I want to find users for my new startup, now that my product/service is good to go. How do I get people to find my startup?
There are four types of channels that you can & should explore: social media, launch platforms, relevant communities and listing websites. Timing the first three in the right manner will ensure that the end result is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
a. Rationale
A startup whether a product or a service is nothing without users or customers. You should validate and build your audience before you "launch" in public. But delaying the launch too much can be dangerous. Knowing when to launch even a seemingly imperfect product/service, is critical.
b. Timing
Whenever you think you are ready to offer your core value proposition to customers, you are set for a launch. The core value doesn't have to come through a piece of tech - that might be the future goal. If you are able to deliver it now through manual processes, that's fine too. Don't prepare for scale before you achieve it.
a. Realistic expectation
Even after you do all things "right", you might not see a huge spike in traffic and customers. Not every launch is a success.
However, while a lot is written about a "launch", too little is written about the fact that it doesn't end there. You don't want just a spike, but sustained traffic. So, whether you get a lot of a traffic OR very little, the game isn't finished - it is just beginning.
b. Process
There is no one way to launch your startup. In this report, one of the many ways are shared.
Before Launch
- Before your product is ready, start giving people some early looks
- ~This could include screenshots, sharing your story, how you are building it, number of users signed up for beta access, etc.
- ~Here is an example
- You would do this on both social media and relevant communities
- ~The idea is to build some interest even before the launch and for people to be waiting for it
On the day of the launch
- Product Hunt (PH) is going to the most reliable traffic generator
- ~Having said that, you need to show up in the "popular" list of PH to get any traffic
- ~Reach out to a popular "hunter" to launch your startup. In this case, you can be certain that you product will land in the popular list
- ~I wrote an article giving a step-wise breakdown of the process: Link
- ~Remote Tools shared a good article to understand their launch on PH: Link
- Same day, rally your supporters on social media and communities to propel your product on Product Hunt
- ~Write a twitter thread. E.g.
- ~Sharing your story on communities such as Indiehackers (as a milestone), Reddit (story and a link at the end)
- ~The goal is to direct everyone to the same platform
- ~~This ensures that your product does the best there, rather than dispersing everyone across different platforms
- Next, you can start posting on other launch platforms
- ~Show HN can be extremely powerful (even more than PH), but is a tough nut to crack
- ~The rest will give you a decent bump in traffic
- Finally, share your website across the various listing platforms
- ~These listings wouldn't give you an immediate traffic benefit
- ~But, these do help in SEO and possibly, average traffic over a period of time
After the launch
- To get more juice out of your launch, write a "post-mortem" story
- ~This would talk about the performance of your launch across platforms, its impact in traffic, sign-ups, customers, revenue, etc.
- ~Speak about what went right and what didn't
- ~Share this story across social media and communities
- ~~People like such helpful content and also appreciate transparency - this will give you another boost in traffic.
- ~Here's an example of such a story: Link
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