🗞 What's New: Don't make these Product Hunt launch mistakes

Is your Product Launch strategy full of holes?

• Certain mistakes can cost you, but you can avoid them by talking to users beforehand, conducting market research, and optimizing your copy.
• Keep people engaged in your online course by adding solo work and breakout rooms. Borrow someone else's audience if you don't have one.
• From teacher to full-time founder, to full-time employee. Jevon Shaw urges indie hackers to take planning for retirement seriously. Today.

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by Apostolos Dedeloudis

Our Product Hunt launch didn't go as expected. VC_OS is an ecosystem designed to help founders navigate the busy world of venture capital, and we finished at number 41 instead of being top product of the day. We also made no money.

After much time spent analyzing where we went wrong, here's what we discovered!

Not talking to our target audience beforehand

We thought we knew what our target audience wanted, without actually reaching out to them prior to the launch. In retrospect, this was a major blunder.

User interaction before any product launch is absolutely essential, as it helps with validating your idea, and provides insights into what the users actually need. Not having this information meant that the extra mile of personalization and user-centered design was missing from our platform. Our lack of direct interaction with potential users left us operating on assumptions.

Too much building, not enough selling

We overemphasized product building, and used it as an excuse to neglect other important aspects of a product launch, like crafting a compelling landing page and writing the perfect copy.

Though product development is essential, focusing solely on building, and not on selling, was a big mistake. A balanced approach between the two is crucial to drive a successful product launch. A potential customer's first impression often comes from the landing page and marketing copy. Without having these optimized, we lacked the necessary tools to attract and retain potential customers.

Unfortunate timing

On our launch day, we found ourselves going head-to-head with a direct competitor that was also launching that day. This competitor had focused heavily on marketing their product, overshadowing our less optimized launch.

The significance of timing and a little bit of luck can't be underestimated in the startup world. Of course, you can't control everything, but you can give yourself the best chance of success. Utilize market research and strategic planning to pick the most opportune time for a product launch.

Failure can be a tough pill to swallow, but every failure brings important lessons!

Discuss this story.

from the Growth Trends newsletter

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

from The Hustle newsletter

Wes Kao, cofounder of altMBA and Maven, is an expert at two things: Indie hacking and online courses.

We're stoked that she made time to chat with us and share her key lessons!

*Wes Kao and Trends editor, Kristin Egan

tl;dr:

• Bold action gets you in the rooms you want to be in.
• Be confident enough to take risks, but also learn how to mitigate them.
• Building a network can lead to valuable collaborations and opportunities to market your course.

Find a problem to solve

The winning formula is to spend 90% of your time thinking about what the user will get out of the course, and only 10% thinking about why you're the one who can deliver it.

That puts the focus on the most important part: The transformation your course will deliver. Be ruthlessly solution-focused.

Let's get building

The online education market is set to explode to $319B by 2025.

Timing is important, so look for signals that your unique knowledge is in high demand. Multiple people coming to you to consult, and a spike of interest in your field, are two strong signals that you can build and sell a profitable course.

The basics:

• Be a credible instructor: They're picking you over thousands of other available options. Have a strong track record of success in the field you're teaching.

• Don't overstuff: Focus on knowledge, insight, and an experience they cannot get anywhere else.

• Solve an expensive problem: People are willing to pay for transformation, but only for high-impact problems.

• Be a painkiller, not a vitamin: Cut right to the heart of the problem and deliver efficient, effective solutions in a short amount of time.

• Keep it dynamic: Zoom fatigue is real. Find ways to keep your audience alert and engaged.

*Mix it up with these Zoom tactics.

Hard work > huge audience

Seasoned pros with experience solving real world problems often lack extensive Twitter followings or popular newsletters.

The good news is that you can strategically borrow other people's audiences. For example:

• Co-host webinars with popular professionals in your industry.
• Land speaking engagements that showcase your skills.
• Encourage word-of-mouth reputation building.
• Join niche Slack groups to establish your authority.
• Get on podcasts to share your knowledge.

Treat your course like a business, and it will grow like one!

Subscribe to The Hustle newsletter for more.

from the One Page Love newsletter

Strengthen your landing page with these design, development, and conversion tips:

Put your name on it.

A common concern among landing page visitors is how well a product or service is supported. They want to know:

• If I commit, will I get help?
• Who actually built this?
• Are they continuously improving it?

Show yourself and your team so users see the humans behind the product.

Subscribe to Rob Hope's One Page Love newsletter for his favorite UI, design, and development finds.

by James Fleischmann

It's not often that we get to peek behind the curtain at a person's finances. In this series, we'll be doing exactly that!

We're starting with Jevon Shaw, a founder who is working full-time while building his side hustle, Metracker.

The numbers

• Revenue: $0.
• Full-time salary: $85K per year.
• Profit from rental property: -$200 per month.
• Money in the bank: $5K+.

Jevon's rental income is in the negative because his mortgage is higher than the rent he's able to charge. Luckily, his business expenses are minimal, at $30 per month for Bubble.

From teacher to full-time indie hacker

In 2018, Jevon started teaching algebra. At the start of the pandemic, he created an app that would help his students fill in the gaps where they were struggling. He'd learned how to code in college, and the kids who used it benefited from it.

Building something that genuinely made an impact on someone's life made him joyful. He quit his teaching job in 2021 to focus on his app.

In 2022, he got a job as a Salesforce consultant. Why? He was hemorrhaging money.

His goal is to eventually be earning enough income from his rental property and his indie hacking projects, but to feel comfortable making that leap again, he'll need those streams to at least match the $85K that he currently makes.

The deep dive

Jevon is anti-consumer debt. That means he keeps a $0 balance on his credit card, and paid for his vehicle upfront. While he does have a mortgage, it's on a rental property, so he views it as investment debt, not consumer debt. He's currently in the red, but since he's using the property as a retirement vehicle, he's okay with that. He sees this loss as a contribution to his retirement fund.

Notably, the rental property is leveraged on a fixed-rate mortgage, so in a few years, rent payments will be higher than the mortgage payment. And, if he holds onto the property for the full term of the loan (30 years), it'll eventually provide cashflow with no expenses, other than taxes and upkeep.

He has ~$1K tied up in the stock market right now. That number was once much higher, but now that he's employed again, he's trying to build it back up by investing $250 every month.

While he loves the thrill of investing, he does it the "boring" way by using Betterment's robo-advisor to pick stocks for him.

Advice for indie hackers

Jevon's biggest piece of advice? Start thinking about your retirement. Seriously.

Also, check out the tools that Jevon uses to manage his finances:

• Bank of America app: He uses this for budgeting by setting caps on different categories of expenses.
• Betterment: Stock investing.

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

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

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Apostolos Dedeloudis, Darko, Susie Ippolito, Rob Hope, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing