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How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

lennyrachitsky.com

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Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#91

Post by egfx »

mohsinhaider wrote: post #73
jacobobryant wrote: post #28

A strategy I've been thinking of for my startup (10-20 WAU currently ) is going through old HN discussions that are relevant to my product, finding people who I think would be interested in it based on their comments, and emailing them with a quote from their comment and an explanation of why I think they specifically would be interested. (and then ask them to try it out & give feedback). I thought of this since I wa…

I have utilized this approach, but on Reddit instead of HN. I launched a tool I was working on and got my very first users from Reddit who were passionate about the topic. Now, those users are evangelists and they've helped spread the word to their communities which has lead recent numbers hovering around 2k WAU.

Do you have any sample of a thread that you used for this strategy? I have a content generator app and have been using reddit on my own and having fun entering photoshop contests but I want to branch out and get evangelists of people in other ways on Reddit.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#92

Post by celicaraptor »

petargyurov wrote: post #6

> Get Press Always wondered about this - do I just email an news outlet and tell them "my story" and see if they roll with it? I'm starting to advertise my business around with the idea of growing a userbase before the official release. Ironically enough mentioning a link to it on my previous HN comment lead to more visitors than either of the Facebook or Reddit ads that I put up. With that said, if you're into 3D pr…

I really like your business idea, also nice looking website!Best of luck

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#93

Post by bemmu »

jacobobryant wrote: post #28

A strategy I've been thinking of for my startup (10-20 WAU currently ) is going through old HN discussions that are relevant to my product, finding people who I think would be interested in it based on their comments, and emailing them with a quote from their comment and an explanation of why I think they specifically would be interested. (and then ask them to try it out & give feedback). I thought of this since I wa…

Glad you're using a personalized approach. I find that many people are mining the Indie Hackers and Product Hunt for creators, as I'm getting a lot of uncustomized pitch emails from those.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#94

Post by andrewfromx »

I thought for sure this article was going to mention Bird or the other scooter companies that followed. But leaving the vehicles on the street was the way to get first 1,000 users for sure. What is the next thing that can be done this way? I've often thought it should be cheap android phones set with a custom build of android that does something very simple. Like display a bright green background and some text like "take me i'm free!" and some way to encourage the taker to charge the device and place it back in circulation.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#95

Post by bemmu »

redis_mlc wrote: post #52

I've been following these techniques for decades: 1) PG and Viaweb had no traction until they hired a PR firm. Back in the day, those were $5k to $15k/month. "It took a painfully long time for word of mouth to get going, and we did not start to get a lot of press coverage until we hired a PR firm (admittedly the best in the business) for $16,000 per month." https://www.you-books.com/book/P-Graham/Essays YC now has "B…

As for 4), it looks like it was indeed very important for Facebook. Here's a quote from Steven Levy's book "Facebook":

For months, the two companies had been feuding over the way Facebook was scraping data from Hotmail and MSN Messenger products. Facebook had its own complaint—as retaliation, Hotmail had begun labeling invitations to join Facebook as spam. According to The Facebook Effect, Moskovitz said that this caused a 70 percent drop in new users.

Later on when Microsoft buys a stake in Facebook, they stop classifying the invites as spam.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#96

Post by astura »

bigtones wrote: post #60
gdhbcc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally advertising regulations require you to disclose any relationship with the company. That's why youtuber put #ad on their videos

No, under US law you're required to disclose if you have been paid specifically by a third party to promote their product or service. You don't have to disclose a mear 'relationship'.

False

From the FTC

>If you endorse a product through social media, your endorsement message should make it obvious when you have a relationship (“material connection”) with the brand. A “material connection” to the brand includes a personal, family, or employment relationship or a financial relationship – such as the brand paying you or giving you free or discounted products or services.

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/10...

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#97

Post by tedsanders »

fbnlsr wrote: post #90

Shouldn't Netflix be in the "offline" category? They started as a mail DVD service, didn't they?

They did start by mailing DVDs, but you ordered them from a website, not a print catalog or a phone number. Delivery was physical, but ordering was digital. This is similar to DoorDash or Lyft, where you order digitally and then wait for something physical to arrive at your doorstep.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#98

Post by petargyurov »

celicaraptor wrote: post #92
petargyurov wrote: post #6

> Get Press Always wondered about this - do I just email an news outlet and tell them "my story" and see if they roll with it? I'm starting to advertise my business around with the idea of growing a userbase before the official release. Ironically enough mentioning a link to it on my previous HN comment lead to more visitors than either of the Facebook or Reddit ads that I put up. With that said, if you're into 3D pr…

I really like your business idea, also nice looking website!Best of luck

Thank you! Glad you like it! It's always encouraging to see comments like these :)

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#99

Post by goatherders »

A relatively well known and highly funded managed WordPress company got its first X,000 users by offering free accounts to people with audience in exchange for being able to place links on the site that juiced the SEO. It wasn't "Powered by hosting company X" but rather things like "Best WordPress Hosting" and "How to Update WordPress".

SEO juice + new/immature sector = lots of FOS traffic/users.

Re: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users

#100

Post by GrumpyNl »

sweeneyrod wrote: post #89
dunkelheit wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your product is already useful for a single isolated user. In contrast, apps such as tinder are essentially useless without a sizable existing user base. I'd imagine getting first users for a product that relies on network effects is on a completely different difficulty level.

My experience is that it's easier than you might expect if you're doing things right (you have an interesting product and low-friction signup process). I recently started a university-specific dating app and had no trouble getting the first few hundred users, even with the actual matching functionality turned off.

Free users for a dating is no problem, monetizing them is another ball game.
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