are plenty of tools that allow you to write. There aren't tools that help you write. That's where Blurt comes in. Use Blurt to get your thoughts out then use its tools to help you structure, edit and share your best work.

Transparency​

Taking a cue from Pieter and others, I've created a /open page for Blurt to be transparent about Blurt's progress. My aim is to deliver value to writers. This page will keep tabs on delivering that value. (Apologies as it currently loads very slowly. 🐌)

I'm happy to share any other data you're interested in.

Product Hunt Launch Stats

Over this last week, Blurt has experienced the following:

• 🏅 #1 Product of the Day with 959 upvotes 🙏
• 📈 5,532 site visitors with 2,875 on launch day
• 👀 163 trial signups and on track for 72% trial-to-paid rate
• 🎓 10 student memberships
• 💬 63 Drift chat sessions
• ✍️ 420 blurts created to date
• 🤔 1 forgotten password

I'm so incredibly grateful for all the feedback I've received over the past week. I never could have imagined such a positive reception. I went from 11 users to 171 in just a few days. 🤯

I still have a long ways to go though. It's not viable until it's a sufficient business for me. This is only the beginning and I've got my work cut out for me, but I'm eager. I'm aiming to harness all the feedback and work to build a truly useful tool for fellow writers. I also need work on retention and continuing to keep the user base engaged and satisfied, fixing bugs and adding value.

If anything is ever not working out for you, please let me know so I can work to get it right!

The trial churn is about 30%. I believe this is high due to the fact that trial can be cancelled anytime at no cost. It's great users are willing to provide credit card info to check Blurt out even if they cancel shortly after. I'm okay with this given this was my first launch and I was seeking to validate Blurt's value. I wrote about that decision to include the paywall on PH:

I purposefully decided to require the paywall for two reasons:

1. It helps me qualify my users and validate the perceived value of the product. If there are users willing to provide payment details to check Blurt out with a paywall, I know I have a high quality lead. The action also provides significant validation of the product. Freemium can certainly be a great business model, but often requires significant overhead in supporting non-paying customers.

2. I'm bootstrapping Blurt in my free time while working a full-time job. In an ideal world, I can turn Blurt it into a full-time business that pays my bills and affords me a standard of living. I can't do that without charging for my work so for now I'm trying a more aggressive strategy to get me closer to that goal.

Launch Prep

10 Users

I'm glad I waited until getting 10 paid users before launching Blurt. Getting to 10 customers helped me understand how to package it up and gave me a smidgen of confidence. That took about two months. It namely helped me know how to explain Blurt to others, what GIFs to use and copy to write. I had already generated much of what was used on PH from Blurt's About page which I had been working on for weeks.

Marketing = Building in Open

I didn't do much marketing. I built Blurt in the open. I shared much of the progress on Product Hunt Makers and WIP. I also did quite a bit of writing using Blurt, dogfooding to help understand it, and sharing work on my Blurt profile and on IndieHackers and Twitter. Leading up the launch, I had just over 100 subscribers on Blurt's Product Hunt Upcoming page. I did not pay for any promotion (need to be generating revenue before I spend on anything…).

All combined, I think this helped generate some interest in Blurt. My primary audience will be professional writers, aspiring authors and content creators. The maker and tech audience are not 100% Blurt's probable purchasers, but I am grateful that they are curious and excited to try new apps out. Important to remember so I remain focused on delivering value to those I believe will get the most from it.

Hoover Effect

Also, very grateful to Ryan taking interest and sharing Blurt. 🙏 Certainly his approval gave a big green light to those unfamiliar with Blurt and myself.

Loooong Day

I almost didn't launch that day, but I'm glad I did. It was a long day! 😅 I didn't sleep that night and stayed up almost the entire day. I took a short nap in the afternoon. I was blown away by the activity on Product Hunt and on site with Drift conversations.

P.S. Drift has been incredibly valuable. The ability to quickly get feedback and have conversations is so powerful. That said, it has been incredibly controversial. I'm still working to get the privacy and annoyance of it ironed out, but no denying its value.

What's Next?

530 Users or Bust

More than anything, the launch has been validation of the viability of Blurt. Up until launch, I still wasn't sure! Now that others are using it and I'm getting some positive feedback, I can now really commit to working on developing the right feature set and business model to try and turn it into a full-time gig for myself.

I won't lie, it's been difficult for me to stay focused on my day job given Blurt's progress. I'm remaining reasonable about it. The aim is to get Blurt to a point at the end of the year where I can commit full-time. Plan to share more about that as time goes on.

In the meantime, I just have to hope that I can work on retention with what time I do have and grow it as much as possible.

Community and Collaboration

I'm going to be focusing on community and collaboration next. I've also received a few suggestions desiring the ability to follow authors—may make a small step forward there. I'm also seeing the need for writers to be able to share and get edits and feedback on their work before sharing. Super simple and sleek ways to collaborate, track changes, provide feedback and suggestions within Blurt would be helpful.

Few other minor features on the horizon too (dark mode, folders/organization, grammar suggestions, etc.) along with bug fixing, enhancements, etc. Lots to do!

Business Model

I'm also evaluating Blurt's business model. Right now I've set a goal of 530 users before I commit myself full-time. At that point, I can cover my basic life expenses. I'll be testing annual and one-time lifetime membership discounts.

I also need to assess how teams can use Blurt. I think that's where I can generate the most sustainable business model. Andrew's feedback has clued me into that potential, so planning how that might look now. 👍

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If you have any questions, let me know on Twitter! Would be happy to share whatever info would help with your Product Hunt launch.