This playbook is what worked for me after 12 years and 20 failed startups (will probably work for you too)

General Forum
1

The advantage of this playbook is that it can be effective even if you don’t have an existing audience (e.g., few followers, no newsletter subscribers, etc.).

It’s proven successful for three of my projects, including this tool.

  1. Identify the Problem
  • Address your own pain points.
  • Look for significant issues to solve by reading negative reviews and engaging in X, Reddit, and Facebook groups.

  1. Create an MVP

    • Set a timeframe (e.g., 1 day or 1 week) for developing your MVP.
    • Focus on essential features that will provide real value to users.

  2. Validate

    • Share your MVP on X, Reddit, and Facebook groups.
    • Engage with posts about problems that your product addresses or where users are seeking alternatives.
    • Send both cold and warm direct messages.
    • The best validation is when users are willing to pay for your MVP.
    • If your product is free, validation can come from email subscriptions or repeat usage.

  3. SEO

    • Although SEO takes time to yield results and requires substantial effort, it remains a highly sustainable source of customers. Two of my three projects benefit from SEO, and I plan to implement it for my latest project as well.
      This approach is straightforward but demanding, especially when starting with no audience.
      Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. I’ll also provide a more detailed guide on SEO steps and a list of free and paid directories.
2

Though not particularly enjoyable, you have followed the right path.

However, I believe it is really feasible for people who wish to be successful in this industry.

3

What SEO strategies do you use?

4

Just these two at the moment:

Automated Search Engine Optimization

constructing backlinks
Adding a blog now will aid SEO much more. Since it might benefit other founders, I’ll publish the outcomes after a few months.

5

Perhaps you ought to give them one more opportunity to get off the ground. It seems like you give up too quickly. In thirty years, I founded four startups; the first failed because it grew too quickly, the other two were successful, and the one I’m working on now is doing well.

6

Actually, you are right. I quit too quickly on all of them without really devoting much time or energy to marketing.

7

Good playbook that also speaks to my experience with SaaS.

8

I’m grateful. Since I’ve completed three projects with it, I believe it can be repeated. I’m delighted it speaks to your SaaS experience as well, indicating that the playbook can genuinely benefit other people as well. Could you provide any more advice so that we can all benefit from it?

9

You support validation just after developing the MVP, then? Although I’ve been reading all over that validation should come first, I always construct the MVP first.

Could you tell me what you think of this?
Regards.