Getting our first thousand users in one day • Hacker News Board

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#51

Post by frankdilo » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

alfonsodev wrote: post #4

Congrats to the Typefully team, I really like the idea, and I'll give a it try soon. Also thanks for sharing the numbers, and the your insider thoughts. For everyone else building a product, don't let this success stories discourage you from launching your product sooner, you are not expected to have 1000 user in a one day, launching is not what you want to celebrate, you need to launch as soon as possible, and celeb…

Yeah definitely. Did many other launches where we had 1/100 of this reach. Just keep shipping.

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#52

Post by GordonS » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

DataCrayon wrote: post #50

GordonS wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That post got just over 100 points - very curious to know roughly what kind of traffic you say from it?

Perhaps it was a slow day if 100 points isn't considered that many - I think the high traffic was from being on the front page! I wish I could quantify the traffic, but it really did wipe out the server, preventing everyone (including myself) from accessing it! I couldn't even remote in to shutdown/reboot. The last number I had was just as things were grinding to a halt. It was just over 350 "realtime" users accordin…

Hehe, I didn't mean to say 100 points wasn't a lot, only that it was fairly "standard" for being on the front page, and would make for an interesting metric.

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#53

Post by frankdilo » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

ramkarthikk wrote: post #2

Congrats on launching the app! You have mentioned the earnings from a tip-jar system. I also noticed that Typefully links to Mailbrew. It will be interesting to see the traffic numbers to Mailbrew and how many of them ended up signing up/paying for Mailbrew.

Yeah this project was originally born as a “marketing” side project for Mailbrew.

If Mailbrew is focused reading, this is focused writing.

That being said, we haven’t seen that many signups coming from Typefully. Roughly 100.

So, probably didn’t work as a stunt, but worked as its own product. So we want to invest more in it.

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#54

Post by gk1 » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 9:08 PM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #49

hinkley wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Make value proposition clear. Just because they reached the signup screen doesn't mean they're already convinced to sign up. I've sat at the signup/register/purchase screen so many times and muttered to my computer, "but I don't know what this thing does , why would I sign up?" Playing coy was maybe cute in high school. Grownups communicate with each other, and nobody wants to do your job for you and pay you for…

I often find myself in the same situation. A few years ago I started just putting in "whywouldisignupidontevenknowwhatimlookingat@notcomingback.com" or somesuch tailored comment. My hope is that it some human in the chain gets the message and can bring it to the exec that demanded agressive sign up tactics.

I've been on the other end of signups like that. Sorry to tell you they elicit little more than an eyeroll and a swift deletion. Even from executives.

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#55

Post by hinkley » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 10:44 PM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #49

hinkley wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Make value proposition clear. Just because they reached the signup screen doesn't mean they're already convinced to sign up. I've sat at the signup/register/purchase screen so many times and muttered to my computer, "but I don't know what this thing does , why would I sign up?" Playing coy was maybe cute in high school. Grownups communicate with each other, and nobody wants to do your job for you and pay you for…

I often find myself in the same situation. A few years ago I started just putting in "whywouldisignupidontevenknowwhatimlookingat@notcomingback.com" or somesuch tailored comment. My hope is that it some human in the chain gets the message and can bring it to the exec that demanded agressive sign up tactics.

I just close the tab.

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#56

Post by joshspankit » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

You mention a tip-jar “patron” strategy, and I took a second look having not noticed anything like that when you launched the actual product.

I still don‘t see anything.

Are you guys hiding a tip button somewhere in the interface after you sign in?

Are you asking for one-offs? Or recurring?

#alwayscurious

Re: Getting our first thousand users in one day

#57

Post by joshspankit » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 8:14 PM UTC

waylandsmithers wrote: post #10

Thanks so much for being forthcoming about the donations you received, as well as your commitment to maintaining free features. I've been weighing a paid subscription against voluntary donation for my own bootstrapped product launch, and I seem to keep finding more evidence that the donation model probably isn't the way to sustainability.

I have not yet seen a business that can comfortably survive long term with the “make a single donation” model. Recurring donations are something that can work, however.