What's the hardest part about launching a product?

Abadesi
55 replies
For me it's always a combination of the following: (1) not feeling ready (2) not feeling like I have spent enough time building an audience/followers around it (3) worried launch will not go as expected. What do you find the hardest?

Replies

Mark Murphy
Getting your first users (I am working through this now 😅)
Mark Murphy
@abadesi It's going ok! I've been pushing on some social channels relevant to my audience like Twitter and various Subreddits. I'm thinking of trying some ad slots on a couple newsletter to see how they fare. Do you have any advice when it comes to email marketing and building an initial list?
Abadesi
@markmurphy37 how is it going? I always rely on social and email marketing for that.
Abadesi
@markmurphy37 aim to share something regularly e.g. a weekly digest. Include a CTA in the header/footer asking folks to share with friends. When tweeting again be bold with the CTAs. Also try to get on podcasts that target your audience even if they have a small audience - with a niche you may get a higher conversion %.
Mark Murphy
@abadesi I like the thought of sharing something on a more regular schedule and being more bold with CTAs on Twitter. I appreciate the advice!
Ryan Glass
Getting the launch off the ground! The first review can be the hardest to come by...
Abadesi
@ryan_w_glass Yes reading reviews takes resilience for sure. Do you usually make a launch checklist to ensure it gets off the ground smoothly?
Ryan Glass
@abadesi I probably should make a checklist - I've just launched today and it seems to be invisible :(
Stephen
@ryan_w_glass I see it! 🙃Downtime Monkey 2.0?
Abadesi
@ryan_w_glass where are you promoting and sharing? do you already have an email list/audience you are sharing it with?
Ryan Glass
@abadesi - 1200+ Twitter followers, newsletter to 500+ users, Facebook, Makerlog, Indie Hackers etc. but I think that the reality is that unless you're on the front page it's effectively invisible. Not to worry though as it's not our only method of getting the word out.
Mohamed Salah
I think everyone has the same feeling as you :D
James Ivings
If you feel 100% ready then you've waited too long before launching :)
Abadesi
@jamesivings yes James solid advice! But what if you are feeling only 20% ready? 😬
MEKH
@jamesivings The reason why makers want to be sure the product is bug free before the launch is because the game is one shot try, if the users find it ugly or buggy they will not come back again!
James Ivings
@aboubakr_mekhatria no one has mentioned bugs :) I wouldn't recommend launching a buggy product, but as @abadesi mentioned, bugs aren't the only reason for people not to feel 100% ready.
Kevin Natanzon
Well, we've just launched today and our app is crashing so...I guess everything!
Abadesi
@kevinnatanzon oh no! hope you get it back up and running ASAP
Maximilian Müller
The last 20 percent before the release of the project.
Abadesi
@mxmllr what is in the last 20 percent? last minute things?
Maximilian Müller
I believe in the rule that 80% of the product can be finished in 20% of the time. The remaining 20% will take 80% of the time. While I'm in the second phase I find it hard to decide when it's time to release the product. For example, how much time should I invest in quality assurance or bugfixing before introducing the product to the masses?
Abadesi
@mxmllr I love the practice of doing constant reflection / cost benefit analysis.
Alessandro Tesoro
Marketing. I hate marketing. 🤯
Abadesi
@alessandrotesoro what do you hate about it? as someone who loves it I'd be happy to share advice :D
Alessandro Tesoro
@abadesi It's probably because I'm a developer that I hate marketing. What annoys me the most is not being able to see results immediately. With code instead I can see immediately if something is working or not 🤷‍♂️ I build and sell WordPress plugins so I'm just not sure which channels are the most effective or even where to start from. The only strategy that has ever worked for me is "build it, ship it, they'll come". Which is easy for small projects but very hard for larger projects like the one I'm currently working on.
Abadesi
@alessandrotesoro I hear you. What channels have been most successful so far? Email newsletters? Twitter? LinkedIn?
Sisi Liu
Definitely #2 for me. Product development takes up so much time before the launch that there is not enough time spent to do marketing/community building!
Abadesi
@sisi_l the key is to do both at the same time. It requires an embrace of imperfection and writing about ideas which may not be fully formed.
Povilas Korop
I guess the hardest part that if you launch and you think it's important day for you and you worked for it very long, and, as a result - no one actually uses the product on the first day. Or, even if they do, they just click around and don't stay for the second day. This is hard to swallow that "your baby is ugly". This is the moment when you realize that in 99% of the cases the actual LAUNCH DAY is a myth, the actual business work only starts there, marketing and selling.
Abadesi
@povilas_korop yes yes yes! @csallen said in our podcast its better to stop thinking of launching as your ONE SHOT but constantly be launching :)
Blessing Museki
@povilas_korop True. The hard work starts after launch. Hence the reason you may need to launch again, and again, and again.....
Eleonora Sergijevic
@povilas_korop I think you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, many of us invest so much energy and emotions into building the right product and eventually launching it, so we are already kind of "burned up" when we actually do it. Realizing that launch is just the beginning of yet another very long lap, doesn't really help with burnout at the end of the day :(
Dima Grossman
Knowing when to stop is definitely a hard one for me. Coming from a programming background I find myself always trying to build a ton of feature just because it's "easy" for me. Sometimes I'm jealous of people who just create wordpress pages and get a lot of validation before writing any code at all.
Abadesi
@dima_grossman I think that happens to lots of developers! You always know what more could be done and you have an impulse to. So how do you stop yourself from doing that and finally shipping?
Dima Grossman
@abadesi I have awesome partners (@shaharc , @tomer_barnea1 ) that stop me where I can't :)
Mak Mo
launching to the write users
Alin Rauta
For me, definitely is #2. The constant wondering: "do I really have something here or is just my imagination and optimism?"
Abadesi
@rautaalin how do you fight that?
Alin Rauta
@abadesi Keep building, iterating and trying until it sticks, I guess.
Conrad Ehinger
Everything you listed plus doing it for the first time on Product Hunt! Any tips specific to being successful on this site? We are only a few weeks out!
Abadesi
@conrad_ehing spend each day building your community outside PH so you have as many folks as possible chiming into your launch sharing reviews and comments.
Lindsey Winder
I did my first launch today and whoo eee! What a ride! I've been a lurker on Product Hunt for a while so had an idea of what good launches looked like - never realized how much energy must go in behind the scenes! Super fun and a lot of notes for the next one!
Eleonora Sergijevic
@lindsey_winder Congrats Lindsey :) So, how did it went?
Sonya Eldarova
Even when you think you estimated all the risks, the market will show that you didn't.
Akshay Vernekar
its definitely marketing for me , being a developer it was relatively easier to create the product even though we have a good organic growth rate now it helps if the word is spreads much faster. Any advice welcomed !
Jonathan Sun
Usually what happens is a lot of minor bugs start appearing last minute at launch... and then there's the pressure of trying to fix those bugs on time before our self-determined launch. Being a non-technical founder, it feels crazy at times because it's not something I can control. Then after that is knowing when to launch on the market or when to delay (the rule I generally use is if it's sufficiently valuable to the user, launch).
Abadesi
@jonathan_sun1 i feel you! That's where you need to lean into the team and trust in the process
Blessing Museki
For me it's 3 - worried the launch wll not go as expected.
Sarah Loertscher
@abadesi I'd say #2 - finding the right audience. I know that I'll never feel really ready, and I know the launch will not go as expected because, life, but the marketing and audience gathering always feels elusive. Like the perfect answer/audience/follower/hashtag/ad/etc could be right around the corner and it's tough to say, okay, that's enough, what you've done is enough, let's just get it out the door!
Abadesi
@sarahloertscher that's why I think makers should spend time building their personal brands, you get a great mix of folks who are interested in what you do and share similar interests and values. Thus a captive audience to convert into product users when the time comes.
Sarah Loertscher
@abadesi I think that's such a smart way to approach it, although my personal struggle with that is how much time I want to spend on social media (not very much at all). I stopped using social media almost two years ago and am a much happier, balanced person. But that does "cost" me things too, mostly in my work life, and one of those things is an audience, for lack of a better word. I guess it's the common struggle of work/life balance in yet another place. I'm curious on your perspective - have you found way to strike a balance?
Krzesimir
So, you had your worries - but how did the product launch work out in the end? :) @abadesi
Abadesi
@ostrowele I was pleased with the results! You can check it out here https://www.producthunt.com/post... after the launch I have predominately focused on Twitter as an acquisition channel which has worked well. We were able to 2x our growth in 4 months.