[cullenking]

I posted a response comment on the article itself, and I'll expand here.

Customer acquisition is more expensive in some markets and cheaper in others. If you are building out a tool for a group of people who already have an internet presence (forums, news sites etc), acquisition is MUCH cheaper. In the beginning of the business you have time but no money, so use that time to talk on those forums, get those people helping you design your product. They will become fanatical users and spread the word about the cool new site THEY helped shape, not to mention provide you insight that you never would have gotten yourself.

We get a huge amount of comments/suggestions/feedback from our users (10-20 a day), and it is very very common to see ones like this, which came in today from one of our early acquisitions:

"BTW, I continue to 'pimp' the site ever chance I get. I post my rides on facebook, BF, and RBR, and share rides and routes with club members. Garmin Connect and TC are so weak, but thats what a lot of them use. Should be low hanging fruit!"

The best advice I can give (in my limited experience) is to engage with your users and build that sense of community and loyalty. It will payoff big, as we are starting to finally realize!