

LaunchRock Launches - nivertech
http://launchrock.com/blog/launchrock-launches

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dmix
Wait, why does the conversion rate on a landing page with just a logo and
_maybe_ a one line description matter?

Thats hardly a useful metric for determining if you have a good product or a
real business. Even after you launch, conversion rate optimization is a waste
of time until you find the right product/pricing/etc and have figured out what
people want.

The first 6months-1year will be about discovery, not optimization.

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MicahWedemeyer
While I agree that you shouldn't read too much into the metrics, something
like LaunchRock gives you at least a platform to start your launch from. Much
easier to mail 10-10,000 people who have expressed interest, rather than start
cold and try to find that 10-10,000 people.

Don't expect your pre-launch "coming soon" page to bring 1000s of customers
with money in hand, but since it's a pretty damn minimal investment, you might
as well set one up.

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jaymstr
We look at this as a place to start building a relationship. Our company today
is about landing pages, but it's not staying that way. The things that are
coming soon are all about what you do with the list after you have it.

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teyc
Does the data belong to the company or LaunchRock? It is very valuable
information to Angels, VCs, especially if you are tracking engagement.

Especially in such a hot tech market, your investors will be able to frontrun
other investors when it comes to determining which projects are most likely to
get traction.

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eps
Sadly enough "entice your friends to sign-up to get an earlier access" is now
a cliche. It worked when it was a novelty, but it is something that is being
frowned upon now.

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dotBen
I think that's only within the tech-elite/tech-aware communities.

I believe this kind of strategy still piques the interest of "regular folks" -
in the same way that "buying virtual goods" is kinda cliche and unappealing
for most of us on HN, yet the mainstream world still does it.

This might even be an advantage for LaunchRock's customers - getting a healthy
mix of early adopters, tech insiders AND passionate + well connected 'normal
folks' to try out the customer's beta.

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angryasian
i'm really wondering about conversion rates of the 'normal folks' as well. I'd
think they'd be more skeptical if they just saw a random picture with a
paragraph of text saying 'we'll let you know when we launch, give us your
email address'.

~~~
jaymstr
Jameson from LaunchRock here. It's not uncommon to see 30% on a page. It all
depends on design and copy. I was originally skeptical, but people are willing
to give out their contact info if you peak their interest.

Where we see the opportunity now (and what we're building) is how you interact
with that person after they show their trust and allow you to contact them.
it's very important to win them over in a way that is authentic.

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mrchess
Step 5, domain settings, completely killed the flow for me. Thought I'd be
able to have a page up and running instantly, but nope, you need to wait for
DNS/CNAME to resolve.

You should have it subdomain off launchrock itself, ie. myapp.launchrock.com,
and allow Step 5 to take place afterwards.

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cagenut
I get the pitch, I don't get the $800K

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mmahemoff
Having played around with one of their competitors, the UI to quickly build a
cleanly designed page needs a lot of work, so they could probably put a front-
end developer and a theme designer to good use. That's one thing anyway.

~~~
mmahemoff
To clarify this, I don't mean at all to imply LaunchRock's creation UI is bad.
It's a general comment on the importance of creation UIs for landing page
services, something that such services need to be on top of. And also, I think
a library of pre-defined themes are important for people to rapidly create
landing pages.

My point was that they probably have a good reason to raise this capital (at
least some of it).

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callmeed
I feel like LaunchRock goes against Lean Startup/MVP mindset a bit. It's an
excuse to procrastinate.

It takes stones to build a thing and throw it out there, knowing its ugly and
broken. It takes humility and perseverance to listen to the first users and
iterate on your idea.

I guess I just don't get the viral/buzz thing. Seems like the 2011 under
construction gif to me.

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ianthiel
What you're describing doesn't seem lean. Why "build a thing" if you haven't
first identified a demand for it? A landing page can be a part of identifying
this demand.

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pghimire
Cogratulations to the LaunchRock team. Great product - like the look, feel and
ease of use. It will be interesting to see how they fare once monetization
begins.

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jphackworth
Why didn't they use LaunchRock to launch LaunchRock?

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sofuture
They did.

