ππ€ What role should writers play at the early stages of startups?
Carla Kargaard
41 replies
I enjoy checking out new tech companies. I often notice that their teams consist primarily of a variety of engineers, developers, designers, and maybe someone specialising in marketing and growth. I hardly ever see any professional copywriters or UX writers. Why do you think this is? Is clear messaging not that big a priority for young startups? Are writing tasks divided between existing team members, or do they rely on freelancers? Would it not cost more (time and money) to fix the microcopy later than to hire someone from the start? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Replies
Alexandru Ifrim@aifrim
It always depends startup to startup and the stage its in, i'd say.
While a coherent and understandable message is an important the goal from all perspectives. Focusing to much on it in the early stages is not that important.
When trying to validate the idea, the goals you are trying to achieve and the general concept behind your startup, copy writing is not that important; because at that stage you should be targeting experienced and knowledgeable people that can see the value behind what you are trying to build so that they can provide feedback and guidance.
After this vital step is behind you and you start the attract clients via growth channels stage. At this point, copy writing starts have a reason to exist. Because, by then, you have enough data points to iron out a persona profile and use that persona profile to adjust the UX & Copy for your application.
What do you think? @carla_kargaard
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The writers IMO should craft the narrative, the positioning, and the messaging. To build a foundation for future communication. And you, @carla_kargaard, are one of the best there is, keep pushing! ππ€©π
Prolly this happens because most founders are tech people or serial entrepreneurs who are used to pushing the product hard and then keeping up with the brand, copy, and so on. Do you think a writer should be part of the founding team, more often than not?
I tend to follow start-ups which have great pieces of content on their site/ social media accounts. I don't think these can be written by engineers or developers (there might be a few super talented, but these are the exceptions). In my POV, the story sells the product = the copywriter has a crucial role in any start-up.
Super useful topic to take in consideration!
Thank you for posting this, looking forward to see wut people think about this π
Writers should set the tempo, bring clarity, and, firstly, define the vision, the mission, and the values. π§©
The devs can easily follow if the writers put "the book" together. My entire career is based on that. π
I'm a QA professional, and my work gets easier if the writers are part of the founding team because they can glue everything together. ππ
There's a strong need for writers in any newly founded tech company. At the end of the day, communication with internal and external stakeholders takes up most of the team's time. A big part of that will also be formal communication, where you absolutely need some writing skills.
Usually, that formal communication is not treated in a formal manner, as things tend to change rapidly. Yesterday's knowledge becomes tomorrow's relic. But I think this starts to actually define the role of a writer in the early stages - being able to quickly adapt, constantly crafting new ideas, being able to let go of attachments to their own creative work, and most importantly, constantly simplifying through all the noise and bring clarity to everyone involved with the startup, effectively communicating "where we're at" and "where we're headed". Oh, and that overly-upvoted, but otherwise essential, concept of "why".
whatever delays your launch, is something you should avoid. Writers should make sure that the product is always good enough for the immediate goals of the company.
Pretty interesting question. With so many moving pieces when launching a new product, it's not surprising that this can sometimes fall by the wayside. That said, the language and voice of the product is one of the first things to touch the consumer, so it's vital to get it right.
At SoLoyal, writing good copy happens to be a skill that we have among our founding team so I think we take it for granted. But if this is not inherent in a startup's team, I would definitely recommend getting outside help from a freelancer.
@michael_lachar you are right! I would give SoLoyal a spin. π
@savian_boroanca Thanks Savian! We're looking forward to our PH launch, and you can definitely drop your email at soloyal.co/coming-soon for updates. Looking forward to supporting your upcoming launch as well!
@michael_lachar sure thing! You can check us too, here: https://www.producthunt.com/prod...
@savian_boroanca Great video and great product! I subscribed to notifications...looking forward.
Early on, it's a matter of available bandwidth and that it is more difficult to measure the value it adds. As you scale it starts being more obvious the role good copy plays in conversion.
Writing seems to be one of those activities that take effort and time to get good at but no one ever regrets doing it.
@stoica_stefan so few people can write tech these days, if you become good at it, the success will follow! π
I believe that copy is one of the most important aspects of UX! Especially for new companies that need to spread their message coherently.
I think that every company should have a writer from the beginning, even on a part-time sort of collaboration. When you launch a product, you need to present it with a professional feel and having some bad translations or sentences that make no sense is a big turnoff for your potential customers. You need to take a holistic approach for your product and the text in it needs to be validated by a professional.
Great topic, Carla!
I think Copywriters and UX Writers should have a sit at the table from the earliest stages possible. They should be involved from the start, even if it might seem pointless at that moment. It helps them understand the whole concept behind the product, and they can do their job so much better later in the journey if they see the entire picture.
And once they're at the table, I think it's very important for wordy people to collaborate closely with the technical side of the team and the latter to talk and listen to the wordy people.
But from what I can tell, people just now start seeing the importance of Copywriters and UX Writers. So there's still a long way until everybody understands what these jobs really mean.
As to why this is happening, I think all the reasons you've already listed are true. To those, I'd add two more things that I believe work against us:
- ironically, our names (Copywriter, what is that? A person who copies stuff? Is it copyright-related?)
- the fact that what we do seems SO simple which makes it easy to overlook all the research that goes into a small change ("How hard can it be? You just need to replace the name of this button. It's one word."). It gives people the impression that ANYBODY can do it. Oh, if they'd only try it for a couple of days...!
But I also think we shouldn't despair. I do see a positive trend in people who value Copywriters and overall writers' input. It will take some more time to get to the point where wordy people are properly valued, but we're on our way there. I'm sure of it. πͺπ
Copywriters never run out of work. Ideally, they even become a fundamental part of the company. They define and influence the companyβs language, and work at every point of the customer journey.
Launching soon!
Writers play a vital role in making brand content look authentic and ensuring that the content is exciting and informative enough to keep users interested. Copywriting is an innovative way to ensure your company gets more attention and success.
I agree! Every start-up needs a professional writer. It helps not only in the UX part but in various essential tasks like newsletters and press releases. I don't know why people take writing easy! Nice thought :)