What I've learned from repeated soft launches
I used to build stuff, put it up on Hacker News, and then wait for the glorious sound of peaceful crickets to lull me to sleep.
As much as I love that sound, these days I have learned to spend a lot of time crafting two things: a) a detailed launch schedule b) the copy (words) to use for each launch venue.
For example, I'm launching exceltohtml.net on PH on Tuesday. But I'm not just going to post it there. I have a schedule: lead up post of how-I-built-it on HN, message a Slack channel of Excel people I know, tell the person who gave me the original idea, press go on the Product Hunt, email a select group of techy friends, tweet about it, re-tweet about it later, and send an email to my tech newsletter subscribers.
For each of those different mini-launches I have written, edited, and re-written a better version of the words I'll use, and it's tailored to each venue. This takes hours of course but if I am lucky and it all goes well that hard work may spark some initial traction for the product.
All of this stuff feels annoying and a bit braggy to an open source developer like me. But after all, whats the point of building something nobody uses?
That definitely helps, however, one of the key parts is "if I'm lucky". In my opinion, betting too much on a successful PH or HN launch isn't a healthy strategy. That should be considered as a well come bonus if it happens and nothing more.
Have you done this in the past? If so, what's the most success you have had with it?
No big success. I've had incrementally better results when I do this so it's a working hypothesis. Will report back on Wednesday on how the PH launch goes.
I think any time spent improving your messaging is beneficial because during the process of choosing your copy you should also be gaining a better understanding of your UVP and audience.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for sharing.
Looks like you build a conveyor of startups 🚜
Did you try to research demand for the products you are building?
Did you try to talk with your potential users before coding?
I used those to analyze where should we build something. There is no guarantee, but you can filter out and put a few ideas to trash.
Also, can you please share a links to your posts on HN?
Thanks!
Thanks for your interest @maxshash. "Conveyor of startups" is a nice way to say "compulsive project starter". 😂 Hopefully it's not too annoying for other people to witness.
Here is everything I have ever shared on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=chr15m
Here is the one thing I've submitted to PH: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/todomini
The only research I did for https://wordbibleaddin.com/ was looking in the add-in store and finding no results. I built it because I realized I could ship a test/validation product very quickly. It's getting some use with zero marketing so far.
I got the idea for https://exceltohtml.net/ from a colleague's frustration. I am betting on there being other people with the same frustration.
I don't talk to potential users and it's something I should get better at. Thanks for reminding me of this!
Thanks for the answer
Yooo, I don't know who you are, but love this for you! This is really how bootstrap marketing works - incremental, scrappy and multichannel. It's not really the act of doing it that's hard, but the mental energy you need to give yourself to execute.
I think that this ain't easy for those used to deep work. Your success partly depends on other people? Sheesh, that ain't easy.
Great advice and very honest!
Whenever we launch product or content we create a distribution strategy. For our most recent PH it involved similar steps: Reach outs to individuals, posts on forums, newsletter and push notifications and social posts. I created a document that detailed the copy for each strategy/segment along with instructions for who would complete the task and when. Hoping to streamline the process for future launches. ;)
Looking forward to see the lever you're getting from this!
This comment was deleted 6 years ago
Tony, I updated the site with your suggestions. I used the design you suggested for mobile, and I also moved the CTA up and shrank the logo on desktop. Thanks a lot!
Awesome, thanks Tony! Will make these changes.