What we learned from our pre-launch campaign
I've been reflecting on our 'launch' and what we did right/what we could have done better and wanted to share some of my takeaways.
The foremost thing is, I tended to think of there being a clear delineation between pre-launch and post-launch. Like, one day you have a launch, and then all of a sudden you go from one state to the other. But like many other things in life and in startups, it hasn't really been that simple for us.
I came across a video from Kat Mañalac at YC about continually launching and that resonated. You get many bites at it. Don't wait until everything is perfect, just launch. Then learn. Then fix the things that don't work. Then launch again.
Some other practical takeaways/lessons from this process I have are:
- Ask for a user interview after someone has made a small investment in you already, such as taking a survey.
- Betalist was a good way to get subscribers - would recommend but not necessarily pay for the expedited service. Product Hunt's Ship/Upcoming page is meh. Most subscribers are spam/not that interested in you (sorry).
- Most people will forget who you are or why they signed up for your launch. Make sure you remind them when you invite them to the demo, especially if they pre-registered weeks or months ago.
- It's great to have pre-registered users, but don't expect all of them to take you up on signing up. Often they've moved on, found another product, or weren't that interested in the first place (again.. sorry).
- The best way we found to get early adopters was spending time in communities and Slack groups where our target users lived. If they were at all interested in what we were working on, we'd try and book an onboard directly.
- Be targetted in whom you reach out to join. If you are doing a closed beta, focus on people whom you think need your product. Otherwise, you'll spend lots of time talking to, or trying to please, people who aren't ever going to use your product.
- Never stop launching - you'll get many cracks at it. Try stuff out early on, get feedback, recalibrate, launch again.
I did a longer post on our timeline on our blog
Thanks for sharing these insights @mattcrail. I love that you mention immersing yourself in communities and to get early adopters and feedback. This is something Indie Hackers is great for. I also like your stance on 'Never stop launching'. It is another great point to always keep in mind and give yourself the freedom to keep iterating and refining your product or service offering. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
Yeah, it was actually sort of a mental hurdle I had to overcome. It felt like spending time here wasn't real 'work' so I felt guilty about it. But in reality, it is an incredibly valuable use of time - you get to learn a lot, interact with interesting people, and connect with early adopters. Plus it's fun and doesn't feel like work.
+1 for this my man. I have had to overcome the same hurdle. It is a slow process but one has to remember the compounding effects of the effort that is put in for community building in the beginning... and wait to reap the rewards further down the line.
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