

Ask HN: Best way to launch your product? - avimeir

We are about to finish coding our first public beta of hotelninjas.com which means we can finally accept high volume of customers. And I was wondering what is the best way in your opinion to let the world know we're out there?<p>We're a bootstrapped startup with very little resources so everything we're looking at is low-budget, guerrilla stuff.<p>What launch tactics worked best for you?<p>What is a complete waste of time that needs to be avoided?
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seanccox
In the past week, I've experienced a fairly epic failure in the launch of a
project of my own. Perhaps you can learn from it?

I wanted to run a fundraiser for Syrian refugees, and I spent a lot of time
with a mock-up product that fit my sense of humor (and that of several
friends). I got the first 10 donors lined up, so I thought, now I should
launch.

I used GoFundMe for the project (<http://www.gofundme.com/2d64j4>), but I did
very little initial publicity. I worked my email lists of potential victims
and shared it via Facebook. Well, many of the original donors decided not to
contribute and I only heard from two random donors that found my project via
the FB shares. Out of 115 visits, I have three donors, whereas I originally
only contacted 20 people, out of whom I received 10 orders.

So, I would say that this is not the best way to launch. It's possible that I
planned the entire project poorly, and I'm currently trying to think of other
ways to tell the world about it.

With tourist season starting here in Turkey (where I live), I would suggest
contacting hostels and pensions that are advertising online. Pitch them
directly and give them a trial.

In my experience, there isn't a lot of planning ahead and I have been shuffled
around as part of a hotel managers efforts to juggle their availability.
Larger hotels surely have a solution for this, but small and mid-sized venues
clearly don't. I encounter lot's of ledgers kept on paper, and little to no
automation. Meanwhile, the owner has a laptop open on the desk displaying FB
or an online game. So, I think you have a market here in Turkey, if you can
convince them to pay the price. That would probably mean getting into the
local language though.

Good luck, -s

~~~
avimeir
Thanks for sharing your learnings.

If you are available maybe we can do something together in Turkey. We will be
very happy to get customers there and our product works perfectly for the type
of customers you're describing (small and mid-size, shitty tech solution to
manage their property, tech-savyy employees)

~~~
seanccox
Sure thing. My email address is in my profile. Or if you prefer, I can send
you an email (if you provide and address).

~~~
avimeir
avi at hotelninjas com

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shankar1221989
Find a cheap resource who can do the sourcing work for you. I know startups
who hire interns (for free!) and have got the database ready.

In your case, can you get a team of interns to get a list of hotels and the
email ids of the right person (GM or atleast the front office manager) ready.
Getting hold of 10K email ids is probably a weeks job if you get 2-3 interns.

Then there are these email marketing companies who give you free emails ( You
are a startup, look around, you will find deals)..

In a week if you reach out to 10K hotels, even with a 0.1% conversion, you
make some money. After you do it 3-4 times, you would start making enough
money to start arranging your sales force.

PS : Interns in Eastern countries need to do live projects as a part of their
MBAs. This helps them have a better chance of getting a job. I am personally
employing couple of interns for totally different reasons. :)

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orangethirty
Shoot me an email. I have a package that I offer to startups like yours. It
helps them start quickly, and reduces the amount of stress of a launch. Plus
it only costs $249. Includes a marketing package that simply works. Email
templates, phone scripts, tactics, help with the copywriting, etc. Let me know
you are from HN in the message.

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timjahn
Launch now.

What is "launch" exactly? Do a Show HN. Tell all friends/family you're live
and to start spreading the word. Email your personal networks and do the same.
If you have a mailing list, let your list know you're live and ready to go.

Start getting feedback as soon as possible and don't ever stop listening.

~~~
avimeir
For us "launch" means the date that we can start charging money for our
product.

We did the part of telling our friends/family when we had the closed beta
ready, but there is a big difference for us between the closed (free) beta and
an open beta that can accept paying customers.

~~~
timjahn
Why?

~~~
avimeir
For technical reasons. We're waiting for a deal with a strategic partner to
close, we can't technically start charging money or distribute our app before
that.

Can't go into specific at this stage but imagine we're building an iOS app and
waiting for Apple to approve it (not our case but close enough)

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AznHisoka
If you don't have any potential customers in any mailing list, I'm afraid you
have a lot of catching up to do.

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narayankpl
I was also looking for sources for showcasing my website: bizcoterie.com. One
of my search results...

[http://www.quora.com/Startups/How-do-you-promote-your-
startu...](http://www.quora.com/Startups/How-do-you-promote-your-startup-
without-being-annoying)

~~~
jolenzy
Thanks, this is pretty nice reference. Btw, I will soon face the same problem
with launching my service <http://besthi.re>

~~~
avimeir
I think that you're addressing a real issue for job applicants, but not sure
about the domain name.

~~~
jolenzy
Thanks for the comment. Well, it's an experiment for now. I asked few HRs, and
their reaction was positive ( of course this doesn't have to mean anything ).
Beside emails, I think to offer blogs as well, something like john.besthi.re
so we will see how it will go.

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argonaut
Do it now. And do it several times. Airbnb "launched" 3 (4?) times.

If your launch fails to gain you any traction, good, that means you can launch
again and no one will know the difference.

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timpattinson
Reddit?

