Heeey! How are you doing?

I’ve been working in the shadow on my apps and also the new platform for Shopify App Founders 👀

I think it’s gonna be awesome!

New week, new email!

Before starting, let me share with you the dev company I’m working with (useful for the first section of this email)

Grodas

I’ve been working with Grodas since 2021. 2 developers are working with me.

They started on WideReview (my 2nd app) but are now working on both WideBundle and WideReview.

It’s an agency that places developers on your project so you work directly with them.

If you want to delegate coding then you can contact them by clicking here so they can see if they can handle your project.

In today’s email we’re going to talk about:

Let’s go! 🔥

How do I work with developers after delegating?

Many developers are reading this newsletter. If you’re like me, you might eventually have to hire developers because your business is growing.

And it’s a good thing!

But it can be complicated when you’ve never hired another developer:

And I get it! But you have to go through this if you want to scale!

A good friend once told me: “When you hire someone, don’t look for a person who can do 100% as you. Aim for 75%”

When you delegate, it’s really complicated to find someone as dedicated as you. You have to understand that you built this business yourself. They can’t be as committed.

So you have to find someone that is good enough to push your business.

Getting someone that does 75% as you allows you to focus on other parts of the business.

What do you prefer? To make $30K per month because you have time to run your business.

Or making $3000 per month coding every day because you decided not to delegate?

My current developers are from the agency Grodas, but the purpose of this email is not to tell you how to find your developers.

What I want to share with you is the after: How do I work with developers after you choose them?

a) Cost of developers

The costs depend on where you're hiring your developers and if they're senior or not

If you hire them in the US you won't have the same price than if you hire them in India.

And if you get a junior developer, you won't have the same price as a senior

From what I was, you can go from $10 to $150 per hour

Honestly, go for MINIMUM $25 per hour. That's the limit I saw for a quality code

My developers are in Ukraine right now, it's a good compromise between prices and quality

If I'm not mistaken I pay around $30-$35 per hour for a 40h per week. I personally pay them monthly.

b) Communication

For communication we a do a weekly call every Monday morning. During this call we review: What happened next week and what we'll do for the current week.

They show me everything they did and I need to they show me the code (but I also check it on Github sometimes). I know they're good developers so I don't lose time checking the code.

I have a roadmap on Notion where we take the tasks for this week, I ask them if they have any question (the task is detailed about what I want, end result, etc). And then we start the week.

Usually every Friday they record a video about what they did so during the week end I make the tests: Does it work as expected?

It helps me prepare the call because it won't be new to be

During the week, whenever they need something, they ask question on Slack or record a video if it's complex. And I can sometimes ask them to tell me how it's going on Wednesday for complicated tasks.

So I do review every feature, not the code, but how it works (I'm basically the QA person and product manager).

c) Pushing code

They can push whatever they want for small bugs with users (we have processes about how to test, how to ensure it works, what part of the code you need approval, etc)

For code standards, we have a page with documentation explaining all our functions and how they work. I even recorded myself going through ALL the code to explain how something works, but you can ask the developers to do it (they do it themselves now). So, if needed, we can go back to it.

For code standards, they're smart so they follow the structure we had already made.

d) How to keep your developers engaged

During the first interview, I asked them what their goal was and whether they wanted to stay longer. Do they want to change company every year?

And I have a perfect policy: Every day we receive in a Slack channel the MRR we're doing. And I tell them that every time the MRR is increasing, then everyone, including support, devs, etc... gets a higher salary. They feel involved and know they can grow with the company

→ I create the initial documentation then they do it themselves

→ I pick the features I want, describe it and they handle everything

→ I just test in the end

It's either something that takes time but you do it once (initial documentation) or you save the most time consuming tasks (actually building features)

To get good developers it's exactly what I said:

→ Are they willing to stay longer?

→ Do they have experience (especially Shopify App experience)

→ Does the technical task is done perfectly?

Don't hesitate to do more job posts, don't tell yourself the first time you absolutely need to hire someone. If it takes 2 months to hire it's better than taking 1 week with a bad developer.

Update on my new SaaS business

Quick reminder: Shopify App founders want to partner with other apps to drive traffic. But it’s complicated to get partnerships.

It takes weeks to get 1 partner.

My goal is simple. Find partners in days. Not in weeks.

Now that I reminded you of what I’m building, I recently posted on X that I was looking for a technical co-founder.

My goal isn’t to build it alone. I want someone to handle the coding and product side so I can focus on marketing and support.

I had 40 submissions. Just that.

If you’re curious, this was the application form

And I selected a few people that I contacted.

The goal is to find someone as dedicated as me to work on that project. I would like a small salary that will increase over time and shares in the company.

The next step is to get people on an interview to find the best person!

Stay tuned.

Getting your first 10 users

Let’s continue with our series to build and grow a Shopify App from scratch.

The previous lesson was about building the MVP, you can find the email by clicking here.

If you did everything I shared before, you now have an MVP of an app that you KNOW people need (because you followed the previous lessons)

You followed my previous posts, so you already have potential users to reach out to. They are your app's first users.

Your app can be free (but I don’t recommend it) or you can offer a discount for early users with a free trial. Even if the app only costs $5, you will increase in the future.

But try not to give it for free. Or you should absolutely limit it. Like free for all the people installing within a week.

Launch on the App Store Release your app on the app store when you can have at least 10 early users.

App Listing

1. Target long-tail keywords to rank in the first positions

In the beginning, you will need many reviews and installs to compete with giants on the best keywords.

But you’re lucky because giants aren’t looking for smaller keywords with small traffic.

So the goal is: find smaller keywords.

To find them, look at the keywords in your niche and check the first apps for that keyword.

Do the apps do pretty much the same as you? If not, it means the intent is different. The people typing this keyword aren’t looking for an app like yours.

If they’re similar then look at the number of reviews. It shouldn’t be too high otherwise you won’t be able to rank on them. But you can try!

Good thing is, when you change your app listing then the results are immediate and you can check your ranking.

As you get more installs and reviews, try other keywords and see if you rank on the first page for those.

2. Have good branding for icon and images

Your listing needs to be easy to recognize. Powerful colors. Simple icon.

That is why WideBundle is a dark pink like that. We notice it!

Don’t make a complicated icon; otherwise, people won’t recognize it. Especially if your app just launched and you’re not as big as other apps.

Your listing is really important as it’s the last step before people decide to install it

3. Talk about the benefits of your apps

People will look at your features but they also want to know what these features will do for them.

You added a specific feature for an upsell app? Great, explain why it’s useful for the user and what they will get from it.

Think feature → benefit.

Reviews

Reviews have their own section. They’re so important. And probably the most important metric.

It explains why an app will quickly climb on the Shopify App Store.

If your app gets faster reviews than others, you’ll climb.

If your app is getting 5 reviews per week when another app is getting 2 reviews per week, whether or not they have more reviews than you, sooner or later, you’ll be above them.

So the first thing you want to do is ask all your early users to leave a review as fast as possible.

You need 10 reviews to actually have traction and the faster you get them, the better.

Remember velocity matters. Don’t wait to get them. Don’t wait for your users to user your app for a month. Ask them immediately.

They tried your app? Ask for a review.

You successfully helped them in your support? Ask for a review.

I don’t have the numbers but most Shopify Apps don’t get reviews. So what happens if you get 10 reviews quickly?

You get it.

What I want you to do is to create the review opportunity. Be proactive and don’t wait people to contact you when they install your app.

Here is the strategy:

And help them with whatever they need! But create the opportunity to get a review!

Improving your app

Actually create conversations with people where you collect feedback and start implementing what they ask for.

Improve your app. Keep talking to your users. That’s the goal.

People will come naturally if you do everything I mentioned in the previous emails.

Improving your app isn’t necessarily about adding features. It could be about improving a feature, changing a part of your dashboard that people don’t understand, etc... But listen to your users!

Referrals

Referrals in the beginning will be your best ally! Don’t just ask for reviews. Ask them to refer a friend.

Here is something simple after they left a review:

“Thanks, do you have a friend or colleague who might be interested in this app? We’re trying to get users and this would absolutely help us!”

They already helped you so they might do it if they really like you and your app. They just have to provide the LinkedIn account, an email, or something, and you do the job. Make it simple for them.

And if they can’t or don’t want to leave a review right now, you can follow up with that:

“All right no problem, do you know a friend or colleague who might be interested…”

You get it, they can’t do the review so they will help you with something else.

Last words

Keep it simple. The first 10 users aren’t hard if you follow the previous emails:

And it will start the machine.

You got it!

Thanks for reading this email. Feel free to share it with a friend, a partner, or a customer.

So see you in the next email!

Mat 😁