HeySummit
The Virtual Summit Platform
Super excited by the growth, but it also stems from a very specific situation so even though it's a good amount, it hasn't been as a result of a huge amount of learning yet.
Just finished our run on AppSumo - we launched on there to gauge interest, and ended up with about 4x the amount of sales that we were expecting. Super exciting but at the same time, we're mindful that we need to be efficient with what we do. We also used it as an opportunity to provide elements that weren't part of the AppSumo deal as part of an MRR upsell which has gone pretty well so far.
So Ben build HeySummit to help him run a summit for Missinglettr back in September. It was such a success that he decided to spin it out into it's own product for fun. It's been tested a few times this quarter and it looks like there might be an interest. We'll work on it a bit more, and see if there's enough interest on something like AppSumo so we can test.
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I am a little naive on the subject but what is so great about appsumo?
Appsumo is a lifetime deal site (LTD) where if you're accepted, you can offer a lifetime deal to your SaaS business through their site. They have thousands of passionate users, and because of their experience in knowing what their community wants, you have the potential of earning $100k+ in net sales. It can be a double-edge sword because a) you might not do that well with the community, b) you have a money bump but then have to support folks for lifetime and it isn't recurring revenue, and c) the community is very passionate so you'll know quickly whether or not they approve of what you're doing.
On the other hand, it is a fantastic way to get validation of your product and the need WITH money attached. If you treat it as an alternative to an investment round that brings with it a few thousand passionate users, then it's totally worth it. If you think it's going to be your business's salvation then it's not the right move.
Congrats! But how do you know if it's going to recur if you're only 30 days in?
Hi Chuck! Very meta question - I was just making a distinction between those who paid one-off (Appsumo) and those who signed up to a recurring monthly payment (MRR) obviously we won't know how much we retain until after, but we've crossed over the 30 day mark for most and seem to still be growing :)
Can you go into more detail about how AppSumo worked for you? Always felt like a steal and I wondered how the businesses did in the end etc.
Really interesting and I think with any LTD site you have to balance a few things and manage expectations. As a business model, it obviously isn't sustainable because you get one big chunk of money but then have to support users forever, so if that's why you're doing it, it isn't a great reason. If, however you look at it as an alternative to raising investment AND getting yourself a few thousand passionate users pretty quickly, it's a great tool. We also structured it so we offered a deep plan discount for AppSumo users to upgrade to our highest option (that wasn't part of the deal) to test and hopefully get a bit of MRR.
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Yep - they are a great group of folks (and the AppSumo team is awesome). I don't necessarily think it's for every type of product, and there are pluses and minuses, but it's a great boost of validation.