🗞 What's New: Replicating a $120,000 launch

Launching a new product doesn't have to be overwhelming:

• If you're looking to lock in a 6 figure launch, this guide can help. Hint: Share byproducts from your software that would be helpful to your customers, like helpful research or best practices.
• Hitting the #1 trending post on Reddit can be elusive, but we're pulling back the veil with the tips below.
• Founder Tom Shaw's mobile ordering company hit 2,000 users and $30K+ in revenue in its first 45 days, and then...it failed. Here, he reflects on what he could have done differently, and how he let his first customer push him around too much.

Want to share something with over 110,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing

💰 Replicating a $120K Launch

by Denys Osmak

Analytics platform Usermaven was able to generate $120K+ in revenue just three weeks after launching, without external investment or paid ads.

Read on for a breakdown of how the company achieved this, and how you can replicate the results!

Prerequisites for a successful launch

• Deeply understand who you are targeting.

• Complete validation, and collect testimonials from your beta users for your launch. Video testimonials are best.

• Create an irresistible offer for your launch. The idea behind this is to make the value of your product so much higher than the asking price, that it would be dumb for users to say no.

Increase your product's perceived value

There are many ways to increase your product's perceived value without spending money. Here are a few:

• Create a lifetime deal (LTD): This is the most common way to increase the value of your offer for a SaaS product. A LTD is especially valuable if the customer has already seen your product and knows what you charge per month.

• Create a crazy good money back guarantee: 30 days is standard, but the crazier you go, the better results you will get.

• Premium software features: If you have different tiers of your SaaS, consider giving the customer some select premium features from the higher tier of your product as a part of your special offer.

• Increase your trial period: If you have a seven day trial period displayed on your main website, offer a 14 or 30 day trial for the launch.

• Share byproducts of your software that would be helpful to your customers: This can be anything from research that you did for the product, to a feature that you decided not to include. The possibilities for this are endless, but they must help the customer attain their desired results.

Here are other ways to add value to your offer. Be advised that these options require additional costs, or time away from the launch:

• Create a course.
• Write an e-book.
• Offer tickets to a training challenge.
• Create a different SaaS product to cross-promote.
• Run a giveaway.

Usermaven's successful launch was based on three factors:

1. The most valuable thing was having a product that was proven to solve their customers' problem.
2. A 30 day guarantee.
3. A compelling LTD.

Getting key people to promote your launch

This is not about doing cold outreach or starting a blog. Those strategies take too long for our purposes here. Instead, reach out to the places where your target customers spend their time.

The idea behind this is that you save time by connecting with people who have already collected a group of your target customers. That collection of people can come in the form of a blog, YouTube channel, podcast, newsletter, Facebook Group, etc.

Here are the most important questions to ask when searching for these groups:

1. Does my product solve existing problems for this group?
2. Would the offer be attractive for this group?

Let’s look at how Usermaven did it. Its product gives founders and marketers analytical data on their products, similar to Google Analytics. Usermaven created a special LTD, tailored to people in Facebook Groups that fit its target audience.

Key elements of a landing page for launch

Here are the elements that you need:

• A countdown timer for when the offer will end. This creates urgency.

• A video demo of your software that focuses on the benefits and end results.

• A clear call-to-action (CTA).

• A description of the problem, and how your software solves it.

• A section focusing on how customers will benefit from each feature.

• The money back guarantee section.

• An offer summary.

• Customer testimonials, preferably in the form of video.

• FAQs.

The purpose of the landing page is not to sell. Instead, it is to collect an email from the potential customer, then redirect them to a purchase page where they can order.

The idea behind this is that you are asking for a much smaller commitment from the customer by asking for their email, rather than asking for a more considerable commitment (to purchase). Also, if a person inputs the email, but does not buy the product, you can easily retarget them with email.

If you're interested in working with me to help launch or scale your product, book a call with me here!

What are your top tips for launching? Share your experience below!

Discuss this story.

📰 In the News

from the Growth Trends newsletter by Darko

🛍 TikTok has provided new insights into the best performing products, based on ad content.

📞 AI in the workplace is already here. The first battleground? Call centers.

💻 The new headless Chrome has a near-perfect browser fingerprint.

📲 Facebook and Instagram will soon have a blue tick verification service.

🧠 Need to reset? Here's how to change your mindset.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

🥇 How to Hit Number One on Reddit

by Eric Lam

Yesterday, I launched my free Google Chrome extension, ReaderMax. (I posted about it here, here, and here.)

I hit number one on Reddit multiple times. Here's how!

Create a lead magnet

A couple of years ago, I took an online course created by a guy named Josh Snow, founder of a high-end teeth whitening D2C brand.

One thing that always stood out to me was a hack that he used to get people to engage with his products. He would create a Facebook Ad that tapped into a dream that people have. The dream that resonated most was one about having your teeth fall out while sleeping. This is apparently a common dream.

He wrote an article about what it means to dream about your teeth falling out. It included a shocking image, and it was a scroll-stopper.

Interested people would stop scrolling to read the text. The link took them to the teeth whitening website, where they would read an article about what it means to have that dream. It all came down to insecurity about teeth!

Using this tactic, I wrote an article called: "I built an AI chrome extension to 10x your reading in two days...here's how."

The headline was captivating, tapping into people's desire to read more, and read faster.

Be indirect

In the article, I described the process of building the Chrome extension in practical terms so that anyone can apply the same methods to create their own.

I also included the roadblocks that I encountered to provide a more practical view of the process. For example, I had to update files that I didn't know were deprecated. I was able to link to the product to show the result, but the real point of the story was to give value to the reader: Here's how to create an AI Chrome extension quickly. People could apply this to their own lives.

But, if they're interested in the product I built, they could check that out, too! This is important, since your Reddit post will get taken down if it's an ad. You must create value through your post.

Scatter your bets

I posted three times on Reddit. My posts in r/business_ideas and r/artificialintelligence went number one on trending. I posted in r/startups, and the mods took my post down and told me they wanted to ban me. Figure out where to post, and refine your strategy based on the subreddit.

Ultimately, there's no way to know if posts will do well on Reddit, and the process is filled with uncertainty. The best way to go about it is to try to create the most captivating article possible, with good value and a catchy title. From there, it's a dice roll. I've had posts flop, and I've had posts go super viral.

All you can do is to try your best! The rest is up to the internet, which can be super fickle. Don't feel bad if you have to try many times to reach your Reddit goals.

Will you implement these tips into your Reddit strategy? Let's chat below!

Discuss this story.

🚀 The Spector Report

by Josh Spector

I'm sharing growth tips for creative founders! Here's this week's:

Generosity is an engine for virality.

The more you give, the more you’ll grow.

Selfishness doesn’t spread.

Subscribe to Josh's For The Interested newsletter or I Want To Know podcast for more.

💭 Tom Shaw Reflects on Startup Failure

by Tom Shaw

Hi, indie hackers! I'm Tom Shaw, and my first startup hit 2K users and $30K in revenue in 45 days, but...it failed. Here’s why.

Bad market opportunity

My first startup was a mobile ordering company called Kardlo. I wanted to get into digital identity, but as soon as I bought the domain and registered the company, it became apparent that mobile ordering services were in high demand by the hospitality industry.

As someone who had been running marketing campaigns for hospitality businesses for a few years prior, this was a perfect opportunity for me. Or, was it? While this looked like a great opportunity for a new company to sweep in and take over the market, I was forgetting one major factor: A lot of other companies were starting to build mobile ordering services, and they had a lot more money and resources than me.

I wasn’t fast

Being a one man band, it’s extremely difficult to build, iterate, get new customers, manage existing ones, and everything else founders need to do. In hindsight, a lot of my problems could have been solved by:

• Building a better product at the beginning.
• Having a better marketing and sales strategy.
• Automating customer service.
• Bringing in a cofounder who either could help build the product, or help market it.

One of the key lessons I've learned in business is that speed is everything. You have to be fast. If you’re not, someone is going to overtake you. This goes for all businesses. You could be a year ahead, but if you aren’t innovating and growing as fast as another company, they’re going to eventually catch up.

I let my first customer push me around

Getting feedback and improving your product so that it's perfect for your first customer is a great way to build. But, like I said before, speed is everything. Unfortunately, I let my first customer push me around a bit too much. I wasted valuable time. I built features that only they needed, which ultimately led to me building a product that did not meet the requirements for the rest of the market. I had essentially spent over a month going in the wrong direction.

After this month, my competitors had claimed most of the opportunities within the market. More importantly, COVID-19 regulations started easing up in the UK, which meant that hospitality businesses were less interested in trying out new tech.

Closing down

Part of the deal with my first client was that I would take control of promoting their mobile ordering service. We essentially turned their closed bar and restaurant into an alcohol delivery service. However, since it was their alcohol, and I was only selling it, I was making a relatively small fee for the services that I provided. So, my gross profit on the whole ordeal was only a few grand.

Ultimately, I decided to close my business after coming to the realization that it was a dead horse. “You can keep pushing a dead horse, but a living one moves a lot faster.” I’m sure there's a quote like that or something. If not, I’ll claim it!

Discuss this story.

🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Denys Osmak, Darko, Eric Lam, Josh Spector, and Tom Shaw for contributing posts. —Channing