Ask HN: I am the software guy and marketing is hell for me • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I am the software guy and marketing is hell for me

#41

Post by decide1000 » Sat, Feb 10, 2024, 8:30 PM UTC

egesabanci wrote: post #30

decide1000 wrote: post #25

I have been in the same situation as you for many years. 5 years ago I tried a different approach. I created a POC, some slides about the tech and recorded my screen while giving a demo of the software. I sent it out to about 20 people in my network and asked them if they knew someone who was willing to partner up with me for the sales/marketing part. Some people contacted me, 1 was interesting for me. After weeks of…

That sounds cool, how is the product doing now? Is this approach sustainable or this kind of "good fit" partnership is mostly luck?

We needed about 1 year to rebuild the tech and find the right spot in sales. It was a process we both went through. The year after it was a stable growth. This year its a rocket. We are now considering to take a step back and integrate another management layer. I think it is sustainable. It probably sounds kinda weird, but we both did a personality test. We are total different persons. He has qualities I do not have and vice versa. That's our superpower now. I trust him 100% and looking back on all our mistakes, I regret nothing.

This 10k that he paid me; People told me it was too less, it did not value the product good enough. They were right, but I was not looking for the jackpot. I was looking for a sustainable income. Mission accomplished.

Re: Ask HN: I am the software guy and marketing is hell for me

#42

Post by jimkleiber » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 8:42 PM UTC

clay_the_ripper wrote: post #29

Funnny, I am the other side of this coin. I am a founder specializing in product and marketing but I don’t write code. Having now scaled up from zero customers to 100+ I can tell you the main things I see people get wrong: -talking too much about what the product can do, rather than the result the person will get. -focusing on features, which users don’t care about, rather than outcomes which they do. -forgetting tha…

I really appreciate what you wrote, and especially this:

> -don’t be afraid to write things that are long. Long headlines, long landing pages. There’s this prevailing advice to make things short, and while I do also do that, I have found that it’s not the length that’s the problem, it’s the content. If something is really good valuable and interesting, people will read things that are super long.

I have a tendency to want to write less so that I look "cool" and forget that I as well love to read a lot if I like what the person is saying. I also tend to either forget and/or roll my eyes at the super salesy sites that have soooo much copy and yet often those are the people who are quite good at selling.

In summary, I think I often try to be the cool kid and forget that being warm can develop a deeper, more genuine relationship.

Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: I am the software guy and marketing is hell for me

#43

Post by XCSme » Tue, Feb 13, 2024, 1:35 AM UTC

stephenw310 wrote: post #31

You need to understand why you are "lacking" in marketing or sales. I know a lot of engineers who internally just despise ads, promoting, outreaching, pitching, etc, but they will say they "suck" at marketing. Most of the time it's not a skill issue, it's the personality and mindset.

It's definitely personality-related. I know people who can sell a potato as the most amazing food ever, and they seem genuine about it. I can't do that with feeling like I am cheating the other person in one way or another. I can only sell what I sell, I can't promise it will change your life, because I know nothing can guarantee that.

Re: Ask HN: I am the software guy and marketing is hell for me

#44

Post by egesabanci » Tue, Feb 13, 2024, 10:08 PM UTC

decide1000 wrote: post #41

egesabanci wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds cool, how is the product doing now? Is this approach sustainable or this kind of "good fit" partnership is mostly luck?

We needed about 1 year to rebuild the tech and find the right spot in sales. It was a process we both went through. The year after it was a stable growth. This year its a rocket. We are now considering to take a step back and integrate another management layer. I think it is sustainable. It probably sounds kinda weird, but we both did a personality test. We are total different persons. He has qualities I do not have…

Perfect. I think I have things to learn from you guys. Can we stay in touch? You can see my email in my bio. I would love to hear about this story in detail.