I think this was the key takeaway. Making a product people want is the first step. The second step is boiling it down into a message people quickly understand. If we described our product as "DIY SEO tools to improve your personal SERPS" people would quickly overlook it. However, by emphasizing the story/benefits, people see how it relates to their life. "Improve what shows up when employers, clients or even dates Google your name". That's way easier to understand
The fact articles like this surface again and again suggests that these three steps are not so easily remembered nor followed in the heat of the moment.
How we got 60k users in 60 hours: make something useful that people really want.