One of the biggest hoops a startup has to jump through is getting your first 100 users. Share how you got there to give other people to inspiration/ideas on what they should do!
The first 10 users absolutely come from your network. If you don't know people that your product helps, then go to networking events and build a solid relationship with them (before even asking for feedback on your product). You literally want to know what their biggest problem is.
If you answer is - like mine used to be for my previous company - that they have a big problem that I am solving, but they are too busy / are unaware of it, etc then you have a problem. We had people writing love letters to us about our product, but most people - even in my network - had a lot of excuses as to why they did not use our product.
Once you get those solid 10 users - then talk to them and understand how the product is making a difference for them. Use those insights to reach out to more people and - in a nonscalable way - get the next 10 people. I would keep doing the same, making things gradually more scalable, till I got the 100 people, along with an incredible amount of insight into your users and how the product helps them.
One of the biggest hoops a startup has to jump through is getting your first 100 users.
No. That is a 2010's era truth.
These days getting the first 100 is nothing; the world is full of indie-app-friendly channels like PH/HN/Reddit/FB, plus general fetishism towards apps/SaaS. Ooh, I need to shit, can you recommend me a SaaS for taking a shit?
The hard part is retaining your 100 users, converting them to champions and finding sustainable growth to 1000 and 10000 and beyond.
FB and Reddit for domain-specific stuff - not general new-app promo like PH and HN). So if you make an app for changing diapers, then find FB groups and Reddit subs for new moms/dads.
Plus depending on group/sub you may need to tone down your approach from a blatant fly-by-shooter promo to participating and talking about your stuff where applicable.
Ah. Yeah, that's basically one of the approaches I'm taking with my app. It's a recipe organizer so I'm participating in cooking related FB groups. Not really being promotey at this point.
My FB cover image is an ad for my app with a CTA. So, if someone hovers over my photo they'll see it.
Talking about it in front of people. We all know 100 people I think. If not, it's fairly easy and fun to think up ways we can meet 100 people. I think forget about the "100 users" language. Set a goal of talking about this said startup to 100 people in a meaningful way.
The north star metric for my passion project Zlides is number of downloads.
I spent 2 weeks to build up the brand, landing page, and other marketing automation processes. I allocated 1 hour per day to grow from 0 to 100 downloads in 4 weeks (Aug 2019) without any paid ads.
This is what I did for a daily and weekly routine.
Instagram content: every 2 days
Pinterest: 30 targeted pin per week
Quora contribution: 3 answers per week
Direct emails to niche community: 10 per week
and some other small fix + listings
Instagram is my major referral source so far. It's very important to measure your traffic and set up a goal for referral sources. @Garberchov
The first 10 users absolutely come from your network. If you don't know people that your product helps, then go to networking events and build a solid relationship with them (before even asking for feedback on your product). You literally want to know what their biggest problem is.
If you answer is - like mine used to be for my previous company - that they have a big problem that I am solving, but they are too busy / are unaware of it, etc then you have a problem. We had people writing love letters to us about our product, but most people - even in my network - had a lot of excuses as to why they did not use our product.
Once you get those solid 10 users - then talk to them and understand how the product is making a difference for them. Use those insights to reach out to more people and - in a nonscalable way - get the next 10 people. I would keep doing the same, making things gradually more scalable, till I got the 100 people, along with an incredible amount of insight into your users and how the product helps them.
No. That is a 2010's era truth.
These days getting the first 100 is nothing; the world is full of indie-app-friendly channels like PH/HN/Reddit/FB, plus general fetishism towards apps/SaaS. Ooh, I need to shit, can you recommend me a SaaS for taking a shit?
The hard part is retaining your 100 users, converting them to champions and finding sustainable growth to 1000 and 10000 and beyond.
app-friendly FB channels? Do tell.
FB and Reddit for domain-specific stuff - not general new-app promo like PH and HN). So if you make an app for changing diapers, then find FB groups and Reddit subs for new moms/dads.
Plus depending on group/sub you may need to tone down your approach from a blatant fly-by-shooter promo to participating and talking about your stuff where applicable.
Ah. Yeah, that's basically one of the approaches I'm taking with my app. It's a recipe organizer so I'm participating in cooking related FB groups. Not really being promotey at this point.
My FB cover image is an ad for my app with a CTA. So, if someone hovers over my photo they'll see it.
Talking about it in front of people. We all know 100 people I think. If not, it's fairly easy and fun to think up ways we can meet 100 people. I think forget about the "100 users" language. Set a goal of talking about this said startup to 100 people in a meaningful way.
The north star metric for my passion project Zlides is number of downloads.
I spent 2 weeks to build up the brand, landing page, and other marketing automation processes. I allocated 1 hour per day to grow from 0 to 100 downloads in 4 weeks (Aug 2019) without any paid ads.
This is what I did for a daily and weekly routine.
Instagram is my major referral source so far. It's very important to measure your traffic and set up a goal for referral sources. @Garberchov