From 0 to 5,000 - Growing a side project in 30 days
This is how Virtual Mojito survived from its first 30th day!!!
Discover virtual events, tools & latest trends on Virtual Mojito!
Today is the Day 60 of my side hustle. So I think it's nice to capture some of my learnings. Can't believe I'm running this No Code project on Notion.
🤔 Hypothesis
I start with a simple assumption: "How can we help the community find the best alternative to Zoom?" Do people really need a new tool? Why we keep seeing new products coming into this spectrum. I'm super curious!
⚠️ Unbundling (buzzword)
I realize that there are more and more verticalized options for meetings, seminars, friends, virtual games, hackathons, and social gatherings. Therefore, I indexed 70 tools based on research.
🤷♀️ Vanity metrics:
Well, it's okay to celebrate. But don't go too far. Engagement matters. Of course, it's also case by case. No golden formula tho. Thanks to my network across social media and communities.
- Unique site visitors: 5,053
- Social media: Unknown, don't care
😁 Well, these metrics make me smile:
Why? Because people are actually reading my content and willing to stay in touch. That's the biggest reward!
- Newsletter subscribers: +51
- New event listings: +48
- New event tools: +7
- Contributors: +14
💪 What worked:
- Started a bi-weekly newsletter on Substack in week 2 to summarize insights in this virtual event space
- Repurpose newsletter content after D+2 across social media channels. Same content but different design and structure
- Work with contributors one by one to understand their objectives. I DM'ed or emailed almost everyone
- Scout new tools on Product Hunt, Twitter, and Indie Hackers
🙆♂️ Can do better:
- Make my content more interactive and distribute across various channels. So far I'm only using my own social media, some slack groups, Facebook groups, and side hustle communities like here
- Start a newsletter from the beginning and build a relationship with readers earlier. I should have done this earlier to capture more early adopters, but back then I don't have much content, so let's see
- Install GA from day one (I did it in week 4)
🛠️ No Code tool stack:
Virtual Mojito is built with Notion. And I run it with ImprovMX, Fruition, Cloudflare, Zapier, Airtable, Substack, Bitly, and Google Analytics.
🔥 What next?
Virtual Mojito Ver 1.1 is coming soon & your feedback will be part of the launch! What new feature do you want to see?
