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Ask HN: How do I get people that reacted positively to use my product

3 points by jerrre ↗ HN
Short intro: I’m loosely following lean startup/customer development strategy, but I’m bootstrapping so my focus might be on making money a bit earlier than VC backed products. I have a MVP/Early Access/beta product (not too good with exact terminology, it is in a state that it can used from start to finish and adds value). Hoping to be able to get my first sells over the coming couple of months, but before testing that I’m trying to get a couple of not-(yet)-paying users first.

The product is a time saver for video-editors creating low/med budget content (think social media stuff, company videos etc). Also good to know is I’m a solo tech guy, learning business/marketing on the fly (dangerous I know).

I have around 40 people who have shown significant interest (about 50/50 my own network and a post in a FB group explaining the problem I’m solving and my solution). I’ve visited some to ask questions about their workflow and show my product on their computer on their projects, with very enthusiastic reactions. The fact that I got 20+ beta signups from one simple post also makes me feel the problem I’m solving is worth it.

But somehow I have to struggle really hard to actually get them to use it, with multiple follow ups after their initial expression of interest, except for the time I’m sitting beside them. I’m trying to remove as much hurdles to starting as possible, but often the download link isn’t even clicked.

So any advice on what I can conclude from that, or how to get more/better info, without pestering them too much?

3 comments

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goloroden
Serious advice: Learn to live with it.

It's so much easier to say "oh yes, sounds like a nice idea" than to actually sit down and try things out. How often do you act like this on your own?

The most difficult things to deal with as a founder / creator IMHO is not to deal with criticism, but to deal with indifference. People just don't care. You can't change this.

Hence, learn to accept it.

jerrre
> not to deal with criticism, but to deal with indifference

Thanks for reminding me, I'm not sure where I read it, but indeed the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference...

Still I want to get my product in the hand of users, so can I interpret your advice then as: look for enough people and focus on the ones that do use it, don't spend too much on the rest?

brudgers
[random advice from the internet]

Ask people to pay. If they are really interested, they will pay. If nobody will pay, then either the product doesn't really solve a valuable problem or you haven't found the people who actually have the problem the product solves.

Asking people to pay usually means hearing "No, I won't pay" a lot. "No, I won't pay" is the best answer if the problem is not real. It is a good answer if the problem is real. Not as good as "Here's my money" but better than "sounds interesting" because "sounds interesting" doesn't split the world into valuable and not valuable products.

Anyway, if you're bootstrapping then learning to ask for money from customers is valuable right now. One technique for dealing with the discouragement of hearing "No" I've heard about is to make the primary metric the number of people per day who say "No" rather than the number who say "Yes."

Good luck.