How do you validate ideas with a high upfront time cost?
I've been building and publicizing my idea on various websites and lists, but I've been having trouble getting anyone to try it out and give me feedback.
For reference, I'm building a visual React editor (crylic.io). I've been able to attract over 100 downloads, but it doesn't seem like this product sticks. From what I've seen, people usually open the app, play around with it for an hour or so, then close it - never to be opened again.
One major issue I can think of is that it's a complex product than can require time to properly learn and set up (also since it's in alpha there can easily be bugs). I've tried adding plenty of documentation, tutorials, in-app tours, and help channels with limited success. Is there any advice on how to get proper validation for an idea like this?
Been there. That's why you make them buy for $20+ first. This way you have fewer users, but they are way more committed than such freebies. Can help you get to 3K MRR in 6 months by finding the right user acquisition strategy, just dm me on twitter.
Hi @saswat,
I think you need some inspection of those initial users. It could be a lot of different things that caused them to stop, maybe it worked for their immediate task and they don't need it anymore, maybe they were not the right users, maybe they were a friend/family member "throwing you a bone".
If you have access to contact these 100 users, I would suggest you reach out to them and
If you don't have access to speak with them, I'd suggest priotiziing building some way to get back in touch with them first and then do this inspection. Could be something simple like a user registration (passwordless, that just sends you their email).
I hope this helps, best of luck!
Phil
Thanks for the advice Phil! I actually had an email-gated waitlist initially, but didn't get any response with emails unfortunately. Because of this I created a Discord server which I hoped would allow more direct interaction, but very few people joined. You're probably right in that I'm not reaching out to the correct group of users that really need a solution like this, I'll see what I can do there and prioritize out reach.