Alphaseek
The referral marketing SDK for developers
We have launched as "Show HN: API-first referral marketing SDK for web developers".
This is our first time trying to post on Hacker News informed. I have sporadically posted on HN, but had been very naive about it and never had any substantial help. Just because I never asked for it. My users are so helpful!
Please help upvote at https://news.ycombinator.com/show 🙏
😁 This is not our first startup but this is the first startup we got this many users in a short period of time. The failure from previous startups taught us to make something people want! We now skip building our landing page but focusing on MVP. I will also focus more on users engagement. I believe simplicity is the value of our product.
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Congrats on the early momentum! What were your strategies for acquiring these first users? Were there any channels you've found effective?
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The first strategy to remember is to have a reasonably thick skin. The more you reach out the more visibility you get. There's a fine line between spamming and being considerate, but if you're too bashful think about all the prospective users who will miss out on the opportunity to see you.
We have found Facebook, Reddit, and relevant chat communities like Slack and Discord to be our places, but then again we have tried them all with our previous product and it was rather disappointing. So I'd say the product's value proposition is the first most important thing in acquiring users. You want that to be clear.
Many of the users who signed up had some kind of interaction with either myself or my cofounder before signing up, so connecting and engaging with them has been a good strategy to convert so far.
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Building an authentic relationship is always an effective approach. Great to hear how you're trying to add value to relevant communities.
Keep up the awesome work!
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Facebook group is a good source for us to find users. Alphaseek is really sold itself. We have a clear and easy to understand description even without landing page and video demo so most of people just hop in without hesitation. Now we are focusing on talking to users and to deliver our MVP on time.
Yes, it's getting cozy in here! Amazing how changing to a different idea can be easier to get users interested. Hopped on a phone call with a few of them. It's a joy to learn that there are needs and a bit nervous to get it right. Now we are just obsessed to help our customers succeed.
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Sounds great - would love to hear how you found the first few users / beta testers? Linkedin, personal contacts, cold email, on this forum?
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@Hellboy I'm so sorry for late reply.
Our first few beta testers were from Slack/ Reddit. Later 85-90% of signed up users were from FB groups.
You have reminded me to try Linkedin, personal contacts, cold email, and yes! on this forum. Thank you!
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Yes, I've learned quite a bit from the last flop. One thing I'd not work on is the landing page! I wrote a simple README on github and published it. The main focus would be to ship and solve real customers' problems and help them succeed. Period. I'd treat it like an open source project because at this point it sort of is, and it's what I'm familiar with.
We looked into what we could work on from our previous project's codebase and found this code I've written for its invitation campaign. I remember the friction of starting a referral campaign on the landing page's sign up that had made me wrote it and think it can be helpful to many others.
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