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independence4 unconnected · 2 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

12 claims · 12 articles · 4 receipts

window

2014-03-13 → 2020-06-18

4 builders who never spoke to each other

Open the list before the product is real

Addresses collected while the thing is still an idea are the only audience that exists on release day, and a builder with no list is relying on strangers arriving at the right moment. Every builder here treats the list as the first asset of the business rather than a marketing chore added at the end. The mechanism is simple: you can reach a subscriber again, and you cannot reach a visitor.

The method

  1. 01

    Collect email addresses before you build anything, so the launch has somewhere to land.

  2. 02

    Collect the email addresses from that interest and deliver the service by hand until it is worth turning into software.

  3. 03

    Start the email list far earlier than feels warranted.

  4. 04

    Capture the email address of anyone considering the product, because a visitor you cannot contact will usually never think of you again.

  5. 05

    Start the email list as early as you possibly can and make signups the primary early goal, because replies give you the conversations that shape both the product and the marketing.

What it returned

  • Not gathering emails first appears on the founder's own list of mistakes, alongside having no audience and no early customers.

  • Pat Flynn names starting his list later than he should have as his mistake

  • Paul Jarvis spent over twenty years working online building a following, and the people who read his newsletter and followed his work were what started Fathom's sales.

  • Stated aim is trust plus a prospect list so the launch quickly reaches a respectable amount of monthly recurring revenue

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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More in email

all email plays

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

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.