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How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

lennyrachitsky.com

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Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#41

Post by gauravphoenix »

alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

Thank you for posting the comment, now that I know about your service, I am going to sign-up.

So not just blog post, a mere (but meaningful) comment can get you paid users.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#42

Post by lennysan »

gauravphoenix wrote: post #41
alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

Thank you for posting the comment, now that I know about your service, I am going to sign-up. So not just blog post, a mere (but meaningful) comment can get you paid users.

What a beautiful HN success story

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#43

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

FpUser wrote: post #31

I had zero problems acquiring first 1K customers for my product. Just spammed some relevant forums. Actually I got way more then 1K this way. Problem was that said amount was not making it worth for me. And acquiring more presented a challenge. Basically lacking external investment to increase market share by whatever means I put that particular product on a diet (invest few hours here and there). Since then it bring…

Do you feel comfortable sharing what the product is?

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#44

Post by kartayyar »

alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

How did you get inbound links for your initial blog content?

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#45

Post by codeisawesome »

jhgg wrote: post #12

Discord's first cohort of users came from the final fantasy XIV subreddit - after a friend of the cofounder posted there after trying out the app. It's been all uphill from there.

Sorry to be that guy, but 'things were uphill from ' means something got super difficult (as in running uphill is hard) - not sure if that's what you were shooting for.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#46

Post by StavrosK »

alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

Can you very quickly summarize the basics here? How do you find which keywords to target, how do you include them in your content, what's good SEO hygiene, what wordcount do you need, etc?

Basically, I'm not really aware of how you do SEO marketing, and would like to learn.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#47

Post by alixanderwang »

kartayyar wrote: post #44
alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

How did you get inbound links for your initial blog content?

I post them on HackerNoon, which has a "originally published at" backlink. They tweet the ones with good engagement repeatedly, people shared those tweets. It makes its way into roundups and newsletters. Occasionally, people steal them and say they authored it, but they leave the backlinks so whatever. I post some on relevant forums as well.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#48

Post by alixanderwang »

StavrosK wrote: post #46
alixanderwang wrote: post #25

I bet the companies using inventive ways to get their first users like the ones listed in the article are in the minority (but certainly make for more interesting stories to read/write about). I launched a SaaS product recently, and after a pretty successful HN launch, I've been trying different ways of marketing. What I learned, and this may be obvious to many, is that the boring path of getting users by gamifying S…

Can you very quickly summarize the basics here? How do you find which keywords to target, how do you include them in your content, what's good SEO hygiene, what wordcount do you need, etc? Basically, I'm not really aware of how you do SEO marketing, and would like to learn.

I basically just read this to learn: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/24/startup-seo/

and watch patio11's talks on microconf.

I don't feel like qualified enough to give advice (also these are short term results, they say SEO takes ~6 months to yield results), so you should refer to his stuff.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#49

Post by StavrosK »

alixanderwang wrote: post #48
StavrosK wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you very quickly summarize the basics here? How do you find which keywords to target, how do you include them in your content, what's good SEO hygiene, what wordcount do you need, etc? Basically, I'm not really aware of how you do SEO marketing, and would like to learn.

I basically just read this to learn: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/24/startup-seo/ and watch patio11's talks on microconf. I don't feel like qualified enough to give advice (also these are short term results, they say SEO takes ~6 months to yield results), so you should refer to his stuff.

Good enough, thanks!

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#50

Post by mdorazio »

jacobobryant wrote: post #28

A strategy I've been thinking of for my startup (10-20 WAU currently ) is going through old HN discussions that are relevant to my product, finding people who I think would be interested in it based on their comments, and emailing them with a quote from their comment and an explanation of why I think they specifically would be interested. (and then ask them to try it out & give feedback). I thought of this since I wa…

I've had a couple HN members reach out to me this way, and I always respond to them since it's 1000x better than the usual crappy cold emails I get from sales people.
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