Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#31

Post by Kanbab » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:21 PM UTC

ryanio wrote: post #18

I find it odd that the hacker community likes to completely disregard non-technical people[1]. It's situations exactly like this where it would bring a huge amount of value to have someone dedicated to marketing/community outreach and evangelism for the product. Even though it's a technical project, explained well and with patience even the most non-technical person could wrap their head around it and develop a plan…

The ultimate is when you get a marketer who understands what APIs are used for. For example, I can say that the OP should probably consider pasting his sample code higher up on the page in a more prominent position. Show the end user he can succeed easily with the product and he won't mind clicking the sign-up button. Marketers these days also need to know where you can find these users. They should have an account here, SO, SlashDot, r/programming, Quora and so on.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#32

Post by adambenayoun » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:24 PM UTC

You posted twice on HN and no one up voted you - posted this 'Tell HN' and this time you're on the front page, I'm sure that a bunch of interested hackers will visit your website now and register with your service. Keep telling the world about your service, find out what works better and do it again.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#33

Post by shortformblog » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:32 PM UTC

joelg87 wrote: post #23

In the whole first month of Buffer, we had less than 100 signups. For comparison, we now have 560,000 users (2.5 years later). We now sign up 100 people within a couple hours. It amazes me to think about it. I had a previous startup that also started slow, but never really changed. The key difference between the two, was retention. So I would highly recommend anyone who's getting started to closely watch retention. D…

I think what really helped you guys is that you've always been earnest and have done a good job becoming thought leaders as bloggers. People could learn a lot from the way the Buffer team grew out its product.

You guys created a really good template for slow-growth. Props.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#34

Post by chaddeshon » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:34 PM UTC

chaddeshon wrote: post #24

djunod wrote: post #19

Application Error An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. Please try again in a few moments. If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.

Oh no! Heading home to fix it now.

I did nothing, but it seems to be working fine. It must have buckled under the traffic. I threw another dyno at it in case it happens again.

When the post started to get traction I booted more phantomJS instance, but I didn't think the simple landing page would have any trouble.

Anyone still having trouble?

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#35

Post by alexvr » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:36 PM UTC

Great post. Those super-early adopters are awesome. I consider myself lucky that, as a high school senior and one-man team who utilizes free software and services like AWS EC2, I don't feel compelled to amass a userbase to put dinner on the table. It's really a great experience to have nothing more than $10 (for the domain name) and a bunch of (well-spent) hours invested in a web service. And the best part is: I built it for myself and anyone else who finds it valuable. I built it because I wanted a web-based alternative to iTunes on iOS. It's pure freedom - the idea that almost anyone can build something they want to use and put it online makes me appreciate the Web all the more.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#36

Post by ilaksh » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:38 PM UTC

chaddeshon wrote: post #34

chaddeshon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no! Heading home to fix it now.

I did nothing, but it seems to be working fine. It must have buckled under the traffic. I threw another dyno at it in case it happens again. When the post started to get traction I booted more phantomJS instance, but I didn't think the simple landing page would have any trouble. Anyone still having trouble?

Yes same application error.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#37

Post by rethaw » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:49 PM UTC

First of all, congrats on actually shipping. You've already accomplished more than 99% of people.

Second of all, you're actually charging money for your product. That's awesome. When just one of those users converts to a paid plan you'll already be making more money than any of those hyped social startups with big launches that never turn a dollar profit.

Kudos.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#38

Post by delano » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:52 PM UTC

Congrats on the launch.

I run a monitoring service that's built on top of PhantomJS. Happy to chat anytime about the tech or what I've learned about the business.

It would help to have a clear call to action from the homepage. One thing to keep in mind is that most major hosting companies don't charge for inbound traffic any more so pulling data is basically free.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#39

Post by joelg87 » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:53 PM UTC

adambenayoun wrote: post #30

joelg87 wrote: post #23

In the whole first month of Buffer, we had less than 100 signups. For comparison, we now have 560,000 users (2.5 years later). We now sign up 100 people within a couple hours. It amazes me to think about it. I had a previous startup that also started slow, but never really changed. The key difference between the two, was retention. So I would highly recommend anyone who's getting started to closely watch retention. D…

Hey Joel, I'm interested to know if the first 100 users stuck with your product over time or you had to figure out how to do retention over time.

What an awesome question Adam.

Just had a look at our cohort analysis. Happy to let you know that 16% of the December 2010 cohort (those 100 people) are still using Buffer today (27 months later). It's actually fairly representative of what our retention stabilizes to after 4-5 months for almost every cohort, though 100 is not an ideal sample size!

We've certainly worked to improve retention over time, but in addition I think with Buffer I finally had hit upon a problem that was a real pain point. So, there was good retention right from the start.

Re: Tell HN: My Web App has 13 Users

#40

Post by chaddeshon » Sat, Mar 16, 2013, 11:53 PM UTC

joelg87 wrote: post #23

In the whole first month of Buffer, we had less than 100 signups. For comparison, we now have 560,000 users (2.5 years later). We now sign up 100 people within a couple hours. It amazes me to think about it. I had a previous startup that also started slow, but never really changed. The key difference between the two, was retention. So I would highly recommend anyone who's getting started to closely watch retention. D…

Thanks for this helpful and encouraging post.

As I was right this the main question I had was how do I know the difference between "Nobody wants what your selling" and "You need to do a better job marketing"? Retention is a great answer to the question.