
Ask HN: Beta launch strategy: PR vs. no PR - askneme
What&#x27;s the best strategy when launching a private beta app in regards to trying to get PR vs launching quietly for only the people on the waiting list?<p>Trying to get PR for the beta launch:<p>+ Lot of visitors and potential users<p>+ Reduce risk of competitors stealing the unique ideas of the app if you get covered first<p>- Risk that many bugs will hit a lot of people resulting in negative marketing<p>Quiet launch:<p>+ Can sort out the major bugs before contacting the press<p>- Less users gets to test it<p>- Competitors can steal the unique ideas of the app without anyone knowing
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coralreef
What usually happens: You launch it. Nobody signs up. You incrementally add
features. Still nobody signs up. You eventually quit.

Competition rarely kills you. Product-market fit is usually the biggest
factor. If you can get easy PR and signups, then go take them. Your early
users will know its a beta product and will be forgiving about bugs.

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ezekg
It sucks, but this. Every beta I've launched has been disappointing with very,
very little activity even when the sign up count is in the hundreds. I do
however think betas are valuable, as it allows you to tweak things (sometimes
large breaking changes) before launch.

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soneca
Just forget about "competitors stealing your unique ideas". Really, forget it.
You are giving your own brilliance too much credit. You don't even have
customers validating your unique ideas and you expect competitors to take them
seriously?

So a part from that, regarding your question. A "private" beta doesn't
implicitly means "no PR"? A private beta isn't open for anyone to sign up, if
it isn't open, why the press should cover it? You gain nothing.

But, even if it is not actually "private", I still would suggest "no PR".
Launch quietly, let some users come, test, validate your ideas. You will know
what to improve and which of your ideas are actually unique. Then you will
know what to say when you decide to go with PR.

Yes, it means fewer users trying it out and validating. But users that come
from press usually are not of the "early adopters" type (meaning: they will be
frustrated by the smallest bug, lack of feature or unpolished design and will
leave before even trying, leaving no feedback behind).

So launch it ASAP, forget press, and submit to places like Show HN, Product
Hunt, Reddit, etc.

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wingerlang
I ran a beta period for one of my apps which I consider really successful,
lots of feedback and lots of activity.

My way to go was to seek out people commenting positively about another
product, then I would send them a message to see if they were interested in
testing. This guaranteed that I would get, dare I say it, passionate people to
test it - and I did.

One thing to note though was that I was looking for comments about "productX"
which was already mine, and the new product was essentially a "productX 2".
But I guess it can work somewhat similarly within a genre or category. Maybe
not as perfectly matched as for me.

