2 builders who never spoke to each other
Give your first users a room on day one
Where the buyers work alone, somewhere to talk to each other is part of the launch rather than a later addition, and a forum stood up hours before a beta opened went on to pass tens of thousands of members. A lifetime deal does something similar by delivering an instant cohort of early adopters who want you to succeed.
The method
- 01
If your users work alone, stand up a forum for them at launch so they have somewhere to help each other and show off their work.
- 02
The real prize in a lifetime deal launch is an instant user community of early adopters who want you to succeed, which is reach most bootstrapped SaaS founders cannot buy any other way.
What it returned
- 75,000
Webflow set up a Discourse instance only hours before its beta opened, betting that solo freelancers would want a hangout. That community has since passed 75,000 members.
Sources
- Lifetime Deals and SaaS Businesses – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · The 30/100 Split · 2021-04-01
- Product-led marketing - by Kyle Poyar - Lenny's NewsletterBryant Chou · lennysnewsletter.com · 2. Product virality for PLG products · 2023-03-28
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.
More in word of mouth
- Check word of mouth exists before you build8 unconnected · contested
- Turn buyers into fans instead of buying ads6 unconnected
- Show up in person where your readers are5 unconnected
- Make the second user arrive with the first5 unconnected
- Answer support as if it were the sales channel4 unconnected
- Give the hardest customers your hours4 unconnected