How would you grow this - platform for getting code unblocked
I've recently launched unblokd.com, a place where you can get help with your code or help others unblock theirs.
I've gotten really good feedback and started getting sign-ups, but I'm wondering what's the best way to grow the userbase.
For two-sided marketplaces, it's always a chicken and egg problem. On one side, I want people stuck with code, who can post help requests. On the other, I want experienced people ready to help.
My instinct is to first go supply-side - convince experienced devs to create profiles. It's more comfortable for me to do that. I've been wondering though if it's a good idea. I have a hunch it might be better to go the other way around and take care of demand first.
It's a tough choice between strategies. I'm wondering if anybody else bumped into this and how you made this choice.
You aren't worried about getting supply, as you say yourself.
Go demand way and get as many sign-ups as possible. You'll find someone to fit the role within few days.
So it's not entirely a 2 sided marketplace - devs at any level can get stuck and someone might be more experienced overall but not experienced with something they're working on, like someone who mostly does back end stuff getting frustrated with CSS.
This is a very good point! Looks like an angle I overlooked, I was focusing on deciding on whether to focus on junior or senior developers when it's actually devs in general.
I agree with many of the comments. SEO is a good way to go.
Target keywords like: "how to xxxxxxxx", "why xxxxx is not working"
I am not a developer, so I don't know how you guys search for this, but I know about SEO and it's always a good solution. Try to target low competition keywords and long tail.
Another, option is to offer people who solve the problem a kind of reward, so they have an incentive to help/work. The reward can be economic or some kind of ranking system, since software developers normally like to think they are smarter than the rest of us. 😂😂😂 (let the hate come)
so essentially a paid stack overflow, right? very interesting idea. it'd be a last resort for me tbh (if i couldn't find any answers anywhere else or was really short on time), but i could definitely see myself using it from time to time.
i would 1,000% focus on demand. i think that'll be the hard part.
a few ideas, while i'm thinking about it:
you can do things that don't scale on the supply side until it grows enough where the community starts filling the gaps. answer as many questions as you can yourself. if you don't know, figure it out or hire / bribe some dev buddies to answer anything you can't. over time, recruit a few devs experts in their fields to cover as many areas as you can.
SEO. Answer questions for free. Post them and grow organically. Follow stack overflow’s SEO strategy in this case. Then advertise to those organic visitors.
You should have a navlink that specifically targets “For Mentors”
Also, you still have a lot of test requests in the system it seems
Thanks for all your replies! Very useful stuff.
I see most of you pointed out I should focus on demand, so I'm shifting my strategy 100% towards that.
Lots of solutions and insights which, focused on building, I clearly overlooked! I'm glad I posted this.
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
This comment was deleted 4 years ago