A lesson learned from my launch this week
Earlier this week, I launched Tribe of Five (www.tribefive.me) and wanted to share an important lesson that I wished I could have remembered before turning things "live".
First, here is what I did wrong:
I psyched myself up to expect it would "take off". (I don't know about you, but I read about so many products that seem to do that each day that over time, even though I know its not the norm, I secretly set the bar that my product should / needs to do the same)
Well, it certainly didn't take off and go viral. At first, I was bummed refreshing the db and not seeing thousands of new sign ups. But now that I've had a few days to reflect, I'm actually glad it didn't. There are too many gaps in the experience right now.
Here's the most important lesson for everyone who is about to launch for the first time:
The goal for your first launch of a product is not to get millions of users. Instead, keep your focus on OPTIMIZING TO LEARN.
With this mindset, you'll worry less about vanity metrics (# of downloads, etc) and focus on what matters...getting feedback from early testers so you can figure out ways to make the product better and better.
There are over 30 Indie Hackers trying out Tribe of Five right now, and I've already gotten feedback from around half of them. Some people have even written me long and detailed emails that include annotated screenshots and suggestions for new features. I bet some of those emails took at least an hour or more to write! I'm very grateful.
That feedback is worth it's weight in gold because it helps me figure out the roadmap for v1.1 and beyond.
So with that said, good luck to everyone who is about to launch. Remember to reach out, thank the people who try it out, and ask for feedback throughout!
Cheers,
Jonathan
So glad to hear you speak about this Jonathan! I think that it's a trap far too many of us fall into - and that just leads to the 'trough of sorrow'...I should know, my own high expectations at launch a year ago caused me to nearly give up entirely after some months. It's far more healthy and productive to aim at growing slow and steady - give yourself time to improve incrementally :)
It's great to hear you share your story too, especially knowing how much StripTogether is now growing and thriving!
Slow and steady ;)
A little while back you shared the quote, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant".
It really stuck with me. Funny how we need those reminders, when we heard the story of the tortoise and the hare so long ago...
That's a good quote, I need to remember this.
Great advice Jonathan and one that I need to take more - I have an Engineering background so my natural tendency is to build, build, build. Gathering feedback from real world users as quickly as possible, and regularly has always lead to good things.
Awesome to hear, Jackson! You are spot on...talking to users always leads to good things. Make it a habit to talk to at least ONE customer a day =)
This is some good advice. I think I definitely get too hyped when I launch and I need to lower my expectations a bit.
That is a very natural response because you've likely poured in hundreds of hours (if not more) of ideation, design, development, etc. As much as I told myself not to...I still hyped things up in my mind when I launched.
Good luck with your project. Let me know if there is any way I can help!
Inspiring. Thanks for the encouragement.
Thank you. Onwards and upwards!
Hey Jonathan,
This is great advice. In fact, it extends beyond product dev to marketing and sales, too. I remember when I first started doing sales calls with prospective clients for a SaaS i had started, and I was drop dead nervous and sucked.
But after a while I realised I had become a much more confident caller, and it wouldn't have happened unless I flunked and learned from the first 10 or so calls. I wished I had been better prepared to just have asked at the end of the conversation, by the way, this is one of my first calls, I'd love if you can provide feedback to me.
You are spot on! There is a quote I remind myself almost daily: "every master was once a disaster".
It's okay to suck in the beginning. That's where everyone starts. But in my mind, it's not okay to keep sucking. As entrepreneurs, our goal is to consistently level up skills. It's not easy, and it's not always fun (day-to-day)...but that's what makes the journey so fulfilling.
Your insight to ask for feedback at the end of the call is GENIUS. Takes lots of balls but I bet that really accelerated your own growth. Would love to hear more about it - going to email you so we can continue the conversation!
Awesome that the Indie Hackers community is so supportive and that you can leverage the community to make your product better. More power to ya Jonathan! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for your support.
Indie Hackers sure is a special community! There are so many people who've gone out of their way to help me out.
If there is anything I can help you with, please let me know. Email me anytime (jonathan@tribefive.me).
Great lessons learned—
My recommendation is to focus on finding your first customer. The sky is the limit after making your first sale.
For me, the hardest part was getting that first customer. The first customer validates that what you're building has value. Then, improve your product for your customers. Build relationships with them. I guarantee they'll want to see you and your idea succeed.
Best of luck!
p.s. I really like your idea. Don't give up!
Thanks for the advice, Doug!
I love what you are doing with HeyTaco. It's such an elegant solution that makes it easier for teams to bond. Really appreciate you taking the time to share insights with me.
Don't worry...definitely not giving up. This is only the beginning of my journey. If anything, I feel more invigorated than ever!
Cheers,
Jonathan
That's awesome to hear! Thanks for your kind words too.
I had the same issue. I ended up taking a marketing course with forgetthefunnel and really help me understand that it is also not about the improving all the time, because it will never end. You can continue iterating over and over but if no one knows about your product, then you get the similar results again. Start selling. Read the book Traction. Join some online workshops. Spend two solid weeks learning the SaaS metrics that you have to track and improve in order to hit the numbers you need for growth. Good luck to you and I would love to connect as well.
Thanks for the advice, Shar. You are absolutely right that it's also easy to go too far and get into the mindset to improve the product all the time versus just going out to sell.
Thanks for the recommendations. I'd love to connect - will send you an email to say hello and ask more questions since I can tell you are much further in the journey!
Cheers,
Jonathan
I launched mine over a week now, I had the same mindset before launch (e.g millions of users will go on instantly). I'm focused now just optimizing my website (https://www.mijjimo.com) to my target audience and it sort of working.
Azhan,
I came across mijjimo the other day, it's a really great idea.
However, I think you need to charge cash money for reviews and pay cash money for reviews. I.e build a fiverr for feedback, I think the points system is wack.
As a developer, I would easily pay $100 for ten independent reviews. You pay reviewers $8 a review, and keep the difference. At the begining you can start with yourself doing all the reviews.
You have an almost unlimited market.
I'm in development creating a payment system. The way I'm doing this is people buy points which will use to get feedback on your website. This approach you don't need to review other projects. Is that OK?
I think pricing per review in real currency would be more effective.
People are incentivised by cash not points.
Oh, so I should change points to money. So people add money to their account and then for each review done, the money is transferred and the user can withdraw it?
That's how I would do it. Think about it, would you review an app for $5 or for 5000 points? Why create a parallel currency, that's not your main aim.
There's an unlimited pool of people looking for side income. There are also large pools of developers who will drop $$-$$$ for robust reviews. Think about it from the developers side, I can spend hours chasing friends to give feedback or drop $50 for 5 reviews.
You would need a feedback system for each reviewer, so people can select reviewers, i.e you need some mechanism to control quality of feedback: so reviewers do a good job. For example, review proformas - as opposed to plain text: i.e
ease of installation
UI
comments
would you recommed to friends.
There is a feedback system already integrated but it needs changes to it (change it from points to currency).
I actually like this idea. Wow, I can't believe I never thought of this before. I feel quite stupid not thinking this before. I'm going to start planning this out later on today.
I can see it will get more user's attention.
Thanks :)
At the beginning, I would tightly control reviewers, you need to ensure the highest quality of reviews, as keeping the companies happy is going to be the main driver of repeat custom.
Good luck, the real challenge is maximize the reward/benefit ratio for both sides.
That you're getting early users is a sign of a healthy market. Feel free to email me, we're hijacking this thread.
Thanks for your help. I sent an email about what you want (new or changes) on the current version (to persuade my target audience to pay and use).
That's the right approach Azhan!
These are the blinders I'm putting on to make that happen:
Talk to users
Keep making the product better
Rinse and repeat
Good luck to you in your journey! Let me know how I can help.
Sometimes I have difficulty announcing to users the service and persuade them to sign up. I'm bad at the marketing side.
Don't worry, it's a skill...and like every other skill...it can be learned. The thing is, you already know that the only way to get better is through consistent practice.
How about this? For the next 30 days, we can be accountability buddies. Each day, we'll hold each other accountable to do 5 different marketing things (cold emails, posting on Quora, etc).
You in? If so, email me (jonathan@tribefive.me)!
Yeah sure.
Until you have a leaky funnel, improving the product should be a low priority. Your highest priority should be top of funnel volumn. Without some mass, a few users comments can send you in the wrong direction. Engineers like to code, and they can't sell, in most cases. After all if you can't sell it, the rest does not matter.
Fantastic point Jonathan and thank you for sharing your insights. I think it is critcal to remember that launching a product/service is just step one, it's what you do after that and then after that....etc that really matters.
Spot on! Based on your comment...I assume you are going through a similar phase in the journey?
O yeah, every day I am trying to figure out what next is to launch. The initial launch of my ebook + video course (https://www.kylegalbraith.com/learn-aws/) was awesome, but now I have to keep launching it. Not an easy task but a ton of fun to do.
That is awesome to hear. I'm a non-technical founder so won't be your customer...BUT just followed you on Twitter so I can follow along in your journey. Cheers!
Thanks for this. Once you get your first hardcore ambassadors I'm sure it will start flying.
Thanks for the kind words Sean. You are right - unlocking a group of ambassadors who love the product will change the growth trajectory!
I entered to your website and, to be honest, I couldn't even grasp what are you offering. Since I am not an iPhone guy, I can't even try your app. :(
Hey Aquiles - thanks for the feedback. I can always do a better job to explain what the product is...and I'd love your help with that =)
Based on the landing page, what do you think it is?
This would be very helpful for me to figure out ways to make the offering more clear and concise.
Thank you!
Jonathan
I think is an online agenda
is this like wip.chat? I'm thinking to signing up to them, in your case seems like is mobile app only, as I dev I would prefer a webapp, as wip as you spend so much time on the the laptop.
This is really good feedback about your use case and why a web app might be a better medium. Thank you!
I've heard lots of good things about wip.chat and seems to be quite popular with fellow Indie Hackers.
With Tribe of Five, it's a much more intimate form of accountability. You are paired up into a "tribe" of 5 like-minded people who want to build the same habit you do.
And because you get to know everyone on a first name basis, it induces a sense of positive social pressure, camaraderie, and accountability to take action during the 30 day challenge.
If this sounds like it's up your alley, would love to have you onboard and to get your feedback along the way. =)
Cheers!
Jonathan
Your perspective reminds me of the inspirational speech from Jocko Willink - Good.
And you're right, you have the opportunity to dial everything in before scale starts to take form and then you will have an empty plate to deal with the new set of problems you have.
You are right, my immediate focus is to improve the product. But, I also realize that scale won't happen on it's own...so also laying the foundation to think ahead on how to make Tribe of Five grow.
I'm a huge fan of Jocko - which speech was this from? Would love to check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTMDpizis8