
Ask HN: How do I fix my chicken/egg problem? - karjaluoto
My friend and I are working on a startup called Officehours. The first stage was a mentoring tool. Now, we’re expanding it with a newsfeed (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;officehours.io&#x2F;streams) containing articles and product launches.<p>I’m struggling with the product launch aspect. Few startup folks know about it, so I’m reaching out individually, asking folks to post launches there. (This is made harder because we require folks to complete a profile before they can do so.)<p>On one level, I contemplate approaching this like Product Hunt, and adding launches for others. I don’t like this idea though as it takes the control away from them (and it’d look like I’m the only one posting content).<p>So, my question: Do I keep reaching out to folks, and just putting in the time, knowing it will grow eventually (we did just release it)? Or, do I say “screw it” and add others’ products without their knowledge? Or, is there some other approach I haven’t considered?
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owens99
Do you mind if I ask how you decided a newsfeed with articles and product
launches is the best direction to move your startup in? Did you consider other
angles and discuss with your potential customer segment what their biggest
pain points are? Usually, something isn't gaining traction because you are
going about it in the wrong way, or you're not solving a pain point that is
big enough.

~~~
karjaluoto
The pain point is one I’ve talked to a number of founders/writers about. They
create stuff they’re happy with, and then struggle to get the word out.

For example, one of these folks has a pretty decent following (you’ve likely
read his stuff), solid list, and a number of books published. Last summer, he
and I had a long email discussion about this. He noted that this (reaching new
readers/buyers) was the one problem he just couldn’t solve. He found sites
like HN increasingly difficult to crack, posting through other major media
sources (e.g. Lifehacker, Huffington Post, Newsweek) low-yield, and social
media less and less effective.

So, all of this is part of a larger plan. Our core service has been in place
for ~2 years. Through it, folks talk one-on-one, and get feedback, advice,
ideas. We don’t have a ton of users, but it generally seems to work pretty
well. In fact, someone yesterday noted that their 10 minute OH session led to
an hour-long Skype call, and then an in person meeting.

The problem with the initial product, and the one I think competing services
also run into, is that there’s limited reason to come back to such a
service—and make a habit of it. That is, you don’t check an advisor site on a
regular basis, because you typically only need help from time to time. My
hunch is that a lot of people heard about the service, thought it was viable,
and then promptly forgot about it.

The reason for adding Streams (the feed) is to give folks more of a reason to
check back in—and to create starting points for discussions. For example, one
might read an article, find the content interesting, and then want to ask
further questions one-on-one. We also see this tying into questions, as folks
will be able to post a question, and then have an advisor either respond to it
in a comment, or offer a one-on-one. All of it relates to helping folks build
connections, share their stuff, and find new ways to collaborate.

I should probably also clarify something. I’m not so much fearful that this
won’t gain traction. (It’s only been live for three days, and traffic is up 5x
for each of those days.) That said, I know the process of building out such a
thing is substantial. I refer to it as “the empty dance floor.” No one wants
to dance, until someone is—and after a few more do, everyone leaps in. We
experienced the same with our initial product. It took us weeks to get the
advisor base
([https://officehours.io/advisors](https://officehours.io/advisors)) past a
dozen people—then it started growing on its own.

So, my question isn’t so much one of: “why doesn’t this work?” because I think
it can. It’s more of an: “is there a smarter way to reach out to new startup
founders, and get them involved?”

------
itamarst
1\. "made harder because we require folks to complete a profile before they
can do so". Can you make it easier?

2\. If you're promoting someone's else's launch seems like they'd be happy
about it.

~~~
karjaluoto
1\. We will make that easier, once we’re past the closed beta. I’m just trying
to do is throttle this area a little. My concern is that if we open it up
entirely, we’ll find it polluted with spam. So, we’re setting a completed bio
as the baseline for posting new content. (And, yes, I realize I’m somewhat
responsible for the Catch-22 I describe.)

Once we see that it’s working properly and have a bit more time to build in
some mechanisms (i.e., prompting members to complete their profiles, in order
to gain post permissions), we’ll open up posting to the entire community. In a
perfect world, we’d already have that in place. However, we need to get some
critical stuff sorted first (i.e., the ability to edit posts).

2\. Yes: I think so, too, especially because I remember essentially begging
folks to “hunt” us on Product Hunt, when we first started Officehours. This is
the weird part of where we’re at. I know that this is something I was looking
for, a few years ago. In fact, I even wrote this post, on the subject:
www.erickarjaluoto.com/blog/places-to-post-your-startup. However, getting
those first folks to participate is often a little challenging. ;-)

