Early traction growth hacks/perception hacking
Hi guys, long time supporter but only recently signed up and also first post :)
I wanted to ask the community about early traction growth hacks on a small budget.
Anyone able to share any hacks? In addition, I say "perception hacking" for being able to make your company look bigger than what we are. I'd be keen to know if anyone has any ideas to do this in a digital capacity. I hope I make sense :)
Any answers would be greatly appreciated.
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It's pretty easy to make a company look big - just throw up some logos and call yourself a CEO and your buddy the CTO. However, everyone does this, and it's kinda easy to spot - I would suggest taking a step back and being up front about the size would get you a lot farther.
We decided to be totally transparent in our company. Having only three full time employees doesn't seem to stop large (or even enterprise level) companies from wanting to work with us!
Totally agree with the above + good advice! I think it's more of the 'trust' with people's financial data that normally having 2 guys behind the work might not be seen as ideal, but I'm all for transparency (and important value I hold) and can definitely work in our favour if communicated/angled properly.
That makes total sense! For a fintech startup I would place more emphasis on certifications/credentials/security processes you employ, as well as overall solid branding and design. Look & feel is super underrated and goes a long way towards trust.
Yeah totally agree thanks for that. Certification wise have to look into our circumstance. Design and branding go a long way too and we are improving a few things which is also great :)
Hey Dan, can you tell us more about the kind of service(s) you are offering? This would make it easier to dial in solutions. For example, if you are a consultant you could use a scheduling automation solution to appear more professional, and use features like "make me look busy" to block out times in your schedule, so it's not wide open.
Yeah man! Predictive analysis/scenario management financial tool for business owners and anyone who works in startups. It's called flowyse: https://www.flowyse.com/
We want to make numbers super simple. In many ways big stretch goal is becoming a canva for numbers and ultimately people ditching the spreadsheets.
I like the angle you have above. "Send a calendly" link or "book in a time when most suits you" using calendly. Good idea!
Right on, I checked out the Flowyse landing page. The design and color scheme felt friendly, light and approachable to me. Watched the video and felt like the core idea was communicated well.
Would flowyse support integrations with other fintech products, via Zapier or something comparable?
Hey man thank for the compliments on the landing page I appreciate it. Glad you understand the idea and where we are coming from.
As for integrations, not as of yet. I mean integrations to pull in data such as Xero (completed), MYOB and quickbooks we will be doing as well as Stripe. Out of curiosity, what were you thinking around Zapier? CSV exports? :)
You're welcome! That makes sense that you're integrating with Quickbooks and Stripe (the two I'm most familiar with). We use Pivotal Tracker at my company and love it, but Flowyse seems to offer an additional layer of AI to interpret the data and plot trajectory, rather than simply providing detailed segmented reports on things like MRR/ARR.
Oh yep heard of Pivotal tracker before and heard good things!
Yeah not many tools doing what we're doing. We're proactive and not just reactive.
Once we do Stripe + Quickbooks APIs would love for you to try it out free :)
Nice, keep me posted!
In your pricing, offering a hilariously expensive option (or the ever-detested "for enterprise pricing, call us") can suggest that you are targeting that market and hence are big enough to handle it.
Nice good suggestion :)
Just make sure you can deliver (or have a good excuse) when someone actually takes you up on this. People talk in their industries. Being called out on faking it will do a lot of harm.
Oh yeah of course - I would never fake to be clear nor should anyone. I don't believe in the mantra "fake it until you make it". Faking isn't correct. I do believe though in ensuring there's a good level of engagement/interaction which shows good level of perceived value.
And it's awesome to have these conversations. If a potential enterprise customer reaches out, you will get insanely useful information just from their first few questions. You'll learn what they think they need in a product, and you will understand their unique pain points. Even if they pass after that talk, you just have received insider information :)
Absolutely agree :)
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Haha all about balance. Both sides of the coin to consider!
Third party validation helps imo - having logos of current/past clients and partners. For a previous business, the team had a lot of prior experience at big companies so we make sure to show off the team's experience as much as we could.
Hey Brandon, yeah 3rd party validation is a strong one.. including media logos too which we will do soon enough. Good point with team.. even testimonials from influencers help.
Any other suggestions you can think of?