| I personally think the best way to get valuable feedback while not losing prospects (from a PR perspective) is a) give early releases to people with whom you already have healthy business relationships (because they know you and your motivations, so they'll most likely be forgiving, supportive and offer real feedback) b) Can't stress this enough: BE HUMBLE ABOUT YOUR RELEASE. In my experience working for web startups so far, I've been amazed by the lack of understanding of the difference between a prototype release (designed to get feedback) and a full-on launch (designed to impress as many people as possible). These are two entirely different things, and confusing the two can really damage your reputation. If it's early days and you want feedback, I think reaching out by saying as much (with a personal email like "hey there, I've created this thing that I really hope will someday make things easier for people like you" or some such tone) will get you the feedback you're looking for without making a bad or sloppy impression. In fact it may develop some great relationships with people in your target market. By contrast, releasing early by sending out mass-emails to strangers that make ambitious, aggressive promises your product currently can't deliver on will probably just get you prematurely filtered as spam from people's inboxes. Having said this, if writing isn't your best strength and you'd like someone to review your email before you send it, feel free to pass it along my way :) I'd be happy to help: momoko[at]copy-cat.co |