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How and when to acquire SaaS users

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Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#21

Post by b20000 »

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…

where do I sign up?!?!? marketing today costs money just like it did years ago, you are still paying for visibility and there is no "free" traffic anymore like there was in the late 90s.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#22

Post by timjones »

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…

I hope it's that easy! Until about 3-4 weeks ago, I'd rarely used Twitter for professional purposes.

It can be a bit intimidating at first to put yourself out there. And there's certainly strategy required to use it well.

But I think consistency is the name of the game to be successful with it. We'll see!

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#23

Post by blobbers »

timjones wrote: post #13
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.

It seems like you need a strong hypothesis for growth and a strong hypothesis for customer acquisition. It seems like knowing what you're going to build can help drive how you will distribute, and but vice versa seems less obvious.

It is a situation where both are required (`&`).

Good luck with the projects!

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#24

Post by hyperpallium2 »

That's "marketing" not distribution. But maybe your term sounds cooler...

Thinking of open source development, some of this is implied, by platforms like github, and ideas like "release early, release often". So developers are dependent on this promtion/distribution platform, without even realizing they have one.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#25

Post by hyperpallium2 »

timjones wrote: post #13
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.

I see that, but you don't talk about this - your main point - in the case studies, at all. Of course it's difficult to, since they don't discuss it and so you have to infer it, but if it's your main point, you probably do need to mention it in the case study.

Your heading "My side projects always fail" makes me think the problem is getting initial adoption (not going from small adoption to huge adoption). The network effects of those three examples don't kick in until after some adoption.

I like the idea of considering not just the product or the market, but also how you to reach that market. It can change your choice of which idea to pursue in the first place. Really, to evaluate as a business idea, not just as a product idea

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#26

Post by b20000 »

I applaud your success. To me it seems that by putting distribution first, or focusing on problems to solve, that you typically end up with markets or problems you are personally not really excited about. I've done this exercise many times. I can either work on something I think is cool and there is a niche market for, but does not really "solve" a problem but addresses a "want", or I can work on something I have zero interest in but for which there probably is a market and clear distribution model. If I like adventure games, and want to make one, those don't solve a problem, and it's a niche market with a lot of competition (gaming in general). Or I can work on some online tax prep software for expats. Niche market, addresses a problem, zero personal interest, probably a big market.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#27

Post by [deleted] »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #25
timjones wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I see that, but you don't talk about this - your main point - in the case studies, at all. Of course it's difficult to, since they don't discuss it and so you have to infer it, but if it's your main point, you probably do need to mention it in the case study. Your heading "My side projects always fail" makes me think the problem is getting initial adoption (not going from small adoption to huge adoption). The network…

[deleted]

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#28

Post by timjones »

b20000 wrote: post #26

I applaud your success. To me it seems that by putting distribution first, or focusing on problems to solve, that you typically end up with markets or problems you are personally not really excited about. I've done this exercise many times. I can either work on something I think is cool and there is a niche market for, but does not really "solve" a problem but addresses a "want", or I can work on something I have zer…

Thank you!

There are some people for whom growing a business is the exciting part. They can get excited about tax prep software if they see the opportunity.

I'm more like you (not one of those people). If I don't care about the problem, and (maybe more importantly) the users I'm solving it for, I won't solve it well.

Another point - not everything has to be a business - you can always work your day job and build adventure games on nights and weekends purely for fun.

Sometimes the best businesses come out of hobby projects. If not, whatever - it's fun and fulfilling.

Re: How and when to acquire SaaS users

#29

Post by timjones »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #25
timjones wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I see that, but you don't talk about this - your main point - in the case studies, at all. Of course it's difficult to, since they don't discuss it and so you have to infer it, but if it's your main point, you probably do need to mention it in the case study. Your heading "My side projects always fail" makes me think the problem is getting initial adoption (not going from small adoption to huge adoption). The network…

You're right; I certainly could've delved deeper into those case studies.

I suppose at this point in the article, if you're not yet convinced that distribution is half the battle, you won't care about the rest of the article.

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