Widget-Board
Create a visual workspace for any purpose
OMG so after weeping about the unsuccessful PH launch in a post, yesterday I got my first paying customer that signed up to the monthly plan!
I'm so encouraged by that, because up until that point I had roughly ~35 signups, and I thought that it would take a lot of time or at least 10x more signups to convert a single user to a paid plan.
But when that happened I had a ratio: 1 / 35. For every 35 signups, 1 converted to paid. I know that it's a very uncertain ratio because the numbers we're still small, but it encouraged me.
Little did I know that this morning I'll wake up to another 2 paying customers that subscribed to the YEARLY plan!
Ratio now: 3 / 51
Woohoo!
Not gonna sleep until I have a least 1,000 paying customers!
what is a productivity web app without a chrome extension?
when i thought of Widget-Board.com i knew that it had to have a chrome extension to access all your boards without the need to login your WB account or leave a tab open constantly.
also, i was using another new tab extension that had all my important links in it, so i thought that a smart widget board could replace it.
so, the extension not only gives you quick access to your boards (and search features + new board button + home button), it also takes care of your new tab so you can program it to open one of the 3 options: (1) a new board (2) the homepage (3) a specific board.
i submitted the extension a week ago and today it was approved after it was rejected (i askes a permission i didn't need).
along with a mobile version and a PWA, the chrome extension makes me feel that Widget-Board can truly help people with their day to day projects, as it has helped me for the last few weeks i've been using it.
thanks for reading and you're welcome to check the extension here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/widget-board/gpdjfeaipjkdapdfkobjphpabnmogman/
widget board homepage:
https://widget-board.com/
So yesterday I finished the MVP, and today i'm going to start gathering feedback from beta users.
Also, i'm trying to find those beta users :)
it seems harder than i thought, but i collected multiple lists where to find beta users so i'm about to give those a shot.
Wish me luck!
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Nice product Tom. What did you use to create this?
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Thanks 🥰
I used Ionic which is an Angular framework, and Firebase for DB (NoSQL) and endpoints (NodeJS).
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Hey Tom, nice product. One suggestion would be to allow logged out users to be able to play with some of you sample widget boards. It would give you a higher conversion.
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just added the ability to load the sample boards into the playground
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Thanks for the feedback Pranay!
following your comment, i added a "playground" so guests can play around with a real live board and widgets, and even save it to their account if they choose to create one.
on the next few days i'll add an option to load each sample use case into the playground - that was a great idea, so thanks!you can check the playground here:
https://widget-board.com/playgrounddon't forget to tell me how it was! :)
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Hey! Love the product. Where did you end up finding beta users?
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If we put the PH launch a side, the only place I found beta users was here on IH, but it was only 2-5 and they only tested the landing page, not the app itself.
So I decided that the traffic from PH is going to be my beta users.
I thought that it's just an MVP, and it's just PH, not the super bowl, and if I want users to try the app I need traffic.Now I have 73 users and 5 of them are on a paid plan :)
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Very nice! Yeah I just launched my app and have about 3-5 beta users testing currently.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stoiclyy/id1532990489
After incorporating some the feedback they gave, I’m wondering if I should just go ahead and launch the product on PH and post it here as well.
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Just launch it.
If you have tested it yourself on multiple devices, and let some friends and beta users to play with it and it works as expected, gather their feedback and tweak it accordingly, then test again and launch.
It will get you enough traffic so you can go through the Validation phase, to understand if there is a real need for your product. Even a minor need is a good start.
Then, again, gather feedback and tweak product.
Good luck!
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31 Comments
I've got to say, after checking out the site, I was impressed. It's a simple concept made into something actually useful IMO. I don't have a project I can use it for atm but I'll bookmark it for the future no doubt.
Thanks for the feedback man!
And great for the bookmark, WB is indeed a tool in the way that you use it only when you need it, like a hammer or a piece of paper or a dishwasher.
When you start using it, I'll be happy to hear about the use case :)
Congrats on what I think is now 5 paying customers? :) Hope you hit it off, looks like a cool product. I see you already have a Chrome plugin. I was thinking you could probably turn this into another chrome extension that opens on every New Tab. It could be someone's dashboard. Considering you are gonna add Gmail and other integrations as well.
Good luck mate!
IT IS A NEW TAB EXTENSION! 🥰
after installing it go to settings and choose one of the 3 options on what happens on a new tab:
(1) a new empty board
(2) a specific board you have
(3) WB main screen
Thanks for the feedback!
Edit: And yeah it's 5 paying customers now!! How did you guess?
haha, I was just suggesting that the Chrome extension could open up as a new page rather than a popup.
And I guessed the number with the revenue on your product page - https://www.indiehackers.com/product/widget-board
The chrome extension does both, it's a popup AND a new tab.
Hey Tom, congratulations on the first three customers. I remember the feeling I had when my first contributor for my social venture https://wecaresocial.co/ , immediately contributed. It makes us feel we are doing something right and helps to take the next step forward!
How are you targeting your customers? I listened to Corey Haines from Baremetrics talk on The Indie Worldwide Podcast about customer targeting and doing things that don't scale will help lift the product off the ground. Definitely worth listening to.
Thanks Nakkeeran!
Your project is so important! I'm dreaming of the days I'll be a billionaire and philanthropist. Keep up the good work.
About targeting users, I'm currently on Twitter trying to follow the followers of apps that are either competition or of similar persona (from WB account, not my personal account).
At the moment 5% of them follow back.
Each account that follows me back, I DM them something like "thanks for the follow.. have you checked us out yet and want to tell me how it went?". It starts interesting conversations and feedbacks, and also sign ups.
It sure is not scalable just like Corey says, it's like watering the seeds manually.
I plan on gaining ~1,000 followers and then to start some giveaways and contests, you know, growth hacking twitter :)
And that's just Twitter, I'm trying to see what can come out of LinkedIn as well.
Good luck to us all!
Hey Tom, thanks for the reply. Haha you don't need to be a billionaire and do philanthropy work because this is exactly where We Care Social helps founders like yourself become socially responsible in 2 minutes!
How? We work on behalf of founders like yourself to help build free websites for charities globally. While you are busy with your business, we work on your behalf to help the charities. It's like we become your social wingman to do social good.
It's free to join the initiative and it's just my way of #GivingBack to the founders community by helping them become socially responsible.
Talking about Widget board. Is there any reason you are doing Twitter? Have you tried other marketing channels?
How about looking through forums where people have mentioned your competitors and then you can approach them on Linkedin or Twitter?
I'm sure I'll take part of WeCareSocial.
I'm doing Twitter because I can't think of another way of gaining the attention of users. I haven't tried other marketing channels, I'm trying to learn each channel, and not do all of them at once.
What forums are you suggesting I'll start with?
Thanks Tom. Will send you a message later this week about the details of We Care Social.
Have you tried Reddit and Slack groups?
Congrats!
These 3 are your most important customers ever! You want them to have the best XP so that they become Evangelists for you.
Keep up the good work ;)
Thanks!
You're so right about the experience and the importance of the first paying customers.
I'm trying to use various analytics tools to fully understand how my users are using WB, where are the Wow points and where do they get stuck and frustrated.
I'll be happy to hear you feedback too :)
Congratulations! Although, for your health, I do recommend not waiting to sleep until you reach 1,000 paying customers 🤪
I hate the fact that I have to sleep and eat 🤣
Congratulations Tom! This is a great product, I love the fact that you let users jump right into trying it out. For your Twitter marketing, have you tried responding to tweets mentioning relevant use cases with a link to your product? For example, people tweet about planning vacations - you could reply with a link to the plan vacations board.
I agree that focusing on getting good at one channel makes sense to begin with. If you're interested in seeing what other marketing channels would be a good fit for Widget Board, you can grab a free personalised report from https://www.lumive.io/
Thanks @eudora!
I'll give a try to replying to tweets about the various use cases.
Just submitted my answers to the personalized report! thanks again!
Hey Tom, looks like a cool idea! I was impressed by your landing page :) I especially liked your hero video and how it conveys the power of the product. Well done sir! If you feel like you need to chat to someone to structure your thoughts on what's next I'd be happy to help!
Thanks Toon!
For the meantime, this type of 'raw' and straight to the point design is doing the job.
I would love to chat! Reach me on hey@widget-board.com or @WidgetBoard on Twitter.
Just wanted to drop by and say Widget-Board looks amazing. well done!
Thank you so much!
Many congratulations Tom, Just keep going and you will reach your goal!
Thanks! I will definitely reach my goal sooner or later! sooner the better :)
Congrats! Such a good feeling. Keep the progress coming!
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Well done!
Thanks! :)
Congratulations! Keep on going, rooting for you!
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This is so cool, will try it out for sure!
Thanks!
tell me how do you think it can be improved.