Comments on: Your Web App has Launched – Now What?

By: Frankly

Frankly — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:54:00 +0000

This is good stuff. I was actually going to broadcast my way to appdom but after reading this I believe i will beta test amongst 50 odd friends who are known enough to communicate with in a personal way yet they are also honest enough to tell me a spade is a spade

By: yakshaving

yakshaving — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Depending on what the idea is, you could try Flippa

By: Web App Seller

Web App Seller — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:15:00 +0000

I have a web app that I’ve poured as much money into as I’m capable. I’m not a developer so I have an app that is a launched first version, but I can’t afford nor code ongoing development.

I need either a partner or a buyer, and I’m open to both. Any ideas on venues to find either?

By: john barnes

john barnes — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:15:17 +0000

Good article

Very true, its proving to be more difficult than I thought to get those initial visitors to my site so will be using some of the advice provided here.

By: Jeroen De Paepe

Jeroen De Paepe — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:48:03 +0000

Like the article. I fully agree that the best strategy to increase your customer base is by making your current customers happy. Happy customers talk about your product. This is the best marketing one can dream of.
Also, I don’t like the word ‘selling’. It reminds me to the guys on the street selling mobile phone subscriptions. More important is to go out there and just talk to people.

By: K. Srikrishna

K. Srikrishna — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:28:25 +0000

Great article and even nicer illustrations.

Spent the better part of last month, trying to understand how long it took folks to get to that magical 2000 paying customers, as we get ready to launch the beta for our first SaaS offering. So rather than the bucket of cold water (ok, maybe a fistful) your article is a good reality check of what to expect. Your suggestion of emails, not merely to friends and family but at times to strangers, albeit influential ones, seems to have worked for some of the folks we spoke to. But as with all relationship building, acquiring SaaS customers is a long lead time item requiring investment (emotional and otherwise), patience and a (fair) bit of luck! Keep up the good work.

By: Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:04:11 +0000

How do you pick who you email? You say strangers email you asking you to check our their site. Could that go from a gratifying few a week to an annoying hundred a week? Or are most of us so afraid to directly email someone well known that very few of us actually do?

I’m assuming also that CV/resume rules apply here. No mass emails. Customise each one. Know who you are emailing and why you think they should check out your site. No pestering if you don’t get a reply, move on.

And are free gifts/offers ever mentioned? Do you get a years free Plan A?

Dropping a link on Twitter is easy but you are right that it doesn’t get the feedback an email would.

By: Andy Moore

Andy Moore — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:08:19 +0000

Great article, it’s smacked me in the face with the procrastination issue, I could spend five months building features I think folks want and as such delay the relaunch of the site I’m rebuilding.

I’m pulling my finger out and cutting the extra dev out till I know for sure it’s what users want.

Thanks!!!

By: Des Traynor

Des Traynor — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:58:04 +0000

Hey guys,
Thanks for all your kind words. It’s often hard to tell how a post like this will go over. Some will see it as an unnecessary bucket of cold water, some will be happy to see some reality amidst a world of “Build, Profit, Retire” articles.

@Derek
I 100% agree re: selling to your target market. This is a danger with beta lists, they’re packed full of people who just like trying out apps and give feedback that whilst well intentioned, can add noise to the channel.

@Dave C – Thanks, I’ve followed the Lean Startup, and in particular Eric Ries has a lot of good stuff to say. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

@Kieran – Glad you liked it, be sure to follow our Contrast blog, we have lots to say about this stuff.

@James F – Hope the article helped, do let me know when you launch (des at contrast dot ie), always happy to help.

@Everyone – if you are launching something cool do please let me know – des at contrast dot ie)

Thanks for reading !

Des

By: James F.

James F. — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:45:15 +0000

As a startup founder that is nearing the launch date; this article hit many, many points. Thank you very much for the heads up and bringing the “real” and “truth” on how a real launch will be.

I think why many startups fail is they fail to realize just because you launch doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful. Users are going to come in very little. And most times aren’t even targetted users, but friends/family/etc. just to test it out.

- James F.

By: Kieran Masterton

Kieran Masterton — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:26:13 +0000

Great article Des! A good deal of what you say rings true as we’re at this stage with our web app having just launched on March the 1st. Thanks for your insights, I’ll be following the links to the Contrast blog to read more :)

By: Wolf Becvar

Wolf Becvar — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:18:15 +0000

Very profound article Des. Seems that 270 is our hurdle and our #1 question asked: “can I export as HTML” ;) And indeed it’s almost all about communication.

- Wolf

By: James Pearce

James Pearce — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:12:08 +0000

An excellent & fresh point of view, thanks.

Now, back to procra^H^H^H^H^H coding.

By: Inspirationfeed

Inspirationfeed — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:50:19 +0000

Great article, very helpful!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:28:50 +0000

Excellent article…very useful..thanks for post…

By: DL

DL — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:14:31 +0000

Fantastic article. We’re always looking for a magic bullet to marketing our new product. But the truth is that there is no magic bullet. We simply just need to start as many meaningful conversations about our product as we can. Time and quality will do the rest.

By: jai

jai — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:01:01 +0000

Awesome…Critical and important stuff told in a very simple manner..:)

By: Fusion Accounts

Fusion Accounts — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:58:43 +0000

Great article, We totally agree with your point ‘You need to work hard for every user in the early days’

By: Pk

Pk — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:57:01 +0000

nice one. I’ll have it in mind when I launch my site.

By: Dave Concannon

Dave Concannon — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:49:10 +0000

Great Article Des. A lot of your points fit in well with some of the philosophies from Lean Startups – Delivering the minimal product so that after launch you can tweak and polish based on actual user feedback, concentrating on metrics and user activities that are actually important (AARRR etc …http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2007/09/startup-metrics.html).

Good points on the ineffectiveness of broadcast marketing vs personal contacts.

Dave

By: Derek Organ

Derek Organ — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:11:13 +0000

Nice one Des.

Been through it all so I can absolutely agree. Selling in a traditional sense is so important in getting your initial 100 customers. And selling isn’t selling to fellow web professionals its selling to the non-techie in your target market.

Its hard but as time goes by you’d be surprised how much you can achieve if you just stick at it and keep selling. Any time you get an enquiry about the product. Call them. talk to them and help them solve their problems in there business and explain how your product can help them.

Its not one thing that makes it all work, you still need good product, price etc but once you have those, selling is so so important.

Selling = Talking on Phone and going out and meeting your potential clients.

Selling != Tweeting / blogging / talking to other techies (there are benefits but its not selling.)

By: Kat Neville

Kat Neville — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:00:12 +0000

Great article! It’s true the whole industry has a ‘if I build it, they will come’ mentality; most aren’t lacking good ideas, but good follow-through. I think I always knew this, but have always had trouble articulating it, especially to some of the start-ups I’m working with.

Also, I love your diagrams. You can explain things to me anytime :)