Technical Founder looking for Growth/Marketing Partner

by Joe A

Hello Indie Hackers,

I started a project a few months ago and I'm convinced that it has a huge growth potential.

It's basically a booking platform dedicated to Artists, Content Creators and Influencers where they can offer paid 1-to-1 or multiple guests virtual or in-person meetings.
The goal is to help them grow and make money online without Ads & Sponsors, which is especially true when they're just starting.

I tried a few strategies but none of them consistently worked so far :

Emailed 600 Youtubers (2-100k followers) for a Video Partnership, only 1 successfully worked.
Niching down to Digital Artists only, and contacting them one by one via Facebook and Instagram
Starting a blog. Publishing every other day
Doubling down on Social Media - Instagram, Facebook Groups. Twitter as well

To be honest I feel stuck and in a dead-end, that's why I'm looking for a partner/co-founder ready to help things to take off.

Joe A

posted to

Looking to Partner Up

on July 15, 2021

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somebody on here just posted about "see my first television interview" and they were interviewed by a sportcaster - they had the same deal - arrange a 1-on-1 for $ to talk for like 15 minutes with a sports pro or college NCAA athlete. You picked a time on their open slot schedule ad then you connect in some stalker-proof way like a zoom or whatever. They went for just a sports vertical but talked about branching out - Because its 2-sided and you need the "interesting people " I would start in a vertical and get one of the famous folks to do referrals to their famous friends to crack that hard side open.

unemployability

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3 years ago
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  Yes you're right, niching down is critical. Thank you ! :)
  
  younes_al
  
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  3 years ago
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Hey @younes_al,

Just took a look at your landing page.
I might be able to help you.

Let’s have a chat.

Email: mateo@indie-land.com
- Conversion Copywriter
- Behavioral Marketer
SweaterHacker

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3 years ago
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Hi Joe, what a challenge you have! Building a two-sided marketplace can be very tough.

I'm aware that you're looking for a partner rather than advice but maybe you won't mind opinion too 🙃

Of what you have listed it seems you were trying to work on creators/supply, does it means you have enough demand? I can't say that, at least from the landing page.

IMO you should try first bringing your audience/demand to the serious numbers. Then use those numbers as leverage to convince artists. Then use few artists as social proof to others.

So, if you'd have 10000 users (just made up number) that are interested in gaming, would it be easier to reach out to some gamer influencers? I bet it would be a lot more solid offer for the creator for sure 🙂

My advice would be for you to think about how you could create a demand generation campaign, gather a bigger amount of interested people's attention into the particular niche, and only then reach out to artists/creators.

Hope you'll find some help you're looking for 🤞

arminas

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3 years ago
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  Thank you Arminas for taking time to reply ! 🙂
  
  Indeed, it's a chicken and egg problem. I need creators first, then I need them to convince their audience to come meet them through my platform, but I must have some traffic first.
  I'm trying to build an audience but I don't know where to start, what kind of content I should provide.
  I'm very aware that I need to niche down, which I did, but it's not showing results so far.
  
  younes_al
  
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  3 years ago
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    Easier said than done (a lot easier), but this could be one of the campaigns/experiments:
    
    You should pick a niche you're the most familiar with/have the firmest belief.
    
    Create the landing page just for that niche. For example, your current category page isn't looking like a landing page, but it should be rather the dedicated one asking people's emails in exchange for future XYZ.
    
    You could use Reddit to find very relevant communities.
    
    Provide and offer that community an irresistible deal.
    
    Like: I'll try to bring up SOME_FAMOUS_NAME if reaching 10,000 subscribers and do XYZ.
    
    Maybe look for Reddit ads, or spread it through instagram/twitter/fb too.
    
    If successful, run XYZ and stay informing the community how well it goes. How you're contacting them, what you're offering, what's their response, etc. Remember, you don't want to make a profit but rather satisfy the community. Even failing have a backup plan - you can reach out to another artist. But failing with community is a dead end.
    
    XYZ shouldn't be "signup to my platform"; it should be asking that person to do something fun for that community, mentioning that 10,000 followers are waiting for it.
    
    If all is done now, you should have big leverage (people on your list) and amazing social proof (that famous niche person). And now you can try reaching out to other artists and asking to join (or doing XYZ again if that was fun)
    
    ^ some variant of this could work for you, though getting people's attention is the hardest part here IMO, you have to build a lot of trust that they'd give you their emails.
    
    arminas
    
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    3 years ago
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Hi Joe, did you find anyone? I like your idea, how do we connect?

MarkFischeer

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3 years ago
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  Hey, I just sent you an email
  
  younes_al
  
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  3 years ago
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  This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
  
  younes_al
  
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  3 years ago
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@younes_al

I can help you in early traction building. Let me know if this sounds interesting.

shashank

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3 years ago
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