Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 42 posts

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#31

Post by DLarsen »

hglaser wrote: post #6

This is super hard and there is no great answer. I've never met anyone who's had good luck with places like Betalist. (Though "Show HN" can work.) Realistically you are going to be tracking down your first 100 users yourself manually. Figure out who among your friends is a good fit and bug them. Then ask all your other friends who they know who'd be a good fit. If they don't click, follow up and ask why. If they clic…

I actually just landed on Betalist a few days ago and I've been very happy with the results. I added about 120 emails to my "early access" list.

Knowing that the audience may not be directly within my target market I made sure to ask a simple open-ended question: "How do you feel when you spend too much money?" About half the folks who signed up answered the question, and even if none of the Betalist folks convert to paying customers in the long run, I've at least boosted my understanding of the pain I'm trying to solve.

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#33

Post by [deleted] »

benologist wrote: post #30
resu wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! By far one of the most helpful posts I've seen on HN :)

While it's good to be enthusiastic it's pretty important to note that for the majority of startups these sites are a dangerous distraction that shouldn't be optimized for or influence your company / marketing / growth / sales funnel / etc.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#34

Post by nate »

My best tools for getting beta users when I was kicking around Draft as an idea:

1) Build your own audience through teaching. Stop looking for the one time hit. The odds your startup/project is going to last the long term are probably low, and if you move onto the next thing, you'll be in the same spot. Start trying to build an audience around you of people and students who share your world views, and build stuff for them. Blog, write articles, do webcasts, talk at one of the many co-working spaces that look for speakers now.

Many people reading this are saying "But I don't know anything to teach." That's ridiculous. You just learned something last week that someone still doesn't know. I was teaching an entire Freshman Chemistry class as a Senior. There were juniors doing it. Sure, I took the class myself, but I didn't think I knew it well enough to even teach them. But I did the work to prepare, and teaching made me learn it backwards and forwards. Teaching isn't just good for the student; it's good for you.

"What is obvious to you is obvious to you" -John Medina (author of BabyBrainRules).

There is so much you know that someone else would love to acquire.

2) User testing. Get some beta testers simply by paying some people to use your app. (Read: Don't Make Me Think) I got some early folks on Usertesting.com. They were invaluable in finding problems and providing feedback in way you just don't get from some comments on a forum or thread about your product.

3) Go do some volunteer/non-profit work for 2 hours a week. Join something that has a big group of people you can help out and commit to for awhile. You'll quickly find when you start working for groups have a cause much bigger than you, you make a lot of new friends. And when you help them out, they love helping you out. You'll have these new groups to reach out to kick around new ideas. And they are the first ones spreading your stuff. Even better if you can find some groups to help with stuff you are building, but definitely not required to get some great benefits.

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#36

Post by lowglow »

nfm wrote: post #23

This is a lesson I have learned the hard way... You should know the answer this question before you start work on anything. If you're having trouble figuring out who your product is for, or how you're going to get in touch with prospects in an affordable way, you may have picked the wrong thing to work on. That said, it's definitely possible to recover from being in this position. It can just take a long time.

Distribution is the key to product success.

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#37

Post by pontifexa »

urbangangster wrote: post #32
scottmcleod wrote: post #19

By picking up the phone

YES!

Or NO!

Frankly, the right answer depends a lot on the nature of the business, and the people involved.

Being in the tech business, I would never even consider hearing someone out on the phone, simply because >99% of the unsolicited phone calls we get are scams or completely inappropriate for what we do.

If you were to send me a personal email, OTOH, you'd be guaranteed a reply. And it'd be much more likely to be positive if I've had the chance to check out your offering at my own pace.

Re: Ask HN: Where I can post my startup to get beta users?

#39

Post by codingfounder »

benologist wrote: post #11

Sites that are relevant to your audience. Don't prioritize "startup" sites over industry-specific sites.

That's very true. But sometimes, it works well to post on startup-centric sites, if you have a product aimed at startups. I just posted my new app here on HN to get some feedback - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7251627
Post reply on HN