5 builders who never spoke to each other

Make the second user arrive with the first

Outward invitations are the weak version. The strong version is a product where one person cannot get full value alone, so they pull in a colleague: a shared workspace, a bot living in the team chat everybody already uses, a setup question that only makes sense once somebody else's calendar is connected. Inside a company the existing users then become the sales team, and personal adoption is the cheap route into the organisation.

The method

1. 01

   Put the product inside the group chat a team already lives in, so one person's use spreads to their colleagues.

2. 02

   Do not rely on outward-facing invites alone. Add features that make the first user in a company pull in colleagues from the same company.

3. 03

   Get the new user to bring in one other person, because a shared workspace is where the value becomes obvious.

4. 04

   Inside a company account, existing users are your sales team. Serve the first team well and they pass you to other leaders in the same organisation.

5. 05

   Let personal use be your route into big organisations: individuals who adopt you for a side project pitch you to their employer, which is cheaper than enterprise sales.

What it returned

• Hints works over SMS, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp and email, and the bot can be dropped into a shared team channel for everyone to use.

• Calendly asks what kind of meeting you are setting up, offering one-on-one, group, collective and round-robin, which makes a sales rep plug a colleague's calendar into their own account.

• Notion's advice to a new user is to invite a colleague, friend or partner and work on the same page together.

• Friday accounts grew over time because early customers recommended the tool to other leaders internally.

Sources

• It's not just B2C vs B2B anymoreJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Benefits of the B2Many approach · undated
• Reinventing the digital assistant with George Levin, founder of HintsGeorge Levin · nesslabs.com · Reinventing the digital assistant with George Levin, founder of Hints · 2023-01-19
• Building the world's most customizable workspace with Ivan Zhao, co-founder of NotionIvan Zhao · nesslabs.com · Building the world's most customizable workspace with Ivan Zhao, co-founder of Notion · 2021-03-12
• Spreading the Word: How to Do Marketing on a Shoestring Budget – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · The Power of Word of Mouth · 2020-06-11
• Friday - From side project to raising $450kLuke Thomas · failory.com · How did you build Friday? · undated
• Product-led marketing - by Kyle Poyar - Lenny's NewsletterKyle Poyar · lennysnewsletter.com · 2. Product virality for PLG products · 2023-03-28