How I started BetaList
medium.com
How I started BetaList
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Re: How I started BetaList
#2This was actually an enjoyable read. The best part for me was making good on the promise they made with BetaList, having successfully featured Pinterest, Mailbox, IFTTT, and so on.
Re: How I started BetaList
#3I was honestly out to thrash you guys in the comments when i read the title. But the article indeed turned out interesting. I guess this is what people have now termed "growth hacking"!
Re: How I started BetaList
#4I was honestly out to thrash you guys in the comments when i read the title. But the article indeed turned out interesting. I guess this is what people have now termed "growth hacking"!
absolutely - this was fascinating! that is some serious lateral thinking!
Re: How I started BetaList
#5The title did indeed keep it's promise. Rare that is.
Great real life hack, especially since beta list seems to have been more successful than open margin. He tricked himself it seems.
Re: How I started BetaList
#6[deleted]
Re: How I started BetaList
#7As someone who went through almost the same exact process, these are my tips for getting coverage:
-Keep your email brief (three sentences, tops).
-Tell a story. Many of the stories on publications like TechCrunch are as much about the founders as they are about the startups. Look for an interesting angle related to yours and pitch it accordingly.
-Bloggers have to create several stories a week. Do as much of their job for them as you can by framing the outline of the story they will write in your pitch for coverage (related to previous point). If you started it as a side-project while in college, great, mention that. If your startup is in the same space as [hot trendy startup], great, mention that. Just make sure the whole thing is less than four sentences.
All that said- don't waste your time trying to get covered if you don't have a regular user base. Yes it is true, if you are covered it will result in an enormous spike in traffic. That spike will quickly diminish and you will be back to trying to find more users. I'm very happy for the author that BetaList turned into a profitable business, but getting covered and hatching a profitable, sustainable business because of it is the exception, not the norm.
Not to say PR isn't useful (and surprisingly easy to game), but that should come after you've grown a reliable customer base.
Re: How I started BetaList
#8[deleted]
Please don't post "comments" like this.
If you have something to say....please say it!
Re: How I started BetaList
#9Thank you for taking the time to write this inspiring post!
Re: How I started BetaList
#10This was actually an enjoyable read. The best part for me was making good on the promise they made with BetaList, having successfully featured Pinterest, Mailbox, IFTTT, and so on.
Love the hacks that turn into something useful. I know it may have been a 'trick' or whatever, but this is an example that proves that "scratch your own itch" to build a great product. He could've used BetaList for his own startup, so he built it.
That it was built quickly, using Tumblr, and then evolved is just being fast on your feet and doing good work.