Lessons From Year 1 Build in Public
For my #buildinpublic, #indiehackers, and 12 startups in 12 months friends...
Google Forms as Landing Pages:
When you have an idea, create a form and promote it on Reddit and Facebook. Get a bunch out in the first month. They can slowly work in the background and you can gauge traction without building. If you launch 24 landing pages and promote them in month one, you'll have a better idea of what to build in months 2-12.
Find your customers first:
Facebook groups, Meetups, Reddit, Twitter, Quora, etc., etc. Maybe they are offline. Maybe in another state/country. Find the users and where they hang out first.
Rethink MVP:
YNAB started out as a $20 Excel spreadsheet. Nomad List started out as a Google sheet anyone could edit. CovertKit really started with the founder writing books on how to build an audience and authority using your blog. Don't think, "What can I code?" Think, "What can I scrape together in 3 days and sell for $20 or get feedback on?" So rule out just putting out a PDF or spreadsheet one month.
Go Manual:
Before you code out payment solutions and complex logins, consider just asking for users to Venmo or PayPal you $20 and you'll okay their login. Or you'll email them a spreadsheet. Before you build user onboarding, just do the onboarding manually in the database.
Focus on B2B, Finance, & Devs:
These three categories have the highest hit rate for success. B2C = "Why can't this be free?" B2B = "If it helps me make money or saves me time, I'll pay for it."
Mom test:
Before you code, ask around to see how a problem is being solved right now. Don't ask, "Would you use XYZ solution if it were available?" Ask, "How are you solving ABC problem now and how much did you pay to get it solved?"
(The lower the MVP investment and the faster you get to customers, the less you need to do this.)
Off the Shelf Before Coding By Hand:
There are dozens of off-the-shelf SaaS solutions you can download and customize for free. Don't invest a lot of time building something that won't get traction.
Use tools you know:
if you must code, use tools you know first. Don't adopt new frameworks or fancy languages. Just use what you know.
Copy & Iterate:
A lot of successful ideas are copies of successful businesses before. Walmart copied Fedmart. Popeyes copied KFC. Find a successful idea and iterate.
Before You Copy, Research:
Just because you find a successful idea, you may not know all the reasons why it succeeded. You can't just say "Oh, I'll charge half of what they do, and mine will take off like a rocket." Research their beginnings and what made them a hit.
PRO LEVEL - SELL BEFORE YOU BUILD: If you can get 5-10 people to pre-buy your solution before you build it, then is a great indicator of market demand.
What other tips helped you?
Find the right audience in social networks and build the community with high engagement level!
WOW! its crazy how much lesson you can learn from just taking action! Thanks for sharing this with us :D. This is really inspiring .
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Thank You Adam for the great advice.
its really helpful
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In under 5 minutes, I just learned a year worth of knowledge. Thanks so much!
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Woah, this post is a goldmine! 💡As an aspiring indie hacker, these tips are super insightful. The idea about using Google Forms as landing pages is genius - such a clever way to validate ideas without spending time/money building.
And focusing on B2B/finance/developers makes total sense. Solving real pain points that people will pay to fix. Mom test is brilliant too - go straight to your potential users to see how they currently solve problems.
The tip about selling before you build is pro level! 😲 If you can get pre-orders, you know you've got a winning idea. Definitely trying that for my next startup attempt.
This gives me so many clever ideas on how to iterate and validate quickly. Going to be sharing this with my entrepreneur friends for sure! What other scrappy MVP ideas have you seen for quickly testing startup concepts? Excited to try these out...my next viral startup awaits!! 😎
Great article. I'm going to start building in public pretty soon and I also really liked the point on making the MVP simple and low-cost.
Good luck!
This is great advice! Thanks, @bluecorn! Do you think they are really pre-buying if they haven't seen the price yet? Or do you advise putting a price on the Google Form?
You ask them to pay you money and tell them the price.
That's how pre-sales work.
Absolutely, these insights are golden nuggets for anyone venturing into the startup world! Your advice resonates strongly with the lean startup methodology and emphasizes the importance of validation, customer research, and practicality. Here are some additional tips that have proven invaluable:
Leverage Existing Platforms:
Consider building on top of existing platforms or APIs that already have a user base. This can save you time, resources, and help you tap into an existing market.
Feedback Loop:
Regularly engage with your early users. Their feedback will be your guiding light for improvements and adjustments. An iterative approach based on real user input is key.
Network and Collaborate:
Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, attend meetups, and join communities where you can learn from others' experiences and potentially find collaborators or mentors.
User-Centric Design:
Design your product or service with the end user in mind. The more intuitive and user-friendly it is, the more likely it is to gain traction.
Measure and Analyze:
Use analytics tools to track user behavior, engagement, and conversion rates. This data-driven approach will help you make informed decisions and refine your strategy.
Pivot When Necessary:
Be open to pivoting if you find that your initial idea isn't gaining the expected traction. Adaptability is crucial in the ever-evolving startup landscape.
Patience and Persistence:
Building a successful startup takes time and effort. Stay committed, even in the face of challenges, and continue learning from every step of the journey.
Thank you for initiating this insightful discussion! It's discussions like these that empower aspiring entrepreneurs to make informed decisions and increase their chances of success. 🚀
Thanks for the great article!
these are very good advices, I'm starting my b2b saas and not sure where I need to start but will start!
So basically, build a landing page with a email signup for each idea you have? What I don't like about that approach is that you need to buy a domain and setup a whole website without even knowing if there is a need or even a market demand.
That's my biggest gripe about betalist. Been thinking about a better way to verify an idea.
Create a free Gumroad, JotForm, or Google Form (with payment add-on) page.
Can you elaborate a little bit how those services would help? :)
I was thinking of a platform like betalist but without an actual landing page. However there is a hastag like #requestforstartup which does pretty much that.
I wonder why it's so compelling as a builder to just focus on building whereas all logic, reason and wisdom advises to build mvp barely-there market validation? Like I wonder what human bias is at play.
Great post, nothing I haven't heard before but a great reminder and compendium. Congrats on your perserverence!
Indie hackers focus on building ... because we're mostly builders.
Object in motion tends to stay in motion.
You do what you know.
Starting my Build in Public journey just now! Thanks for sharing your experiences!
In any kind of business it very important to know how luck is involved. Well its not really about speed but its very hard to get everything right to get the business going, so the only way to get it right you need to move fast.
Validate idea is good, but you need to do it very very quickly. Else you will just validate and research for a month or 2 just to found out that its not something people want.
What I would recommend is start very small. Make sure the product is very simple and easily explainable to people. Not just it will help you publish faster but easier to explain to customer what you are doing.
Tldr : Luck play a big role and to be lucky you need to move fast. How to be lucky in business ?
Thanks for the article! I have a few different ideas in my head but keep going down a rabbit hole of how to build before even actually starting. The 'Rethink MVP' is great; will definitely keep it in mind for my next project
Good luck!
I had always considered building in public for my recent project Trimmr.ai but often found difficulty balancing what should be shared and what shouldn't
Very good post though! Might consider it for my next project
Trimmer is great. I demoed it.
Sharing things via "Build In Public" is not important.
Reaching customers is.
Are you cold-emailing YouTube creators to promote this?
Awesome article, I feel there was some outstanding advice included
Which subreddits do you use to promote your ideas? I know self-promotion is kinda frowned upon unless you're in the right sub. Awesome article tho!!
You have to be careful.
Reply to already posted questions. Add a lot of value in your response (meaning try to answer their question.) Then offer resource links.
This is very insightful! I agree with every point you make, especially the first one: use "Google Forms as landing pages". After I learned and built several landing pages with different solutions (from JavaScript, Google Sites, Webflow, and Framer), I realized the fundamental value of a landing page when you are evaluating your idea is to deliver the oneliner pitch and collect email addresses. That's it. Google Forms is good enough for the job. Once you get enough interest, you can then invest more time into a nice website
Such a insightful article. Thank you for sharing this. Currently building my first startup and in the validation stage! This article came at the right time 🚀
Thanks for your article! Loved your pro-level tip about getting your solution pre-bought as a signal that the market is hot. If you don't mind me asking, how do you nudge the conversation toward this?
How to nudge: "mom test" customers. At the end, when you talk about your possible solution, ask them to pre-pay. Or Make a landing page with a "pre-purchase" book, app, service, etc.
Interesting, thanks for your feedback!
its really helpful
Very helpful post. As an engineer that are used to being told what to built, I'm currently stuck in "Find your customers first" step. It sounded easy to just post a form in different sites, but how do I find places that are receptive to postings like that? It seems like it would require a lot of time investment to become an engaged member in each group before I can get any results. Is there any tips on how to approach this process while keeping myself motivated?
What's the problem you're trying to fix or your idea?
It's hard to know how to answer without knowing more...
... but here's how I've done it so far:
(find a community + add value + link for more info.)
OR...
Thank you for the pointers! Currently I am trying to validate an idea about a productivity tool basically a todo list/calendar integration that aims to help engineers focus on deep work and defend their time from external distractions in their job. This is just a tool I wanted but I have no idea if it actually help solves the problem for others as well. Something that I've done so far is to create a design demonstrating the idea and posting on reddit, twitter, and linkedin but I've gotten very limited feedback.
In your reply, it sounds like the way to do it is to start off with some kind of free resource. Though I'm not really a productivity expert, and the maker in me wants to just build an MVP so that I can use it as the free resource for engagement. Should I resist that urge?
Engineers aren't a very good group to sell to. Them: "why would I spend 10$/mo when I could spend 6 months building it myself."
That's a good point. I guess if I do end up making this tool I should aim for a different audience to start..
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How did you validate Survey Sparrow?