How to get your first 1,000 users 🤝 (Startup Watching #244)

By Andrew Askins • Issue #244 •

Happy Thursday Watchers!

I had a wacky idea while writing this issue. Everyone has been talking about Cameo lately, the app that lets you hire minor celebrities to record short videos for you.

This would be a great way to grab someone’s attention in a cold email (although you’d have to be careful not to imply that they’re endorsing you) or delight a customer.

From reading their terms it looks like this may even be an option you can pay more for, or maybe is a feature they’re planning on promoting in the future.

If I give it a try, I’ll be sure to report back.

On a similar note one of our clients has a very minimalist brand. The home screen of their website is just their logo on a black field.

So… naturally… I ordered a custom 1,000 piece puzzle made from a screenshot of their website as a Thank You gift for them. It should get there on Friday. 😂

Cheers from Charleston ✌️

Andrew

FEATURED

The rise of the Human-Centric CEO 👩‍✈️

A friend recently sent me the classic blog post, “Peacetime/Wartime CEO” by Ben Horowitz. In it, Horowitz outlines a dichotomy between CEOs who thrive in times of peace, by fostering creativity, and those who thrive in times of crisis, by moving fast.

But it just didn’t sit right with me. He advocates for ruling like a dictator in times of “war.” But that just isn’t as effective. This post sums up why that view is dated, and the kind of leaders we really need right now.

medium.com • Share

MVP

How the biggest apps got their first 1,000 users 🤝

Awesome compilation of the strategies used by the top consumer apps (although it’s a stretch to call Buffer and Slack consumer) to get initial traction. He also includes the specific stories for each company. Interestingly he was able to group them all into just 7 strategies, and most of the companies only used one.

www.lennyrachitsky.com • Share

17 tips for great copywriting 📝

Excellent compilation of super practical copywriting tips from the folks (folk?) over at Marketing Examples. If you aren’t following them, you totally should be.

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GROWTH

How to throw a retreat for your remote team 🏝

Podia was already a remote team before Covid happened, but they had to cancel their in-person retreat. They replaced it with a remote retreat and Len Markidan shared how they did it. My friend Nigel recently tried this as well and got a lot out of it.

The most fun ideas:

Splitting your team into smaller groups to play Jackbox games over Zoom
Using Cameo to book Stanley from the office for the “Keynote address”
Throwing a GIF party to learn about team members

twitter.com • Share

To make your content succeed, focus on the amplifiers 📣

A lot of conventional wisdom around content marketing says that you should focus your effort on bottom of the funnel content. That is, write for the people most likely to buy from you.

Here, Rand Fishkin argues that doing that will make your audience feel like you’re selling constantly. Instead you should write most of your content for potential amplifiers (or influencers). I think the truth is, you need to do both. Which is hard.

sparktoro.com • Share

How to make millions by writing online 📧

I enjoyed this interview with Sam Parr of the Hustle even if his advice on how to grow your audience is basically just to “Write well.” Luckily, he does go into more detail later on.

This episode got me listening the Hustle’s podcast. In it, Sam and Shaan Puri (an exec at Twitch) basically just riff for an hour on news and business ideas. They’re both blunt as hell and very entertaining to listen to, even

www.indiehackers.com • Share

FUN

How do content creators make money? 👨‍🎤

If you want to understand consumer trends, I highly recommend following Blake Robbins. He’s an investor with Ludlow Capital, and is one of the few startup people I see actively studying YouTube and eSports.

Here he breaks down the main ways creators make money. It seems like there is a ton of opportunity for improvements here.

blake.substack.com • Share

Hey 👋 thanks for making it all the way to the end of the email. If you want more content on building startups, and fucking up along the way, follow me on Twitter.

Did you enjoy this issue?

By Andrew Askins

Curated knowledge, inspiration and background stories from the startup world. Delivered to your inbox every Thursday or Friday 📬 | Find me @andrewaskins.

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How to get your first 1,000 users 🤝 (Startup Watching #244)

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The secret to being a prolific creator is right in front of you 👀 (Startup Watching #243)

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