Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 52 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 🤿 Convert effectively, research thoroughly, streamline funnels, persuade users.

Reading time: 5 minutes

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

1) Start with the bottom

It’s intuitive to start with getting website visitors.

At the end of the day, you can’t get customers without new users, right? Yes and no.

There is no point in getting website visitors if you can’t convert them.

You don’t pour water into a leaking bucket. First, fix the bucket. Then add some water.

The same thing with your marketing.

Start with your offer. Make it a no-brainer.

Then understand how you will convert strangers into loyal customers. Step-by-step.

And only then find these strangers. When you are ready.

Chase conversions. Not clicks.

2) Do your research

It might be a shock to you.

But you are not alone. Your product doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

There are users. There are competitors. There are trends.

And you can learn from them. From their wins and losses.

I can’t stress it enough.

Dedicating 5 days to user and competitor research will impact your business more than any marketing task later.

Because you will get clarity on

• What product features do people need the most?

• What words do you need to use on your landing page?

• What pricing is competitive?

• How do your competitors market their products?

Of course, you can ship fast and learn from your mistakes. If you are ready to lose money, do it.

But you can always learn from other mistakes. And make your positioning sharper.

3) Simplify your funnel

Conversion Rate Optimization isn’t a magic spell to make people love you.

It’s about designing a marketing funnel that takes in new users, communicates your product’s value, and helps them to pay you money.

Let’s say you are selling productivity Notion templates.

Of course, you can post on Pinterest, then book meetings with customers to sell them a $19 product. But your Conversion Rate will be shit.

Or you can leverage the time and true funnel.

Threads about productivity -> Freebie to get an email -> Newsletter to nurture leads -> $$ Templates to convert -> $$$$ Coaching to upsell

This funnel converts. Now you need to find the ideal formula for your product.

It will be different. But it should always be simple.

• One main acquisition channel

• One key activation moment

• One key offer to sell

• One high-ticket product to upsell

No rocket science. The simpler, the better.

4) Nudge, nudge, nudge

One thing you will learn pretty soon.

Most users are not ready to buy on the spot. They need to be persuaded.

They don’t get excited by looking at your product.

“I mean, yeah, looks pretty cool, but not a priority right now”

Don’t get frustrated. You can fix it by nudging them.

Nudging users != aggressively spamming them and stalking them IRL

Nudging users = making your offer look more desirable

Handling objections. Building trust. Creating an impulse.

Here are 10 nudge ideas for your business:

• Create a lifetime deal for early customers

• Add a 30-day money-back guarantee

• Describe a success case with your most satisfied customer

• Add a product video in a Loom style with your talking head

• Show statistics of your users (satisfaction rate, number of customers, impact on the metrics)

• Add believable scarcity that makes sense (btw, 2 seats for habit tracker don’t make sense)

• Send a juicy discount for an annual price that expires in 48 hours

• Use non-transactional language on your buttons (Buy it -> Get instant access)

• Let users preview and customize the product for free, but start using it after paying

• Onboard users manually to build affinity

Don’t expect people to just buy your product. Sell it to them first.

5) Prioritize direct user acquisition

Don’t do SEO before you get your first paying customer.

I know. I know. Free traffic from Google. Awesome, right?

It’s bullshit.

It will take you months to see any sustainable traffic. You could get these 50 damn clicks from sending 100 cold DMs.

Don’t put much effort into the channel when you are not 100% sure the product idea won’t be pivoted.

Because otherwise, your time and money will be lost. You will need to start again from scratch.

That’s why, in the beginning, focus on marketing channels with quick effort-to-impact flow.

• Launch on Product Hunt

• Send cold DMs / emails

• Buy Facebook / Google Ads

• Send emails to your subscribers

• Tweet about your product

Finish the quick wins before going to more challenging tasks.

No SEO before the first paying customer. That’s our new motto.

6) One per week; All per month

You don’t need to complete a task from each category every week. It’s pointless.

Be focused. Pick a category and nail it.

Better positioning. Higher conversion. More users.

You chose.

But always cover all categories in one month.

Your positioning is not a one-time task. Your conversion isn’t stable forever.

Don’t just get more users. Improve your marketing holistically.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 34 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Authenticity, quality, and impact in content creation.

• 🤿 Landing Page Fix: Boost Conversions with 3 Steps.

Reading time: 4 minutes

🌊
A Fresh Point of View

Sharpen your mindset

Let's talk about a game-changer in the entrepreneurial journey – creating valuable content.

But wait, it's not just about the numbers, you know? It's about impacting your audience.

Consistency and keeping it real when delivering killer content? That's the ticket! People resonate with authenticity.

Quality over quantity, every time. Whether you're mentoring or sharing valuable content, it's not just about the stats. It's about building connections, sharing wisdom, and creating a supportive vibe.

For entrepreneurs, community-building is more than just the numbers game. Giving genuine value naturally pulls in an audience. It's a fantastic journey where relationships and impact matter more than what the screen shows.

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

Your landing page is probably bad

Good news — it has nothing to do with you.

Creating a landing page that doesn't convert is a canon event for Indie Entrepreneurs.

After seeing hundreds of bad examples, here's how to fix yours in 3 steps.

1. Nail the Hero block first

The first screen people see only takes 20% of your landing page, but it delivers 80% of the result.

If it’s not catchy enough, your users will pointlessly scroll the page for 5 seconds and leave.

So, yeah, focus on your Hero block.

It’s hard because you need to figure out:

• How to summarize your positioning into one sentence? (Heading 1)

• How to summarize all features into a 2-sentence description?

• What product visual backs up Heading 1 and grabs the attention?

• What quick social proof builds trust and affinity?

• What is the best CTA button?

But after answering these questions, you will have clarity about the rest of your landing page.

2. Tell a story

Most landing pages sound like this:

“Look, I have built an awesome product, it has 4 awesome features…”

Kinda salesy and egocentric, right?

Try something like this:

“My audience has a problem X that results in negative consequences X, Y, Z. That’s why I build this product so they can achieve X to get benefits X, Y, Z”

It’s captivating because it’s focused on your users.

You spotlight their problems and the benefits of solving them.

Here’s how to do it:

• Add a Problem Agitation block after the Hero block (describe your users’ problem and the negative consequences of not solving it)

• Connect Headlines 2 to make smooth transitions

• Describe your features through their benefits

• Connect your price to the transformation you are selling

Telling a story is different than manipulating people.

It’s about turning a boring sales pitch into an invite to an exciting journey.

3. Level up your social proof game

People don’t believe you. No matter how good your copy is.

Look, it’s your product on your landing page. Of course, you will say you are the best.

That’s why people trust other people more: “if Entrepreneurs like me buy this SaaS, I should probably buy it too”.

Hopefully, you already know that. But do you leverage it enough?

If you only have 3 testimonials, the answer is not.

There are more ways to build trust and affinity:

• Get a 5-paragraph-long case study with your most satisfied customer

• Add video testimonials from opinion leads in your niche

• Add user statistics that showcase your product’s impact

• Show what companies have bought your product

• Show what media featured your product

And the most important part.

Distribute social proof across your landing page evenly.

Users should feel a constant trust reinforcement. This is how you make your CTA a no-brainer.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 32 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Success in SaaS: Luck opens doors, dedication drives.

• 🤿 4 Conversion Rate Optimization tactics

Reading time: 4 minutes

🌊
A Fresh Point of View

Sharpen your mindset

In the entrepreneurial world, luck and hard work often go hand in hand. For founders looking to expand their SaaS reach, enhance marketing strategies, and boost their MRR, it's clear that both factors play a role.

Much like Warren Buffett's idea of the "Ovarian Lottery," our starting point can be influenced by luck. Yet, when we examine the stories of determined entrepreneurs, we see the undeniable impact of hard work and perseverance in achieving relative success. It's not about choosing one over the other.

So, what's the key takeaway for these aspiring founders? In the competitive world of SaaS, absolute success may have some luck involved, but your choices, relentless efforts, ability to connect with like-minded peers on Twitter or LinkedIn and collaboration with others can define your relative success.

Embrace collaboration, explore innovative strategies, and make the most of the opportunities that arise. Luck may open doors, but it's your dedication and connections that truly drive success in the entrepreneurial world.

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

Stop being obsessed with Twitter likes or Product Hunt upvotes, let’s focus on improving your conversion rate.

1. Money-back guarantee 🔒

Create trust with you customer and allow them to get refunded if the product does not meet their expectation.

You might be hesitant to add it and you are right. A user can download all your products or use expensive computing operation and then send an email "pls refund" and get away with it.

In the end, you will remove potential objection during the checkout which will increase your conversion rate. In the end, if you product is good enough, you refund rate will be low.

2. Bundle with a limited deal 🎁

Discounts are cool. People love discounts.

But here's a secret: Most people would rather get x10 more value for x2 price than just the same value for 0.5x price.

It's better to be valuable than cheap.

When you only have one product, people have a choice: buy or leave.

When you have two products, people have a different choice: buy the first or second product.

And you will be surprised how many people will pick a more expensive option. People with money prefer spending money.

3. Freebies + Welcome email sequences 💌

Not everyone is ready to buy on the spot. Some people have limited budgets. Others have tight schedules right now.

That's why you should double-down on free resources.

1. People get instant value for free

2. They no longer think you are a fraud

3. They will have an easier time buying our product when they are ready

But here's a catch: Creating freebies is not enough.

You need to send a juicy welcome sequence too. People don't think about your product all the time. You need to remind them about yourself.

Here is one of the automated welcome email pushing your to buy the marketing bundle:

Then subscribe everyone to your newsletters and often send more free guides or tips. Your goal is to become a top-of-mind solution for your niche.

4. Endorsement from opinion leaders 🤝

Collecting user testimonials is a great social proof but there is a better way.

Reach out to big accounts on Twitter. Offer your product for free. If they like it, you will get their testimonial.

These reviews are built differently.

1. People see a familiar face on your landing page

2. They see that a trusted person endorses you

3. They transfer the trust they had in this person to you

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 32 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 🤿 Learn how to reach #1 on Product Hunt launch.

• 🪓 Learn successful pre-launch and Product Hunt strategies.

Reading time: 10 minutes

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

Product Hunt is a gold mine for getting new customers. If you rank high, you can even generate about 10,000 unique visits and 1000-3000 genuine leads for your business.

Let’s discover how you can achieve #1 product and make the most out of this!

Product Hunt's user base primarily consists of tech enthusiasts, early adopters, investors, journalists, and fellow entrepreneurs. This can help you get reach, test your product easily and get feedback quickly.

Please support me now by upvoting Founder Notes on Product Hunt!

Why should you care about Product Hunt?

Product Hunt can provide you with these incredible benefits:

• Traction:

  This exposure can lead to an increase in signups, downloads, and sales.

• SEO ranking boost:

  Product Hunt ranking can indirectly boost SEO by increasing visibility and traffic and generating high-quality backlinks. 

• Funding interest:

  A successful Product Hunt launch can catch the attention of angel investors, venture capitalists, and other funding sources.

• Validation:

  The buzz also demonstrates that your product resonates with users providing validation of your product's value proposition and market fit.

• Social Proof:

  You get to add a Product Hunt widget on your website about your rank which makes your potential users trust it more.

• Awareness:

  Ranking high on Product Hunt will generate traction towards your product and brand, leading to increased media coverage, mentions on social media, and word-of-mouth referrals.

• Feedback:

  Product Hunt's active community can provide invaluable feedback on your product, helping you identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement

• Opportunities:

  Ranking high on Product Hunt can unlock additional opportunities such as being featured in the Product Hunt newsletter, winning a Golden Kitty Award, and more.

What does ranking high mean?

Product Hunt ranks products based on user upvotes and engagement. Products that hit the #1 spot can also gain over 10,000 unique visits.

Though these numbers may not appear extraordinary, keep in mind the conversion rates are strong due to the fact that Product Hunt’s audience are early adopters of innovations.

If you rank high, expect around 1,000-3,000 genuine leads for your business from ten thousand website visits.

Depending upon your product, set up goals for your launch and then start working on your strategy. Determine specific goals for your Product Hunt launch, such as a target number of upvotes, comments, or new users. Setting goals will help you measure the success of your launch and inform future strategies.

Developing a comprehensive plan

Let’s keep a goal of finding 500 people that can help you succeed on PH. This is a good average number of leads that’ll get your product in top 5 of the day.

Pre-Launch:

Focus on building momentum, preparing promotional materials, and building a community of people interested in your product. They will be your first supporters.

Day of Launch:

Submit your product early in the day, promote it across various channels, and actively engage with users on Product Hunt by replying to comments and addressing feedback.

Post-Launch:

Analyse the results of your launch, thank your supporters, work on their feedback, and continue to engage with your new users to foster long-term relationships.

Do you need a hunter?

When launching on Product Hunt, it's worth considering a hunter, but it's not a must. You can self-submit, and many successful products have done just that. Not having a hunter also means less collaboration management during a busy launch.

However, hunters bring experience, networking, and community engagement benefits. They know the platform, have industry connections, and can boost your product's visibility. Still, the choice to use one is personal, and going without a hunter is a valid option if you're well-prepared for a self-submission strategy.

Personally, I wouldn’t go with a hunter.

Choosing a launch date

Select a strategic date & time to maximize engagement and visibility. Numerous variables affect your launch, many of which are uncontrollable, so there's no guaranteed formula for success.

• Weekdays (especially Tuesday & Thursday) on the other hand has highest competition which gives you high traffic with 15% more "Visit" button clicks.

• Although, weekends usually have less competition which makes it easier to rank #1 but it also gets less traffic.

Leverage traction on platforms like Twitter to boost your Product Hunt launch.

As a rule of thumb, schedule your launch for 12:01 am PST to maximize visibility for a full 24 hours.

Product Hunt has recently started hiding the voted and showing all products for the first 4 hours. This gives all the products, equal opportunity to get the traction who can test out the product. If your product is really good, the organic traffic itself will drive the upvotes and your chances of being first will be increased.

Choose a launch time that aligns with your goals and maximizes your product's visibility and engagement.

Developing assets that grabs attention and convert users

Now let’s breakdown how you can create eye-catching visuals, descriptions, and a compelling tagline for your product listing.

• Title: Just use the name of your product without using emojis or descriptions in the title.

• Tagline: Add a very short description of the product. Write an attention grabbing tagline that also explains your product’s value prop.

• Description: This space is perfect for elaborating on your product's purpose and functionality. Make sure to keep it brief while still highlighting your unique selling points and features.

• Thumbnail: Consider using a captivating 240x240 image that catches the eye.

  • Animated GIFs can make for engaging visuals, but be wary of making them too busy.

  • Alternatively, you can never go wrong with showcasing your standard logo, as it is a simple yet effective way to grab viewers' attention.

• Images/GIFs: Images and GIFs are crucial for showcasing your product on Product Hunt, with the recommended size being 1270x760.

  • Your first image is especially vital as it becomes the preview card on social networks, so ensure it's high-quality.

  • Focus on clear, concise visuals that emphasize your product's value rather than features, and make sure they are mobile-friendly for better accessibility to a wider audience.

• Videos: Two types of assets work best:

  • Video demonstrations showing a product's capabilities

  • A product walk-through by the maker

• First comment: Be sure to kick off the conversation with a comment about the product. Ask for feedback, thoughts about it or simply just questions they might have.

  • This is a very important part of your launch — 70% of products who achieved Product of the Day, Week, or Month had a first comment by the maker.

Pre-launch marketing strategy

A lot of makers hang-out on twitter. Building an audience there can really help having a successful launch. If you already have an audience, make sure you leverage it.

Overall things to take care of before you start

Quality of engagement:

Focus on upvotes from hunters and active Product Hunt members, as they carry more weight and influence. Engage with them to gain credibility and traction for your product. (Twitter can be a great leverage here)

Warm accounts vs cold accounts:

Focus on warming up leads by engaging with them before launch. Warm accounts carry more weight in upvotes and are more likely to be considered by Product Hunt.

Breaking down your pre-launch marketing strategy.

Let’s start with the most important thing!

I. Start gathering leads

Create an excel sheet and add all the people who will potentially support on the day of the launch so that you don’t have to think about it on the big day & highlight the people who have a network or a social distribution that can get you more traction.

This can include:

• Friends and family (Ask them to start using their product hunt account regularly to warm up their accounts if needed)

• Co-workers

• Social media followers

• People who upvoted similar products

  • Check who upvoted similar products on PH → Make a list of their twitter accounts → Interact with them

• Influencers you might know

• Email subscribers

• Whatsapp, Slack, discord, Facebook groups (& more)

• Accounts from the ‘coming soon’ page

You can check out upvote-bell. It allows you to download the list of people who upvoted a project and retrieve their Twitter usernames.

Use case: find a project in the same space as yours that was successful. Download the upvoters. DM them on your launch day.

II. Join communities:

Participate in Slack groups, WhatsApp groups, and Facebook groups related to your product niche or industry to build relationships and gain insights from fellow makers and entrepreneurs.

Here are a few groups you can start off with

• Indie hackers

• Invincible Product Hunters

• The product folks

• Add these leads in another sheet in your doc

III. Prepare the assets you want to send

You don’t want to spend any time on the day of the launch on anything you could have prepared beforehand! Prepare the following (You probably won’t get enough time to do it on the day of launch):

• Social media posts

  Content and images (Images should have the Product Hunt and your logo on them.)

• Messages & emails to send

Remember: You should not ask for upvotes directly. Not publicly and from people you barely or don’t know. Ask for support and feedback and if people like your project, you can be sure they will upvote.

IV. Write your maker comment and keep it ready

Write a detailed and thoughtful message to provide context, express gratitude, and answer potential questions from users and tell your story.

Launch Day 🚀

The big day has come!! Set up a dashboard using https://pw2.akkio.com/ helps you monitor how the launch is going and who are the top competitors.

Start following this list step by step:

1. Post your maker comment.

2. Send individual DMs to your Contact list.

   • Start with the highest potential conversions with warm accounts

   • Then send it to cold accounts

   (Make sure you send DMs little by little and not all at once to avoid spamming)

3. Send a message in the Slack, Whatsapp, Facebook groups you joined initially

4. Add a Product Hunt widget on your website to encourage visitors to upvote and engage with your product.

5. Engage with users by replying to comments and addressing feedback.

6. Post on all your social media accounts

7. Reach out to influencers you know

8. Send emails to your user base

And then start responding to the comments and feedback and hype up the social media buzz by interacting more.

Things to Avoid

There are certain practices that can harm your Product Hunt ranking and overall launch success:

• Spamming or artificially inflating upvotes: Product Hunt has measures in place to detect and penalize vote manipulation. Focus on providing genuine value and engaging with your audience to earn upvotes.

• Don’t ask for upvotes blatantly

Post-launch follow-ups

Analyze results, thank supporters, and address any outstanding feedback after the launch.

• If you manage to do all of the things mentioned above, you’ll probably hit the top five products of the day. This’ll give you a feature in the next day's Product Hunt digest email.

• Use feedback from users to iterate and improve your product.

• Add Product Hunt badges and embeds to your website and marketing materials to showcase your success and credibility.

• A lot of people will reach out to you on social media and other channels, make sure you either convert them to users or followers.

Conclusion:

While achieving the #1 spot on Product Hunt can provide significant benefits, it's essential not to lose sight of your long-term goals.

Don't get disheartened if you don't rank as high as you'd like; instead, use the experience to learn, iterate, and improve for future launches.

🪓
The Breakdown

Whereby: A launch driven by an awesome product

The platform aimed to simplify video conferencing by offering a browser-based solution without the need to install software or create user accounts. Whereby was designed to serve small businesses, remote teams, and individuals looking for a hassle-free video conferencing tool.

Pre-launch Strategy:

Before launching on Product Hunt, the Whereby team concentrated on developing a reliable and easy-to-use product that would meet the needs of their target audience. The pre-launch strategy included:

1. Building a browser-based, no-download video conferencing solution that allows users to create and join meetings with just a few clicks.

2. Ensuring compatibility with multiple devices and browsers to provide a seamless user experience.

3. Beta testing the platform with a select group of users, gathering feedback, and making necessary improvements.

4. Promoting Whereby on social media, relevant online forums, and industry-related communities.

The Product Hunt Launch:

With a solid product offering in place, Whereby was ready for its Product Hunt debut. Key strategies employed during the launch included:

1. Announcing the launch on social media channels and newsletters, urging followers to upvote and share Whereby on Product Hunt.

2. Actively engaging with users on Product Hunt, answering questions, and providing support to address any concerns.

3. Offering a limited-time discount on Whereby's premium plans to incentivize new users to sign up and try the service.

4. Encouraging satisfied beta users to share their positive experiences on Product Hunt and social media.

Results:

Whereby's launch on Product Hunt was a significant success. The key outcomes were:

1. Ranking among the top products of the day, with several hundred upvotes.

2. Experiencing a surge in new user sign-ups and conversions to premium plans.

3. Gaining exposure and credibility through positive user reviews and recommendations.

4. Attracting the attention of potential investors and partners, leading to further growth opportunities.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 24 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Improvement: Success through subtraction and refinement

• 🤿 Essential indie entrepreneur tips for being profitable

Reading time: 7 minutes

🌊
A Fresh Point of View

Sharpen your mindset

Picture this: You're a founder, and you're eager to reach more customers, boost your MRR, and make your product a household name in the world. It's a common aspiration, but sometimes, the pursuit of more can lead to overwhelm and burnout.

Now, let's shift gears and consider improvement by subtraction. Instead of constantly pushing for more marketing strategies, features, and expansion, you might take a step back. Look at your existing customer base and your current marketing efforts. Are there any inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or mistakes that need addressing? Perhaps you find that a portion of your marketing budget is being spent on strategies that yield minimal results. By eliminating or optimizing these underperforming areas, you can not only save resources but also refine your approach.

Similarly, within your SaaS product, instead of continuously adding new features to attract customers, consider refining the existing ones. Are there any bugs or usability issues that cause frustration for your users? By focusing on eliminating these pain points, you'll enhance the overall user experience and create loyal customers who stick around and generate more revenue over time.

To Make Big Gains, Avoid Tiny Losses - James Clear

In the world of SaaS, improvement by subtraction can mean a more sustainable, less stressful path to success. It's about fine-tuning what you already have, making it work flawlessly, and then, as a natural consequence, attracting more customers and increasing your MRR. So, remember, sometimes, the key to growing your SaaS business is not about doing more but about doing less of what doesn't work and making your existing foundation rock-solid.

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

I hate to see Indie Entrepreneurs burn their savings. So here is my free marketing playbook. Simple and non bullshit tips to get profitable in 2023.

1. Start small

Your first product will suck. It will fail.

You can’t change it. So why spend months building it if you can spend days?

• Instead of building a productivity app, create a Notion template.

• Instead of building a marketing platform, launch a Productized service.

• Instead of building SaaS, launch a One-time payment app.

Focus on ONE use case for ONE target audience.

• Bad: AI-powered tool to generate Spotify playlists

• Good: Create Phonk workout playlists with AI

Don’t try to change the world with your first product.

Try to earn the first $ online.

Start small. You will always have time to go bigger later.

2. Charge one-time payments

Yeah, getting monthly subscriptions feels just like getting a paycheck.

But getting $2000 MRR is x100 harder than getting $2000 in one-time payments.

And if your goal is to get profitable, start with lifetime deals. You can add subscriptions later. Indeed, you will need to find new customers every month.

People are tired of subscriptions. Anything <$39 is still an impulse no-brainer for USA / Europe. Leverage it.

3. Focus on one acquisition channel

Don’t try growing on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram simultaneously. Especially when you have 100 followers there.

You need time to master marketing channels. The more you defocus, the longer it will take you.

• Your audience hangs out on Twitter? Ignore other marketing channels for 6 months.

• You want to try side-project marketing? Launch a new tool every 2 weeks on Product Hunt.

• You have a juicy keyword for programmatic SEO? Create new website pages every day.

Focus ruthlessly. Be everywhere — be nowhere.

4. Aim for harsh feedback

The indie community is awesome but listen to its feedback with a pinch of salt.

Most people will root for you just because they want you to root for them. They have no skin in your game.

You need anti-BS people who will give your unfiltered, honest feedback about your business.

Slide in DMs. Ask people to roast you. 9/10 will agree.

5. Build an email list

One day your #buildinpublic tweet gets 10k impressions. The other day it gets 100 views.

You need a marketing channel that YOU control.

Start a weekly newsletter. Create useful freebies for your audience.

Build a healthy email list. It will change the way you do business.

• Product Hunt launch? These people will support you

• New feature? These people will give you feedback about it

• Juicy discount? These people will buy because they trust you

Nobody has ever said, “I wish I started an email list later”.

6. Stick with free tools

Paid tools are distractions in 80% of the time.

• You don’t need a paid tool to build an audience on Twitter.

• You don’t need automation with 5 paying customers.

• You don’t need fancy icons with 30 website visitors.

Keep it simple and cheap. Use free tools until you can’t.

7. Talk about your product non-stop

You don’t talk enough about your product. Even if you think you do, you don’t. Most of your followers have no clue you got a paid product.

Want to get traction? Be your biggest promoter.

Share your product authentically and non-intrusively AT LEAST once a day.

It will still not be enough. But this is a good start.

8. Focus on revenue 24/7

I am sorry to tell you this but nobody cares about your personal website.

Or your privacy policy. Or fancy footer.

Don’t build features that feel nice. Build features that move the needle.

Imagine you are building a no-code website builder.

• A/B testing feature will make an impact on revenue

• Adding more templates will make an impact

• Getting 100% on Core Web Vitals won’t

Wake up and spend 100% of your time improving your value proposition. Every single day. Hit profitability. Then you are free to do whatever you want.

9. Know when to pivot

My first product earned $8000 in 12 months but I knew it didn’t have the potential to earn more. It was good but not GREAT.

That’s why I’m working on a new product.

The lesson is simple: some products are better than others. You can’t produce hits every time.

If you stare at $100 MRR after 6 months, it’s better to launch another product and earn money.

Starting from scratch is not a failure. Ignoring the reality is.

10. Learn marketing

No one cares about your development skills. Not a single customer bought the product because they liked the code.

People buy products to get the job done. Even if the product is written in a terrible programming language with no unit tests.

No one was born a good marketer. You were not born as a good developer too.

So stop finding excuses for not doing marketing. Indie Entrepreneurship is not a fairytale for infantile adults. It’s a harsh journey.

Spend 2 hours every week improving your marketing skills:

• copywriting

• marketing funnels

• content marketing

• word-of-mouth

• positioning

It will have more impact on your business than trying another shiny framework to make your app 0.1s. faster.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 30 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Craft purposeful brand story and effective content.

• 🤿 Indie project marketing: 10 essential rules explained.

Reading time: 6 minutes

🌊
A Fresh Point of View

Sharpen your mindset

For indie founders like you, the Golden Circle model, created by Simon Sinek, holds three vital elements:

1. Why: Begin with "Why" your business exists. Let's say you're a marketing agency. Your "Why" could be helping businesses tell their stories effectively.

2. How: Next, explain "How" you do things differently. If you're a SaaS startup, maybe you simplify complex processes, making work easier for your users.

3. What: Lastly, outline "What" products or services you provide. If you're a guide creator, you offer step-by-step solutions for common challenges.

This model's significance for indie founders cannot be overstated. You're not just offering things; you're creating a strong brand name with storytelling. Starting with the "Why" helps you connect emotionally with your audience and sets you apart as a leader.

As you create online content as an indie founder, remember the power of the Golden Circle. Begin with the "Why" to genuinely share your mission. Imagine you run a newsletter about personal development. If your "Why" is to inspire growth, you can delve into "How" with practical tips and finish with "What" by offering access to exclusive workshops.

A full video from Simon is available on TED YouTube channel to learn more about it: video.

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

Every marketing situation is different. But I believe these rules apply to most of Indie projects. Here are 10 important marketing rules:

1. The higher price, the better customers

Being cheap is the worst differentiator from your competitors. Cheap products attract customers who only care about the price. They will leave you as soon they see a cheaper alternative or as soon another product provide more value for money.

Instead, provide a unique value with above average price. You will get customers who appreciate your product and understand its value.

2. Empower users, not market them

Nobody likes to be marketed. Do you enjoy seeing a fake discount countdown or getting bombarded with emails?

You don't. Your users don't like it either.

But users like to get free educational resources and feel empowered. Simply explain how users can use your tool to achieve their goal. Hypefury does that very well by sending a mix of emails sharing tips on how to growth Twitter associated with explanation on how to achieve it using their tool.

3. Talking to customers is a shortcut to success

You have brilliant marketing ideas but do you know who has better ones? Your customers.

Run interviews with your customers and get inspiration from them. Learn why they bought your product, what is important for them, and what they enjoy the most. Set a clear goal of 5 per month.

Also try to get honest feedback (even harsh ones) and understand what you can improve to help them better. It can be a new feature, a simplified Interface, or something else…

4. There is no such thing as “too much social proof”

People trust people. The reasoning is simple: “If someone like me benefited from this product, I should check it out.”

You already have testimonials? Great! Now add case studies, user statistics, press mentions, product awards, reviews from opinion leaders, and interviews other founder from your field.

You can always add some social proof to build trust with your audience.

5. Sell positive future, not product features

Nobody cares about your features and integrations. Sorry to say it.

People only care about the results they can achieve with your product. You are selling their positive future, not 10 brilliant features.

But don't forget to mention features to clarify how you will provide promised value. Checkout my tweet on simple copywriting tips.

6. Showing the product > Describing the product

Some Founders are obsessed with their products. So they write 5 paragraphs about features and lose customers because of it.

Showing a stunning product picture, gif or video is way more convincing than describing it, even if you are a world-class copywriter.

People love visuals. You know it: “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

7. Nail one acquisition channel before adding the second

Don't try to be everywhere from the first months. High chances you will fail everywhere.

Instead, pick one acquisition channel and master it. Learn what's working and what's not. Optimize your marketing campaign and then move to the next channel.

All great founders that you know went through this process, so just go one step at a time.

8. Your customers are the best promoters

Again: people trust people. If your friend recommends a product, you will check it out. Because you trust their judgment.

Nudge your customers to recommend you on social media. Sometimes it only takes one email to skyrocket your referral traffic.

Your customers would love to help you but only if you encourage them to do it. Checkout the previous email on growth loops to learn more about it.

9. Paying customers is the true validation

No matter how many said they like your product or how large your waitlist is. You should only care about paying customers.

This is the ultimate validation for marketing campaigns, product ideas, and offer experiments.

Focus on getting paid, not upvoted. You can quickly setup a early member lifetime deal to really see if people is interested and refunds them if you don’t see enough traction.

10. Having an email list is a superpower

Algorithms change all the time. If you enjoy getting 1000 followers from a Twitter thread, you should be ready to get banned too.

But having an acquisition channel that you actually control is a superpower. You can market it whenever you want and predict how much revenue you will generate.

If you are not building an email list, you are in danger.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank the 24 new founders who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 🌊 View failure as a step toward success.

• 🤿 Simplified marketing roadmap: Pre-launch, Launch, Post-launch strategies.

• 🪓 Blakey's Tag Parrot strategy: Value, SEO, Guides, Optimization, Pricing, Community.

  
  Reading time: 6 minutes

🌊
A Fresh Point of View

Sharpen your mindset

When you have a strong attachment to a fixed idea of what success is, it can really hurt when things don't go that way. But if you can be more open about what success means, then disappointments won't hit you so hard, or at least not as often.

You know, things aren't failures unless you call them that. And if you start thinking you're a failure as a person, then you're letting those things define you. And that's not a good path to take.

The truth is, failure is kind of a made-up thing. And even if it was real, it doesn't say who you are. The thing to remember is that failure is something you decide in your head. It's like you're choosing to see things that way. Over time, I've discovered that "failures" are feedback or learning opportunities.

I've realized that these lessons are there for a reason. Sometimes they're telling me that I might be aiming at the wrong target for now. Other times, it's like a hint to try something else. And sometimes it just means I should keep going and see "failures" as moments to learn from, not to get stuck in.

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

Engaging in conversations with founders on Twitter, I've discovered that many of them lack a clear roadmap for tackling marketing. A recurring question that arises is:

Well, here's the good news! It's actually simpler than you might think. Let me show you how.

Pre-launch 💡

Got a new product idea? Let's dive in with these steps:

• Define a Target Audience: Choose one specific group to aim for (like start-up founders without a marketing background). Join groups, subreddits or discord communities. Understand their pain points, needs, and preferences.

• Value in a Nutshell: Sum up your product's value in a single sentence, touching both logical and emotional sides. What problem does it solve? How does it make users feel?

• Know the Alternatives: Research and pick a common solution users might compare your product to. This helps you highlight your unique value.

• Visualize Your Idea: Sketch a prototype or mockup in just 72 hours. You don't need perfection; a rough visual representation will do.

• Waitlist Gathering: Craft a page offering gathering emails from early adopters. Explain the benefits they'll get and why they should jump in early. Consider providing a big discount to them or even lifetime deal. Use simple tools like yep.so to deploy a landing page in less than half an hour.

• Spread the Word: Send out tweets and an email to your subscribers. Keep it simple and intriguing, creating curiosity.

• Reach Out Personally: Personally message potential users, friends, and colleagues about your upcoming launch. Build anticipation and gather early feedback.

• Take Action: If there's enough interest, build your product; if not, try a new idea. Don't be discouraged; this is a learning process.

Launch 🔥

As the big day approaches, let's make sure you're set for success:

• Build Hype: Share sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes stories, or the journey of creating your product. Engage potential users in the process. Use #buildinpublic on Twitter to reach a broader audience and share your progress on communities such as IndieHackers.

• Get Testimonials: Have your early bird customers beta-test your product and provide feedback. Use this feedback for improvement and social proof. Send each time 5-10 invites to avoid users to test the same feauand to experience the same issues.

• Craft Your Landing Page: Use simple tools like Webflow, Framer, or Typedream to create a compelling page. Follow the classic structure: Problem - Solution - Benefits - Features - Testimonials - Pricing - Call to Action.

• Honest Feedback: Share your page with 10 people and refine based on their input. Listen to their suggestions and address any confusion.

• Launch Special: Create a noteworthy deal for launch day. Offer an exclusive discount, bundle, or bonus for those who buy on the launch day.

• Showcase Your Product: Craft a catchy video demonstrating how your product solves the problem. Keep it concise and engaging.

• Launch on Multiple Platforms: Go live on Product Hunt, Twitter, and your email list simultaneously. Coordinate your launch efforts across platforms.

• Spread the Word: Share the launch across relevant communities and groups. Contribute in topic related to your project and share your product as a solution when appropriate.

• Broaden Your Reach: Post on Reddit, Indie Hackers, and HackerNews. Adapt your message to suit the community's guidelines and culture.

• Explore Alternatives: Share on platforms like Betalist, There’s an AI for that, and Ben’s Bites. Extend your reach beyond the mainstream platforms. Check out my Twitter for a more complete list.

• Feedback Loop: Gather feedback from users who purchased during the launch. Understand their experience and iterate accordingly.

• Sales Success: Reap the rewards of your marketing efforts. Celebrate your success and continue engaging with your customers.

Post-launch 🚀

After the launch excitement fades, here's how to keep growing:

• Show Your Strengths: Add more social proof to your landing page (customer count, badges, “featured on”). People trust products that others find valuable.

• Adjust the Price: Consider increasing the product price. As your product gains recognition, its perceived value often rises.

• Testing Ground: Note down 10 marketing experiments to run (try different headlines, onboarding flow, etc.). Test, measure, and optimize.

• User Acquisition: Choose 10 tactics to try in the next 60 days (like newsletter sponsorship, new SEO keywords, Google Ads or TikTok promotion Videos). Diversify your approach.

• Listen to Users: Gather 10 feature requests from power users to enhance your product's value. Address the needs of those who love your product. Use tools like Canny to share your public roadmap and gather feature requests.

• Balancing Act: Split your weeks between marketing and development, 50:50. Keep evolving your product and marketing strategy. It might seems a lot of marketing but in the beginning, getting early traction is hard.

• Milestone Achieved: Reach a satisfying revenue milestone. Celebrate each step forward and use it as motivation. Share it on social medias such as Twitter, people love to here the success from others and to learn from it.

• Customer Success: Engage with your customers post-purchase. Offer support, gather testimonials, and encourage referrals. Use tools like Reflio for referrals or Crisp to chat with you user.

• The Decision Point: Choose between selling with traction or continuing to grow. Evaluate your goals and aspirations.

This covers 80% of marketing for Indie Entrepreneurs. If you have more questions or need more information, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter.

🪓
The Breakdown

Analyse founders strategies

Curious about Blakey’s (@yekalb) strategy with Tag Parrot? Let's delve into six methods that have paved the path to success.

• Offering Value through Free Tools: He prioritizes providing easy-to-use, free tools that instantly deliver value and create brand awareness. He can strategically shares these tools when people search for SEO-related topics on social media platforms.

• Programmatic SEO Approach: Instead of relying on a single page for all indexing use cases, he employs a programmatic SEO approach. By creating separate pages tailored to " Indexing," he boosts the ranking potential of each individual page.

• Comprehensive Free Guides: Blakey has crafted free guides that not only educate users on the importance of his application but also guide customers through its usage. Beyond targeting long tail keywords, these guides offer exceptional content that's easily shareable, leading to valuable backlinks.

• Dynamic Optimization: He dynamically adjusts the title, description, and image thumbnail of his pages. This dynamic optimization ensures that the information presented aligns closely with each page's content, thereby enhancing search engine indexing.

• Tiered Pricing with a Free Plan: He offers multiple plans, including a free one. This approach not only attracts users but also generates something immensely valuable: happy customers. This builds authority and trust, especially as users explore his landing page.

• Empowering the Community: The positive experiences of happy customers trigger word-of-mouth marketing. This creates a powerful flywheel effect, propelling Tag Parrot's growth through enthusiastic community engagement. In essence, the community becomes the most powerful and authentic marketing team.

In these six steps, Blakey has developed a robust strategy that not only brings immediate benefits but also establishes a thriving ecosystem around Tag Parrot.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up.

If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank each and every one of you who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their businesses by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Embrace uncertainty, seek truth, foster innovation.

• 🤿 Diving deep into foundational SEO techniques for startup growth

Reading time: 8 minutes

A Fresh Point of View

Morgan Housel's quote reminds us that as founders, we tend to prefer knowing for sure rather than facing the truth. We often come across uncertainties, such as market trends, user preferences, and technology changes. Naturally, we want to get rid of uncertainties, but we must be careful not to let this desire affect our judgment.

It's easy to believe what we want to hear rather than objectively looking at the available information. To overcome this bias, we should encourage a culture of truth-seeking.

However, some level of uncertainty is normal and even necessary for innovation. Embracing uncertainty can lead us to explore new ideas and find untapped opportunities. We need to find a balance between seeking certainty where possible and taking calculated risks when the potential benefits are worth it.

In conclusion, Morgan Housel's observation serves as a reminder to be mindful of our beliefs and decision-making. By embracing uncertainty with a data-driven approach, we can make well-informed choices even if it means dealing with uncomfortable realities along the way.

The Dive Deep

Google Search Console Award for 10K search impressions

My SaaS, RecapioGPT, receives 80% of its traffic from organic research. SEO is a long-term investment that you must prioritize to facilitate growth in the coming months. Consistent effort is crucial in the early stages, as otherwise, the results may not be satisfying. Let's examine some fundamental SEO techniques!

Keyword Research

Keyword research is about identifying relevant and high-traffic keywords related to your content and target audience. The goal is to find keywords with good search volume and manageable competition. By strategically incorporating these keywords, you can improve search engine visibility and attract organic traffic.

Targeting the right keywords improves your chances of ranking higher in search results, making it easier for users to find your website. Optimizing content with well-researched keywords enhances the user experience, helping visitors find what they need quickly. By aligning your content with your audience's interests, you increase engagement and conversions, driving the success of your website.

• Use Keyword Research Tools: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to find relevant keywords with search volume. Also, leverage keyworddit to extract subreddit keywords or Google Search to have associated words in queries.

• Use Competitors: Study competitor websites to identify their targeted keywords and gain insights for your content strategy. Create webpages comparing your application with them and catch users that search for alternatives. Explain why you are better than the others, check out beehiiv comparison page for example.

Beehiiv comparison page

• Long-Tail and Secondary Keywords: Incorporate specific, longer phrases for less competition and more targeted audience reach. Don’t optimize every page on your site around commercial terms but rather for when users are not searching for what you sell. If you are selling “SEO training”, use keywords like: “link building”, “on-page SEO” and “SEO Tools”

Long-Tail keywords

On-page optimization

On-page optimization fine-tunes web pages to be search engine friendly and user-centric. This improves rankings and visibility by presenting valuable content to users and search engines.

On-page optimization is critical for SEO as it directly influences search engine perception and rankings. Structuring content with relevant headings and metadata helps search engines understand page context and improving user search results.

• Meta Tags and Descriptions: Craft compelling meta tags and descriptions that represent your content and entice users to click through to your page from search results. Use tools like Meta Tags Toolkit to preview, edit, and generate associated code for your website.

Meta Tags Toolkit User Interface

• Keyword Placement: Integrate targeted keywords naturally in your title tags, headings, and meta descriptions. Create well-structured pages with headers and paragraphs. For a product page, target between 300-500 words to communicate the content’s relevance to search engines.

Taplio Landing Page struture

Link building

Link Building is the practice of earning backlinks from other reputable and relevant websites. Backlinks are hyperlinks from one website to another. They signal to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. Creating valuable and shareable content attracts other website owners to link to it, enhancing your website's authority and ranking.

Link building is a vital off-page SEO strategy. Backlinks act as votes of confidence from other websites, making your site more authoritative. Higher-quality backlinks lead to increased visibility in SERPs. Moreover, link building generates referral traffic from reputable platforms, increasing the potential for new visitors and customers. However, focus on earning natural and relevant backlinks to avoid search engine penalties for spammy link schemes.

• Link-Worthy Content: Develop high-quality, informative, and shareable content that provides value to your target audience and creates brand awareness. Content such as in-depth guides, case studies, or industry insights is more likely to attract natural backlinks from other websites.

TweetHunter Blog

• Guest Blogging: Identify authoritative websites and blogs in your niche and approach them with personalized outreach. Offer to contribute valuable guest posts or collaborate on content that aligns with their audience's interests. Use tools like Moz to check domain authority and Google Search queries to find guest websites:

  • [your_topic] "become an author"

  • [your_topic] "guest post"

  • [your_topic] inurl:contribute

Guest post on Ahrefs

• Leverage Niche Communities: Participate in niche communities like Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, and relevant subreddits. Engage with the community, provide value, and avoid spammy self-promotion. Submit your SaaS product or service to relevant SaaS directories and review platforms. These directories often provide opportunities for backlinks, and they can also drive targeted traffic to your site.

Posthog Product Hunt page

Technical SEO

Technical SEO optimizes the technical aspects of your website to improve search engine visibility and crawlability. Ensuring efficient crawling and indexing helps display your content in relevant search results.

Technical SEO supports on-page and off-page efforts. Proper optimization ensures search engine bots can crawl and index your site, avoiding poor rankings and visibility. By optimizing technical elements, you provide clear instructions, reaching a broader audience with relevant search results.

• Google Search Console: Connect your domain and regularly monitor Google Search Console to track your website's performance in search results, identify crawling and indexing issues, and receive important notifications from Google regarding your site.

Traffic on Google Search Console

• XML Sitemap and Robots.txt: Create an XML sitemap to help search engines index all pages of your website efficiently. Additionally, use a robots.txt file to guide search engine crawlers, instructing them on which pages to crawl or exclude from indexing. Once available, upload the sitemap to the Google Search Console for fast indexing.

Simplified sitemap example

• Optimize URL Structure: Create clean and descriptive URLs for each page, incorporating relevant keywords when possible. A well-structured URL helps search engines understand the content of the page and improves user readability.

Structured link associated with the page title

Page speed optimization

Page speed optimization improves website loading speed and performance. Faster-loading sites rank higher and enhance user satisfaction.

Page speed is vital for SEO and user experience. Faster-loading sites receive search ranking boosts, increasing discovery by potential visitors. It also reduces bounce rates and boosts engagement and conversions, meeting users' expectations for quick access to information and services.

• Image Compression: Compress images without sacrificing quality. Use tools like ILoveIMG to reduce image file sizes and improve page load times. Also, leverage your JS framework image optimization such as the one from Nextjs.

• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML: Reduce file sizes, leading to faster loading times. Modern JS framework does that out of the box, nevertheless, verify that you distribute the compressed version to your customers.

• Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Utilize a CDN to distribute your website's static resources across multiple servers worldwide. This allows visitors to load resources from a server closer to their location, reducing latency and speeding up page loads. Leverage platforms such as Vercel, Netlify, or AWS CloudFront.

Mobile-Friendly and Responsive Design

Mobile-Friendly and Responsive Design ensures optimal user experience on various mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It adapts layouts, images, and content based on screen size, providing a seamless and user-friendly experience.

With the rise of mobile browsing, mobile-friendly design is crucial. Google's mobile-first indexing prioritizes mobile versions for rankings, impacting visibility and traffic. A poor mobile experience leads to high bounce rates and reduced conversions.

Permadi Satria Dewanto

• Use Responsive Web Design: Implement responsive design techniques to ensure your website's layout and content adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Use libraries such as Tailwind or Bootstrap to develop faster if you are not proficient with CSS.

• Test on Multiple Devices: Regularly test your website on various mobile devices and browsers to ensure it displays correctly and functions smoothly across different platforms. Leverage your browser dev tools to render different screen sizes.

• Minimize Pop-ups and Interstitials: Avoid intrusive pop-ups or interstitials that disrupt the user experience on mobile devices. If you use them, ensure they are easily dismissible and do not cover essential content.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne

Hey there,

Before I start today's issue, I'd like to personally thank each and every one of you who recently joined us to be part of this journey!
If you aren’t subscribed, join founders growing their business by subscribing here.

In this week’s issue:

• 💡 Discussing innovation by combining existing elements

• 📈 Breaking down the mechanism of growth loops

• 🤿 Diving deep into the AARRR Framework for startup growth

Reading time: 5 minutes

A Fresh Point of View

Stan's quote on creativity emphasizes that most innovations are incremental, combining existing elements to create something new. These combinations are accessible because the components already exist. Take the iPhone as an example, which merged existing cell phones with a large touch screen, spawning a new category: smartphones.

However, we must also recognize that envisioning entirely new concepts can drive groundbreaking changes. Uber, for instance, revolutionized transportation and consumption patterns, leading to the emergence of similar concepts, often called "Uber of X."

Implementing disruptive ideas is more challenging, as it demands profound changes on political, societal, or cultural levels. For instance, the increasing accessibility of AI like ChatGPT is set to have a significant, yet undefined, impact in the years ahead.

While building upon existing ideas holds value, we should not limit ourselves. We must continue to explore uncharted territory with our imagination.

Break It Down: Growth Loops

How does your product grow? You've got several path to explore:

• Ads

• Affiliate links

• Sales

• Social media

This is what is called a classic funnel: Pour more in, get more out. It's a tried and tested approach.

But let's face the problem with this approach:

• Acquiring new customers from scratch is hard.

• Funnels flow in one direction, lacking a continuous loop.

• Growth tends to be linear and limited.

Now, let's think more with loops. Growth Loops have the power to feed themselves, creating a self-sustaining cycle where the actions of one user lead to the creation of new users.

Here's an example for your SaaS: Why not create a financial incentive for your users to invite others?

Dropbox uses this technique by offering disk space to acquire new customers. Give them real added value, and watch the acquisition loop take off!

Testimonials.to also make use of this exact same strategy. Damon Cheng managed to embed himself in the website of other indie founders SaaS!

His flywheel is simple and effective:

• Either you "pay" him by having his app logo on your site, which brings him new users for free, and his loop continues to grow.

• Or, you can opt to pay $20 per month for the service.

Let’s Dive Deep: AARRR Framework

Let’s now deep on the AARRR Framework, a fantastic set of metrics that can make your startup sail the high seas like a mighty pirate ship.

These metrics are the secret sauce for measuring your company's growth in a way that's straightforward and easy to put into action. So, get ready to hoist the anchor, set sail, and uncover the treasures of the AARRR Framework!

Acquisition: Charting the Course

To ensure your startup's growth, it's vital to know where your users are coming from. Understand their journey, optimize it, and identify the marketing channel with the highest volume, lowest cost, and best performance.

Activation: Unleash the Aha Moment

The user's initial experience with your product is crucial. Conduct extensive tests, including landing pages and A/B tests, to quickly iterate and discover the "Aha Moment." Guide users to the point where they realize the true value of your product, ensuring they become repeat customers.

Examples include Facebook's requirement of 7 friends in 10 days or Twitter's recommendation to follow 30 people.

Retention: Anchoring Users

Regularly assess whether users are returning to use your product or leaving. Embrace your unhappy customers as a valuable learning opportunity. Implement automated emails to enhance retention.

Remember, for growth, your acquisition rate must surpass your churn rate. Failing to do so leads to a leaky bucket, draining your resources.

Referral: Harnessing the Power of Advocacy

Transforming customers into advocates is key. Encourage referrals after users have a positive experience or establish a systematic referral process with incentives by leveraging growth loops.

Monitor the viral coefficient, which indicates how many users each customer refers. For instance, a viral coefficient of 2 means one user brings in two new users.

Revenue: Navigating the Monetization Waters

Develop a solid plan to monetize your startup and increase revenue. Focus on maximizing customer lifetime value (CLV) while minimizing customer acquisition costs (CAC).

Aim for a healthy CLV:CAC ratio of 3:1, ensuring sustainable revenue growth.

That’s it for today! 🙌

Enjoyed this issue? Send it to your friends here to sign-up. If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email or reach out to me on Twitter!

Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne