3 years in. We just launched. Yes, really.
I know startup wisdom says you gotta move fast and break things, or at least move fast. My team and I haven't managed to do that.
We're three years in to building what we hope will be a successful business. We finally (FINALLY!) have a product we can sell, and now we're trying to get users.
In retrospect, there are a lot of things I'd do differently, if we could go back and do it all over again... but hey, here we are. I still believe that we've built something the world needs.
Part of what I'm struggling with is my own damn ego. I'm kind of embarrassed to go back to people I talked to over two years ago, when I thought our launch was right around the corner, saying "Hey, remember me ? Remember that thing I was working on?" - trying to see if they'll give Ditto a shot.
And I'm a total introvert who has done a terrible job of nurturing a network, growing a following, building a community, or any of those things I probably should have done.
Has anyone been here? Any suggestions / warnings / commiseration?
First off, CONGRATULATIONS! So it took three years... look:
Hundreds of thousands of people come up with great ideas, of which a handful will set out to "make the thing," of which only a small percentage will actually get to launch.
I took a quick look at Ditto, and I love the idea and the website. I do have one little critique but I won't give it unsolicited, so let me know if you're interested in feedback.
It's hard to do the marketing thing as an introvert, right?
You can still do it though, one step at a time. Or even, one communication at a time! You've done so here, now do it elsewhere.
Your product is aimed at freelancers. Find them, go interact with them, and let them know you exist! Yes, make use of twitter, reddit, etc.
OFFER INFORMATION - this helps to build good will with your potential users; you can do it via the channels above, but you could also do the same on a blog, making use of SEO to drive organic traffic to your site.
And hey, guess what? I'm a freelancer. I read your post, saw your site, and I signed up! (to what I hope is a newsletter? again let me know if you want feedback!)
Once again, congrats!
Hi! I'd LOVE your feedback - thank you! And thanks so much for the comment - it is much appreciated. It does look like you signed up for our newsletter (as opposed to signing up for the app) - maybe that's related to your bit of feedback? Just let me know if you'd prefer to hop on a call vs. sharing your feedback here - whatever is better for you. And again, thanks!
Great!
As with any feedback, please take what's useful and ignore the rest! I LOVE the name. I love how well it works. But the changing section of text between "You think" and "sucks?" doesn't work well, imo.
The main issue here is clarity, and knowing people's short attention spans, you need to say what it is you're doing, and quick! It also seems a tad indecisive, and it's not very accessible. The text changes and moves too quickly, and it's distracting from the message itself. On first glance I skimmed it as "You think sucks?"
"Hate having to wait to get paid? We do too," might work better.
If it were me, I'd scrap that main header and reuse it elsewhere; instead, I'd use this line: "Ditto is the first payment platform built (SPECIFICALLY) for project-based work." Followed by "Start now" button under. Clean, simple, clear. You could appeal even more, but again, I'm not writing your copy for you, and I don't want to step on any toes.
The buttons on the top right of the site: I get it, I like it, it's nice. But again, it's not clear. There's a reason most of the successful SaaS sites out there have a very similar layout. People are always looking for the same thing:
-Product
-Pricing
-Resources or Guides
-Blog
If relevant:
-Log in
For your "The movement" section, I'd put something like "Our mission." Why? Because it's clearer. You can, again, reuse "the movement" lower down in the section if you'd like to. But above the fold? You need to be as clear as possible. You've been a freelancer... we already don't have a lot of time. And most of us do skim read. We like to find what we're looking for, snappy.
Similar with the question mark - Is it a help button? Is it an email us with questions? I don't know until I click it.
With your newsletter section:
"Interested? Sign up for our free newsletter (would be good to add some value here like to get "tips on xyz")". Followed by single box for email.
I hope I haven't come across as too harsh, I really like what you've created, and as I said, the name is PERFECT. I really do wish you every success, and feel free to keep in touch :)
Thanks so much - not too harsh at all (honestly, this entrepreneurship stuff really helps you grow a thicker skin! or maybe that's just aging-related wisdom?)
I really appreciate the time and thought that went into this, and can 100% see how these elements are confusing. We have a vision - we really don't want to just be selling a product, but ultimately want to change the culture around how freelancers are paid, because we think the current system is unfair to independent professionals. We realize that the shift in the balance of power we're proposing is kind of a big change. So the sign-up form at the bottom of the page is actually supposed to be akin to signing a petition -- saying "yes, I agree with this idea, I'm in" -- but obviously that's not clear. And you also didn't get any kind of message after you signed up, I know, which is also not awesome. I'll fix that this week!
Question(s): did you intentionally sign up for what you thought was a newsletter, as opposed to signing up for the product? (Like, was it clear to you that if you clicked on one of the buttons further up the page, you'd be signing up for the product, but you didn't want to do that?) And do you think it would help to have screenshots and/or a product video more front and center? (There are some screenshots if you click through the "client experience" and "contractor experience" buttons, but maybe that's too hidden?)
Thank you, thank you, again!
And thanks also for the name-related compliment. Naming is kind of my thing. :) Relatedly: I like "Sugarsnap"! I tried to check out your website, but it didn't load - not sure if you're aware/that's intentional?
Hi!
I signed up hoping that it was the newsletter, because the product CTAs were pretty obvious further up. So, I did notice the difference there.
As for screenshots, I totally missed the client and contractor experience buttons! I went back and looked after reading this. I think that probably answers your question! I really liked the screenshots, I would make use of them.
I recently wrote an article about subscription management platforms and I spent a lot of time on Paddle's website - if you look at their site, they have a nice big screenshot above the fold, then a video straight under. Not saying you should do this, but I think it does help to show your product more obviously.
About Sugarsnap: thank you! sugarsnap.digital is currently in development but I'm really pleased with the name (and the logo!) and can't wait to get started!
Thanks for the additional thoughts.
I'll look forward to seeing your site/brand come to life!
Similar struggles here.
Good luck guys!!!
Thanks! Same to you.
Congrats on the launch!
Does your service work with bank accounts from any country in the world? Do you have a list of eligible countries somewhere on the website (receiving payments outside of the western world is painful)?
Hi there! Thanks :) - and I'm pretty sure I just responded to you via Intercom.
Right now we can only support US-based freelancers, but we hope to change that very soon. When we do, we'll support these countries - (we're built on top of Stripe Connect) - at least for the time being.
Your point is a very good one - we need to make this info much more clear on the website.
Also - in case this is helpful, I came across the following exchange while doing some research related to international payments:
Post:
Canadians, how do you get your money?
I thought I'll be smart and opened a US$ account (in RBC), to avoid the fee of that payment company. but what I found is that RBC is giving me such a bad rate when I convert US$ to CAD, that it eats like 5% of my pay check every time. any idea how to avoid that?
Replies:
I’d probably use Wise
i tried... but for canadians they don't allow to draw money from bank account, only to do wire transfer. that costs $45 and limited in amount. maybe if my US$ account was really in US, that would work.
Wise. The client approves the invoice amount and the same is received by Wise. Make sure to provide ACH details to client, not Wire details, the two are different.
Wise Borderless gives you a USD account in the US
Yes, it was me :)
I am curious, though, to ask why fintech providers limit the number of eligible countries? Is it because you build on top of Stripe, so their limits become your limits, or there is something else?
Yes - at least right now, we're built on top of Stripe, so their limits become our limits. It's possible we'll change this in the future, but at least for getting started, building on top of Stripe offers us a lot of benefits. For example, they help navigate the regulatory landscape and (in the US) their system is what we'll use to send out tax forms at tax time. (This is the part I'm most concerned about regarding expanding to other countries - we need to understand the legal and regulatory requirements.)
I signed up as both client and a freelancer to see if this would be a good tool for future projects. But I was not able to create a project or see my account detail. The site doesn't feel finished. Or am I missing something?
Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for signing up. :)
We're 80% of the way to getting Intercom product tours set up, and hoping that helps the site feel more "finished."
I recorded a quick loom video that shows the freelancer side and the client side of creating, sharing, and accepting a proposal.
I suspect that part of the confusion here stems from the fact that ONLY a freelancer can "create" a proposal. The client interface looks almost identical, but the functionality differs slightly in a few ways and the client has different capabilities. For example, the client can pay for a phase - the freelancer doesn't have that option. The client can approve the release of funds - the freelancer can't.
The freelancer can request that funds be released - the client can't do that.
(etc.)
So while the UX looks similar when it's side by side, especially initially, it does look and act different for freelancer and client when the project is underway.
The other part of the confusion probably stems from the fact that you're right - the product is NOT 100% finished... in addition to the onboarding stuff mentioned previously, we don't have an "account management" page yet - that's in the next sprint. We were focusing first on making sure that the proposal and payments functionality was rock solid, and as shared in my post, that took waaaay longer than anticipated - so we were trying to launch as soon as we could, hoping that people wouldn't poke around looking for the user management page just yet. Busted! :)
Heya, I know how it feels to look back thinking „gosh, I should’ve done this, this, this, and that thing differently.“ It makes me feel dumb and as if I don’t know what I’m doing. In my case I know that both assumptions are true, but hey, this is how you learn! 😂
Keep up the good work, your product looks amazing! Best of luck with it :)
Thank you ❤️ - good luck to you, too!
Sometimes I think about the fact that lots of people have multiple failures before they "succeed" with a product. That makes me feel a little better. Building is not for the faint of heart!
Hey Liz, BIG congrats to you and the team on achieving launch!
I feel you .. Whilst not quite the "total introvert", I've got all the same other issues.
Maybe social media influencers who are in touch with this freelancing market can help move the word along. A partnership / joint-collaboration with them perhaps?
There's this lady from the USA who made over a $ million on Fiv##r doing ghost writing and the likes. She's been in the media lately and has been grooming her Facebook group for freelancers to some 23,000+ members. I'm in that FB group and it's insanely active!
More recently, Alexandra F. has started her own freelancer "marketplace" (another FB group?) via a pay-to-join subscription model. From a glance, that seems to be minimal to no-tech involved on her part. She's been gaining traction here. Maybe your (escrow) platform can be beneficial to her user base, and vice versa her following.
All the best. Onward, ho!
I like those thoughts/suggestions - and I will check out the two you mention. I'm in a pretty active "Freelancing Females" FB group, too -- trying to make sure I offer value more times than I mention Ditto :) but it's crazy how often people are looking for invoicing solutions...
Thanks so much!
Great job mate, it's good to take your time :)
Hehe. That's one way to look at it. Thanks! :)
Hey Liz! I’m two years into the “imminent launch” process and it takes its toll. The fact that you stuck it out and got to your releasable product stage is a true test of grit and determination. Who cares how long it takes as long as you got it right. I’d imagine you’ve done some feedback rounds along the way which has led you to build a different thing than you originally imagined. We always say that if we had paid a bunch of money to a consultancy to build our original idea it would’ve totally sucked. We’ve learned so much along the way and it’s had two years to mature. Yours even more.
One quote that, to me, basically sums up startup life is this:
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
-- Maya Angelou
Best of luck with your launch, I’m sure you’ll find traction!
ooh, I like that quote.
And yes - you're absolutely right. There was some testing and redirecting along the way. And you're also right in that this is my second startup, and the first time around, I paid a bunch of money to an agency to build the original idea - ha! - so at least I'm making different mistakes this time, right?
Good luck to you!
So true!
I read back through your post and read again how you were struggling to go back to the people you originally showed a long time ago. The negative is in your head, 💯. I promise you, if they are willing to engage in that conversation again, the way you feel when you present will translate to them a binary impression:
I bet that very few of us on IH are truly content with their work or don't wake up feeling like there's so much to do or it wasn't fast enough. We don't do this if we're unwilling to put pressure on ourselves. BUT, you're at a new base camp now at a new elevation. Take a minute to enjoy the view of what you've accomplished. Use that feeling when you talk to your customers :).
-- KeepCrankin
Thanks :)
That’s a lot compared to receiving checks or payments from ACM via Direct Deposit. 2% of my annual income is substantial.
I’m sure it makes more sense if your market has many smaller clients. Anyway, congrats on the launch!
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it, and totally get that. We'll likely eventually move to a tiered pricing model better suited to people earning more, but for right now, we just had to keep it as simple as possible, and we didn't want to charge a monthly subscription fee.
Quickbooks and other invoicing platforms charge 1%, and that's on top of their monthly fee and without the escrow functionality, which is kind of like "insurance" that you'll be paid. We're betting that for some people, that security - and not spending time chasing invoices - is worth the extra 1%.
One piece of the challenge is that we're built on top of Stripe Connect, so while we REALLY want to be fair with our pricing, we could actually lose money if we don't get the pricing right.
Again, though - really appreciate your feedback! Every bit is helpful.
Congrats! The important part is that you made it this far, despite everything. Hindsight is always 20/20.
And the product looks interesting! I'm not doing any client work right now, but if I was, and I was doing outside of a platform that handles this stuff in the first place, I'd definitely be thinking about using it.
Thanks! This means a lot. And definitely keep us in mind! :)