Got our first paid customers from an unexpected channel

Totally agree on testing channels, but I'd push the takeaway one step further: the surprising part isn't that HN converted, it's what that tells you about who your actual buyer is.

You built Michii for non-technical people, but it converted on the most technical channel there is. That's a real signal. The person who found you on HN and paid probably isn't your "non-technical entrepreneur," it's a technical builder who wants to spin up a side business without doing the ops themselves. Same product, different buyer, and that reframes your positioning more than your channel list.

I'd go back to those first customers and ask what they'd have typed into Google to find this. If the answer sounds nothing like "AI agents for non-technical people," your best channel and your best messaging just changed together.

For what it's worth, I'm about to test HN for my own tool this week, so this is timely. One data point is a signal, not a strategy though, so I'd try to confirm it with the next handful before rebuilding anything around it.

This is a classic pattern - HN users actually understand the value of delegating work better than generalists. They see your product and immediately get "this saves me time I'd rather spend on things I can't outsource." Your circle might self-select for builders first, not problem-solvers.

Key insight you might dig into: does HN convert because they understand the problem better, or because they're actually pricing your time at a higher value? That distinction matters for how you acquire next. If it's the latter, you might find similar audiences beyond just HN.

One takeaway here is that audience fit and buyer fit aren't always the same.

A technical audience may understand how to build your product, but that doesn't automatically mean they'll build it. Sometimes the people who understand the work best are also the ones who value paying someone else to avoid it.

Nice find. The pattern I keep seeing: the channel you think is wrong for your product is often the one with the least competition for attention. HN audience is technical but they also respect tools that save technical people time. Your circle being non-customers is actually a signal, not a problem.