is it crazy that i'm a web dev with more than 10 years and have never heard the term "markdown" before?
A little bit crazy, yes.
It's the markup format on Github, on Stack Overflow, and for many other sites and tools.
How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
121–130 of 140 posts
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#122I think I'm too cynical to do these kinds of side businesses... I look at this and am confused why anyone is paying for it. I often find it hard to step away from what I would do compared to what others will do.
I'm one of those 500 paid users (renewed my yearly subscription a few days ago), so here's my arguing why:
- It's arguably the only Markdown editor dedicated to note keeping that looks even remotely modern on Ubuntu.
- Its mobile support is decent and gets the job done.
- The developer is very responsive. I can't contribute to the code directly, but my name has appeared on a changelog multiple times because I suggested features / reported problems. Unlike an open source project, this one has a person dedicated to it full time whose goal is to keep me happy as a subscriber. Issues I raise don't tend to be open for months or years with no end, they tend to be fixed within a month or so.
- Its plugins are easy to install. Similarly to Atom, I'm only "ipm install " away from having a plugin.
- I find GTD features (notebooks, tags, to-do lists) to be nice to have, even though I don't rely on them extensively.
- I can create a public link for a note and share it with whoever.
- In case shit hits the fan, you can back up the data to a local folder and sync it using whatever.
If I was relying on macOS or Windows, I would have probably found something else.
Standard Notes, as the only decent competitor, is out of the question for me since I would have to use a third-party cloud instead of my own Nextcloud install for the backups.
Main con I could think of: I manually have to download deb packages with every update like I'm some sort of a Windows user.
In fact, here's a note I've created a year ago comparing the various options that were at my disposal a year ago when I was making this decision: https://community.inkdrop.info/note/f607a6970af9e4b40795ec5b...
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#123> "You don’t have to care about competitors. It’s a waste of time. Because you know where to go. You can ignore even if they stole features your product has. Because you are the person who most understands your product, how it works and why it works." I enjoyed this article, but this bit I'm not entirely convinced by. The saying does go that competition leads to innovation. Instagram Stories were a great business mov…
Some truths are directional, rather than universal.
Maybe "ignore competitors" is the former.
Example: "carbs are bad" is directionaly true but not universally so (at least I would posit it is directionaly true for the modern American diet)
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
BookStack: https://www.bookstackapp.com/
But I have to install this and run my own server- the cheapest one I can find is 5usd/month, so I’m paying for that and the time to set it up + maintain it. Inkdrop still looks like better value for money
BookStack is free. You can add it to a server you already have or host it locally.
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I run an online business with my wife. Her background is in marketing. When I explained the MVP idea to her, she thought it was the dumbest idea ever. In her eyes spending expensive marketing dollars to bring people to see anything but a full featured product is a disaster. You only have 1 shot and 5 seconds of their attention so you better make sure they like what they see. Any pivoting in the business strategy mean…
In her eyes spending expensive marketing dollars to bring people to see anything but a full featured product is a disaster. The lean startup approach doesn't advocate spending a lot of marketing dollars showing people your MVP. It advocates being, well, lean, until you have a good reason to believe that you have "product/market fit". It's then that you crank up the marketing/promotion stuff. After all, wouldn't it be…
There are a couple definitions of "marketing". Most people's definition of "marketing" is "advertising". However, in business school, "marketing" is knowing product fit even before building anything. Knowing the product niche, pricing, market size, competitive advantage... all in the business plan ahead of time. You would not spend any money on advertising (or engineering) without knowing all this. Lean startup is backward in this sense.
EDIT: i guess my point is, engineering isn't cheap either. Shouldn't be OK spending that money ahead of product fit either.
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think there's a philosophical difference that the author did here? They specifically write "Don’t hurry. It’s not a startup rushing to an exit.". The lack of pressure and the slow cultivation was something that struck me in this article, as opposed to the stereotypical rush of the startup lifecycle.
The whole 'Lean Startup' trend was such a feel good gimmick. Sure if you arent sure about your product and havent done any market tests, a minimum viable product is fine. However, I had/have a service that was already popular and my circle of friends were obsessed with MVP and Lean Startup. They pressured me and when I began mainstream marketing the response was that my service was low quality. Those people were wron…
> However, I had/have a service that was already popular and my circle of friends were obsessed with MVP and Lean Startup. They pressured me and when I began mainstream marketing the response was that my service was low quality.
Some friends exist just to give us bad advice. There are problems with Lean Startup, but this feels more like "people that don't understand a thing, giving advice about that thing."
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#127This story strikes me as (at least partly) survivorship bias. It's great that they were able to acquire 600 paid customers without advertizing their product on blogs, and ignoring their competitors. I don't have hard numbers to back me up, but I doubt that this is a successful strategy in general. This story is a data point that proves that it's possible , not that this gives you a better (or even good) chance at suc…
Do you think there's a philosophical difference that the author did here? They specifically write "Don’t hurry. It’s not a startup rushing to an exit.". The lack of pressure and the slow cultivation was something that struck me in this article, as opposed to the stereotypical rush of the startup lifecycle.
This exactly. He's clear about not looking at his project thru the lenses of startup. It's nice recipe for a side-project.
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
In her eyes spending expensive marketing dollars to bring people to see anything but a full featured product is a disaster. The lean startup approach doesn't advocate spending a lot of marketing dollars showing people your MVP. It advocates being, well, lean, until you have a good reason to believe that you have "product/market fit". It's then that you crank up the marketing/promotion stuff. After all, wouldn't it be…
There are a couple definitions of "marketing". Most people's definition of "marketing" is "advertising". However, in business school, "marketing" is knowing product fit even before building anything. Knowing the product niche, pricing, market size, competitive advantage... all in the business plan ahead of time. You would not spend any money on advertising (or engineering) without knowing all this. Lean startup is ba…
Knowing the product niche, pricing, market size, competitive advantage... all in the business plan ahead of time.
The whole point of the lean startup approach is to posit that the "business school approach" is wrong, exactly because you don't know all this stuff ahead of time, and that "business plans" are an outdated idea.
And if what you're doing is a truly novel product, then you almost certainly don't. If you're using the "fast follower" strategy to be the nth company doing a product in a certain space, then sure.
OTOH, even Steve Blank says that there are certain areas where you don't need to do Customer Discovery / Customer Development... like, if you're creating a cure for cancer, it's pretty much all engineering. If you build it (and it works) they will come. But I think that kind of scenario is the exception, not the rule.
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#129Roadmaps are really important to me. When I'm evaluating a new service, I first look for a published roadmap. Specifically: * When the next version will be released (specific date, not just bullshit stuff like "Q1 2019") * What new features it will have If I can't find anything like this, I'm less likely to sign up.
But why is it important what features the app will have in the future? Why not focus on what it does right now?
Because I want to use services that are actively being developed and improved, where the development team has a clear vision and direction for the product and are willing to commit to it publicly.
Re: How I’ve Attracted the First 500 Paid Users for My SaaS
#130This story strikes me as (at least partly) survivorship bias. It's great that they were able to acquire 600 paid customers without advertizing their product on blogs, and ignoring their competitors. I don't have hard numbers to back me up, but I doubt that this is a successful strategy in general. This story is a data point that proves that it's possible , not that this gives you a better (or even good) chance at suc…
I feel what's also missing is how he acquired his very first 100 paid customers because a lot of the other strategies don't really apply (make existing users happy, user forum, roadmaps) if you don't have a minimum user base to work with.
I skimmed some of his blog posts:
> "On the private beta launch, I posted a link to Hacker News and it fortunately got covered on the top page and it resulted in over 1,000 beta entries. Beta users gave me lots of suggestions and bug reports and they helped me evolve the app to be ready for the official release."
https://blog.inkdrop.info/how-i-built-a-markdown-editor-earn...