What's one piece of advice you would give to a first time maker?
Aaron O'Leary
30 replies
There's probably tons of advice I wish I had but if I could go back I would tell me that failure is necessarily a fail, we can learn from it and take those learnings to our next journey
Replies
Aleksandr V@veryayskiy
There is no product that market itself. Do marketing. No "that feature that will market the whole product". Do marketing.
Share
@veryayskiy this x 10 always start marketing before building
Don't start with complex products. If you have a great SaaS idea in mind, keep it before validation. Validate the idea with a simple prototype (for example, content product). If you have customers there, then you can start building SaaS ๐
Example โฌ๏ธ
You want to make a marketplace with Notion products. Don't start with the marketplace part. Instead, you can start with collection of templates, resources, and remarkable makers and try to sell this curated list. If you sold it, start building a marketplace!
@aaronoleary Yeah, absolutely!
Also, it helps to get your audience. It's much easier then to get feedback, testimonials, social proof, and also people who will support you on PH launch ๐
Speak to the people you are solving a problem for AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Solve one pain point/problem at a time and try not to build for all. Once the idea is validated using an MVP (Never miss the "M' in MVP (Minimum Viable Product)) then only move forward with building the actual V1 product.
Nine out of ten startups will fail. This is a hard and bleak truth, but one that youโd do well to meditate on. Entrepreneurs may even want to write their failure post-mortem before they launch a business.
I thought that this discussion was about One Piece :)
Advise would be to multiply the projected costs (or time required) by 2.
Divide the expected revenue by 3.
1/6 of the the 'optimistic' profit forecast is the more realistic number.
Start talking about your product 2 months before your launch. Build the hype and the partnerships so that you have a cushion to land on when you do launch.
@debgotwired yes 100%. Partnerships are a must, as well as proper market research and brand recognition. Otherwise, with a ready-made product and no community traction the whole business venture can end up in trouble - extra costs, lost focus and opportunities, and what not.
make sure you're solving an actual problem before building
how to do this?
Ask people the right questions:
1. what's the hardest thing about [doing X]?
2. tell me about the last time you encountered a problem?
3. why was that hard ?
4. what, if anything have your potential customers/fellow makers do to solve the problem
5. what don't you love about the solutions you've/they've tried
hope it helps
Launching gives the best validation. Many of us get stuck in the perfection loop, and never launch the product in the first place.
@shreyas_prakash1 I am totally with you on this. Though not many want to accept, this is the reality.
great ideas ๐ก
Hey Aron,
I have a google doc that I can send you with my Producthunt Strategy.
Did you know the Twitter link of your Producthunt profile isn't working?
Be open to criticism and always attach importance to feedback to improve the product
There are some great suggestions already in this thread, especially around collecting feedback constantly (pre, during and post release) from as many stakeholders as possible and acknowledging that no product can market itself initially (if its successful it will develop a viral loop, but you have to get it out there first).
I would add, from a build side, be iterative and scrappy. Early days, you need to validate that what you're building both solves a problem and the problem is big enough for someone to use a completely separate solution for. Getting something out there will give you far quicker and more valuable insights, plus allow you to build a better product long term than trying to get it perfect at the start.
Don't forget to do what you like doing. It's easy to get lost in all the advice, and end up building a business just in the hopes that it will grow.
It's ok not to be hyper efficient or hyper focused. It's ok not to grow revenue as much as you'd hoped. It's ok not to build a community. It's ok not to build a notion freebie. It's ok not to do SEO.
But nothing will be ok very long if you're doing things you hate doing just to make a buck
@axel_lavergne Agree. It does feel that at the end of the day the work and things you do should make sense and feel right, otherwise, it will be hard to sustain motivation, develop, progress and actually enjoy work and life :)
Give yourself a break. Sometimes while working all the time, networking, researching, analyzing, creating we tend to forget to rest. And what I've noticed for myself is when I let myself rest a bit and take a different (outer) perspective on the situation, I tend to get the most effective solutions and interesting ideas.
@magdalena_tran1 :) It's actually also a personal reminder, as tend to forget sometimes haha. Btw, Magdalena, do you tend to get small breaks yourself or prefer working a lot and then disappear for long vacations? Or have your own personal recipe of resting and getting a fresh perspective?
@anastasiiahere I think for me it's my daily routines. Like don't skip your yoga, meditation, lunch walk, evening run or whatever it is you do that makes you feel good in your body and mind. Sometimes I think I get more done by putting more time, but like you said, when you remove yourself and do other things and come back that's when you get creative and can expand. For me personally I get into another state when I run and can really get a laser focus on something and come to solutions I wouldn't be able to just by sitting in front of my screen. If it makes sense?
@magdalena_tran1 Totally makes sense. When you mentioned getting "into another state", that's exactly the same feeling I get :) And that's actually what I like about startup work as it's possible to arrange timing and be more flexible with breaks, you-time and work more efficiently while considering your mental and body health.
Get started as small as possible, iterate as fast as possible
prepare a deep research before launch, make an action plan and feel good ๐
Fail fast
thinking so cool advice to be.