

Ask HN: How would you get users for a free service? - zombio

I've made a unique file host that allows people to sell digital content for Youtube subscriptions. Now that it's live, there are no users. It's a free service so I can't pay for advertising. In my mind the only thing I could do is spam youtubers with PMs, but I don't want to do that.
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hardwaresofton
What do you mean by sell digital content for youtube subscriptions?

You mean just as a platform for people to sell videos they've made to
youtubers?

Not being sure what you made, I can still say this however:

1\. Did you solve a real problem that exists?

2\. Having a free service doesn't mean you can't pay for advertising, it just
means you'll take a loss on it. And it may very well be a good idea to PM some
people with successful youtubers and ask what they think. Introduce yourself
politely, and get some opinions (I'm still kind of unclear on what your site
does)

3\. You should have some sort of money plan. If you grow, your costs are
probably also going to grow, at least have something in place to offset that.

4.Post the site on places like HN, Reddit (in the appropriate subreddits), and
see what people think

~~~
zombio
I mean you can upload a ZIP or RAR file, and in order for people to download
it they will be required to subscribe to your Youtube channel. Thanks for the
advice. I posted it on HN before but got no reaction. (I posted it at the
worst possible time since I was too excited to wait until morning).

~~~
hardwaresofton
Oh OK, now that I see what you're actually doing, that sounds like a
reasonable idea that people could definitely want to use.

Especially the people who are looking to add more value to their
channels...You should definitely reach out (with a polite, well-worded email)
to 1 or 2 high traffic users (I really mean send to a bunch, and maybe some
small amount will respond/have feedback for you) - and push your product as a
"extended content distribution platform" -- also, make sure it has a good
name, maybe one that makes it really clear what it does.

Then, ask them if they're interested -- they can put links to their "spaces"
in their videos/profiles, assuming they have extra content to share.

I think your idea is a little different, because you don't need to pitch to
other devs, and you don't need to pitch to VCs, but instead you need to pitch
to successful/unsuccessful youtube users. Also, don't stop with youtube, offer
some Vimeo integration -- alot of early adopters, and generally open-minded
people (I'd like to think) post videos there, and even relatively serious
ones.

To be honest, I think you should even open this up to a pure content
distribution network. A lot of the time, people put up trailers for work
they're doing on places like Vimeo/Youtube, and if you gave them a way to sell
their final product (and collected VERY low fees), that would be amazing -- I
don't know that there's anything like that now. But maybe that's more of a
future move, if you choose to, focusing on people with successful youtube
channels is a good start.

[EDIT] - Also, be very careful, because a service like youtube could instantly
create an integrated competitor that would make it very hard for you to
compete. There IS however, value in being multi-platform, that way, no single
platform's integrated competitor could take you out of the picture.

I'm no seer, but in the future, I think content distributors will want to
distribute content over as much networks as possible. As youtube is rolling
out paid channels from distributors, I think the creators of that content (or
any content for that matter) will look to even make more money (obviously) by
being involved in more than one distribution platform. I don't work in the
financial sector, but more platforms pretty much looks like more income for
any content creator.

I say that to say this: the more platforms you support, the more attractive
your product looks as a general solution to the problem -- "I put my extra
content in one place, and all my viewers can access it, no matter how they
view my work"

[EDIT 2] - I just took a look at your site (dug through your submissions) --
in my honest opinion, you should build that site out. slap a bootstrap theme
on it, and make a proper landing page out of that (though KEEP the super easy
upload -- fast examples/usage is awesome, maybe just give people the option of
making accounts after you give them the link, if they're going to be doing it
often)

I see a ton of places this could go, but it all depends on what you want the
service to look like -- I'm just spouting stuff out

