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How and when to acquire SaaS users

themvpsprint.com

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Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#11

Post by timjones »

mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

Looks like a neat tool!

I had 2 cofounders in my last company - I agree it's easier.

But so far, building in public has been a great way to replicate some of those benefits without one:

1. I have external motivation to produce results on a weekly basis.

2. I have to be able to justify all my decisions to everyone on the internet (anyone who cares at least...). I end up thinking things through more deeply.

3. I get continuous feedback from others - not nearly as good as a cofounder who's 100% in the business, but still helpful.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#12

Post by greetings »

mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

Do you have slack/teams integration? The ability to link that in would be sweet.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#13

Post by timjones »

dmarlow wrote: post #9

Sorry to nitpick, but some of your examples illustrate that they certainly had an MVP and THEN did the distribution. How could hotmail perform distribution without first having an MVP? I agree with the premise of validation, then building. While this is a good rule of thumb, it's not always possible. I like the focus and thinking behind getting users. It can't be "built it and they will come". Having a good, sound pl…

My main point was that these companies likely had strong hypotheses about how they would grow before building an MVP.

You don't always need to prove out all your growth channels. But it's important to have strong hypotheses and remove at least a little bit of uncertainty around those hypotheses before building.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#14

Post by timjones »

greetings wrote: post #12
mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

Do you have slack/teams integration? The ability to link that in would be sweet.

Most likely will be built entirely in Slack :)

Feel free to DM me on Twitter if you had more specific ideas! https://twitter.com/AnotherTimJones/

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#15

Post by mac_was »

greetings wrote: post #12
mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

Do you have slack/teams integration? The ability to link that in would be sweet.

I thought about adding this but due to stale growth put it aside. If I can see more people using it and requesting this I can assure I'll add integration in a week :)

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#16

Post by eins1234 »

timjones wrote: post #11
mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

Looks like a neat tool! I had 2 cofounders in my last company - I agree it's easier. But so far, building in public has been a great way to replicate some of those benefits without one: 1. I have external motivation to produce results on a weekly basis. 2. I have to be able to justify all my decisions to everyone on the internet (anyone who cares at least...). I end up thinking things through more deeply. 3. I get co…

Wow, as a fellow solo founder, building in public sounds like a great idea! I've always dismissed it in the past, but that's because I've never considered it from the perspective of getting some of the same benefits as having a co-founder.

Will definitely try to give it a shot.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#17

Post by timjones »

eins1234 wrote: post #16
timjones wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like a neat tool! I had 2 cofounders in my last company - I agree it's easier. But so far, building in public has been a great way to replicate some of those benefits without one: 1. I have external motivation to produce results on a weekly basis. 2. I have to be able to justify all my decisions to everyone on the internet (anyone who cares at least...). I end up thinking things through more deeply. 3. I get co…

Wow, as a fellow solo founder, building in public sounds like a great idea! I've always dismissed it in the past, but that's because I've never considered it from the perspective of getting some of the same benefits as having a co-founder. Will definitely try to give it a shot.

Emphasis on some haha - I don't want to claim that the collective power of the internet is more valuable than a human that's 100% invested in the business :)

But yes, I'd definitely recommend it! Feel free to DM if want any tips - https://twitter.com/AnotherTimJones.

It was uncomfortable at first, but got easier pretty quickly (and honestly a lot of fun).

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#18

Post by legerdemain »

From the blog post:

  > Twitter is full of interesting and influential people sharing
  > thoughts and having public conversations. And they’re all
  > accessible - just 280 characters away.
Yes! Yes! Marketing has changed 1000% since the Dark ages! People forget that you can now marketing your product effortlessly and completely for free to everyone in the world. No more complaining that "my awesome product failed because no one knows about it" -- just press that Tweet button and you're on!

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#19

Post by Descartes1 »

legerdemain wrote: post #18

From the blog post: > Twitter is full of interesting and influential people sharing > thoughts and having public conversations. And they’re all > accessible - just 280 characters away. Yes! Yes! Marketing has changed 1000% since the Dark ages! People forget that you can now marketing your product effortlessly and completely for free to everyone in the world. No more complaining that "my awesome product failed because…

Ah, but getting your tweet actually read is a whole other ball of wax.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#20

Post by justusthane »

mac_was wrote: post #10

Great post mate. I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com , an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc. I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creatin…

No offense intended, but your landing page is a bit rough. If you don't mind some feedback:

- The header "The simplest tool for remote and international teams" doesn't mean anything. The simplest tool for doing what? I have no idea what this is after reading it.

- On a related note, I'm not really sure what the name of the service is. Is it meant to be like "Say Yo Name"? If so, maybe you could change the header to something like "Say Yo Name! Help your remote and international teammates pronounce your name"

- The undismissable floating "start video chat" box is really awful, especially on mobile where it takes up almost half the screen.

- "the whole team creates profiles and record names" -> "records names”

- "Call users using build in video chat functionality" -> "built-in"

- "Add video chat to any website. It is a couple line of HTML to copy to any website." is awkward. I'd suggest changing the second line to "...with only a couple lines of code" or something similar.

- "Pronunciation is different, though, not easier, at all." is a really awkward sentence. "Pronunciation is different, though not at all easier." is much clearer.

- "Next time don't pretend that your colleague hasn't got a name." -> "Next time don't pretend that your colleague doesn't have a name."

- "Start video chat, share screen, no camera? Just chat!" -> "Start video chat or share your screen. No camera? Just chat!"

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