

Ask HN: The experts told us soft-launch == app death. Does it? - urb

We have worked long and hard developing our mobile app. We think that it&#x27;s great and has true value for users. We had planned to soft-launch and make it better as we learn from users. But every single app expert we had talked to has told us our success will be as good as the amount of noise we make when we launch. Death, they say, is a place in the long tail of the app store. What say you?
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gyardley
You can find plenty of exceptions, but what the 'app experts' are telling you
is generally correct, at least about the Apple ecosystem. Bunching up a lot of
downloads into a small time period right after launch maximizes your chance of
showing up anywhere users might actually browse to and discover
serendipitously.

The Android marketplaces are a bit better for iterative learning. Although iOS
then Android is the dominant pattern, you wouldn't be the first company to
launch quietly on Android, iterate, and then come to iOS with a product
informed by what they've learned from their Android launch.

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FroshKiller
I'm not a mobile developer, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but as a
user, I don't care about an app's age or whether it had a soft launch. Most
apps are little more than opportunities to provide a bad user experience to an
impressive Web-based service. As long as your service is on point and your app
on my device is better than just using your mobile website, do whatever.

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urb
So, would you be as interested in an app even if it didn't have a lot of media
references to show (articles in newspapers, tech site mentions and so on)?

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ulisesrmzroche
Consumer, yeah. B2B, not so much. The soft launch stuff is irrelevant (sounds
made-up too). Marketing is an ongoing process. Those dudes need be thinking of
a second campaign, instead of giving up once they see the churn after the
hype.

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alphagenerator
Your reply makes sense.

I just wanted to add that I think I see what the OP meant by "soft launch." I
think the OP asked a good question, because most startup business guides say
launch something minimal and iterate. Whereas, app-store gurus seem to place a
heavy emphasis on the initial bump. (That is, they hint that you either
succeed on the initial push or die.)

OP: Thanks for asking the question.

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ulisesrmzroche
I see what you mean now. Odd that they think that way though. Sure, there's
more clutter, and if your app contributes to that, I suppose the 1st bump is
all you get, but if you have a quality product, the sales process is the same
as in any other channel.

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Mankhool
I've had no hype, probably because I'm boostrapped, but I'm in this for the
long haul. What would be the point of giving up six weeks in because I only
have X users and the experts say I should have 1000X? The experts are not
financing me. If they were, then I could afford to create hype.

