Don’t Launch

Episode #6 of the course How to Validate an Idea by Ryan Kulp

 

So when do we launch this thing, anyway?

A lot of folks think “launching” is a pivotal moment where press releases are distributed, fireworks shoot up into the sky, and customers rush to buy in droves.

Fortunately for us, we don’t need a grand opening to get our first customers.

What we’re going to do today is commonly known as a soft launch. When a business has a soft launch, all the offerings of the product or service are available, but they’re not marketed.

This paradoxical strategy encourages the right customers to become early adopters, versus future prospects who may find your first version inferior to their existing solution.

Going back to our one-page business plan, remember that your target customer is the one you can close within 30 days from today.

But grand opening-style launches don’t consider this and instead opt for inviting everyone, including customers that won’t close with your current offering.

 

Lesson of the day: Don’t launch. Just start serving.

As we mentioned on the first day of this course, we won’t be teaching you how to build a landing page or run an ad campaign. However, below are a few resources for doing just that.

1. Instapage: build stunning landing pages in

2. LaunchKit: create a “coming soon” page for a mobile app.

3. QuickMVP: launch an ad campaign without learning how to do ads

If web pages aren’t your thing, no problem. Read how Silicon Valley startup Product Hunt began as a manually curated email newsletter here.

Note: If you do create a landing page, revisit the cold Twitter strategy from Day Four. If you collected contact information from your respondents, let them know you appreciate their feedback and would love for them to check out your new concept.

If you did not receive contact info from the folks who completed your market research survey, simply redo the steps from Day Two but point prospects to your new destination instead of a survey.

 

Recommended book

“Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” by Nir Eyal

 

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