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independence3 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

6 claims · 6 articles · 4 receipts

window

2021-02-21 → 2023-06-25

3 builders who never spoke to each other

Open access in stages, each one wider

Run the release as a sequence rather than a switch: a silent live period, then friends and advisers, then a beta, then everyone. Each stage gives you a smaller group to fix things for and a fresh reason to talk about the product. Nikita Bier only widens once the current circle has spread it on its own, and Justin Jackson admits members in batches small enough to onboard by hand.

The method

  1. 01

    Split the release into three staged launches, friends and advisors first, then beta access, then the public launch, and space them out.

  2. 02

    Run the launch in this order: start building, take pre-sales, put out a beta, measure traction, then do the public launch and hunt for acquisition channels.

  3. 03

    Get the first version in front of real users while it is still internal-grade, then widen access in stages rather than waiting for the full product.

  4. 04

    Admit members in batches of about ten so you can onboard each one personally and get conversation started.

  5. 05

    Widen the circle only after a version has spread inside the first seed group, and widen it by adding more groups of the same kind.

What it returned

  • 3

    Before launch day, users who spotted that the site was live had already produced 3 yearly and 2 monthly subscriptions and $35 MRR.

  • Justin suggests roughly three months between each stage on a big project, and one to three weeks per stage on a smaller one.

  • DelightChat's earliest build only received forwarded emails and sent plain text replies; five months later it was in closed beta with real ecommerce brands using it and a team of eleven.

  • Once one build took off in a single school, the next step was to repeat it across additional schools rather than to go broad.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

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