Ask HN: Best way to launch your product?

[avimeir]

We are about to finish coding our first public beta of hotelninjas.com which means we can finally accept high volume of customers. And I was wondering what is the best way in your opinion to let the world know we're out there?

We're a bootstrapped startup with very little resources so everything we're looking at is low-budget, guerrilla stuff.

What launch tactics worked best for you?

What is a complete waste of time that needs to be avoided?

[seanccox]

In the past week, I've experienced a fairly epic failure in the launch of a project of my own. Perhaps you can learn from it?

I wanted to run a fundraiser for Syrian refugees, and I spent a lot of time with a mock-up product that fit my sense of humor (and that of several friends). I got the first 10 donors lined up, so I thought, now I should launch.

I used GoFundMe for the project (http://www.gofundme.com/2d64j4), but I did very little initial publicity. I worked my email lists of potential victims and shared it via Facebook. Well, many of the original donors decided not to contribute and I only heard from two random donors that found my project via the FB shares. Out of 115 visits, I have three donors, whereas I originally only contacted 20 people, out of whom I received 10 orders.

So, I would say that this is not the best way to launch. It's possible that I planned the entire project poorly, and I'm currently trying to think of other ways to tell the world about it.

With tourist season starting here in Turkey (where I live), I would suggest contacting hostels and pensions that are advertising online. Pitch them directly and give them a trial.

In my experience, there isn't a lot of planning ahead and I have been shuffled around as part of a hotel managers efforts to juggle their availability. Larger hotels surely have a solution for this, but small and mid-sized venues clearly don't. I encounter lot's of ledgers kept on paper, and little to no automation. Meanwhile, the owner has a laptop open on the desk displaying FB or an online game. So, I think you have a market here in Turkey, if you can convince them to pay the price. That would probably mean getting into the local language though.

Good luck, -s

[avimeir]

Thanks for sharing your learnings.

If you are available maybe we can do something together in Turkey. We will be very happy to get customers there and our product works perfectly for the type of customers you're describing (small and mid-size, shitty tech solution to manage their property, tech-savyy employees)

[seanccox]

Sure thing. My email address is in my profile. Or if you prefer, I can send you an email (if you provide and address).

[avimeir]

avi at hotelninjas com

[shankar1221989]

Find a cheap resource who can do the sourcing work for you. I know startups who hire interns (for free!) and have got the database ready.

In your case, can you get a team of interns to get a list of hotels and the email ids of the right person (GM or atleast the front office manager) ready. Getting hold of 10K email ids is probably a weeks job if you get 2-3 interns.

Then there are these email marketing companies who give you free emails ( You are a startup, look around, you will find deals)..

In a week if you reach out to 10K hotels, even with a 0.1% conversion, you make some money. After you do it 3-4 times, you would start making enough money to start arranging your sales force.

PS : Interns in Eastern countries need to do live projects as a part of their MBAs. This helps them have a better chance of getting a job. I am personally employing couple of interns for totally different reasons. :)

[orangethirty]

Shoot me an email. I have a package that I offer to startups like yours. It helps them start quickly, and reduces the amount of stress of a launch. Plus it only costs $249. Includes a marketing package that simply works. Email templates, phone scripts, tactics, help with the copywriting, etc. Let me know you are from HN in the message.

[timjahn]

Launch now.

What is "launch" exactly? Do a Show HN. Tell all friends/family you're live and to start spreading the word. Email your personal networks and do the same. If you have a mailing list, let your list know you're live and ready to go.

Start getting feedback as soon as possible and don't ever stop listening.

[avimeir]

For us "launch" means the date that we can start charging money for our product.

We did the part of telling our friends/family when we had the closed beta ready, but there is a big difference for us between the closed (free) beta and an open beta that can accept paying customers.

[timjahn]

Why?

[avimeir]

For technical reasons. We're waiting for a deal with a strategic partner to close, we can't technically start charging money or distribute our app before that.

Can't go into specific at this stage but imagine we're building an iOS app and waiting for Apple to approve it (not our case but close enough)

[AznHisoka]

If you don't have any potential customers in any mailing list, I'm afraid you have a lot of catching up to do.

[narayankpl]

I was also looking for sources for showcasing my website: bizcoterie.com. One of my search results...

http://www.quora.com/Startups/How-do-you-promote-your-startu...

[jolenzy]

Thanks, this is pretty nice reference. Btw, I will soon face the same problem with launching my service http://besthi.re

[avimeir]

I think that you're addressing a real issue for job applicants, but not sure about the domain name.

[jolenzy]

Thanks for the comment. Well, it's an experiment for now. I asked few HRs, and their reaction was positive ( of course this doesn't have to mean anything ). Beside emails, I think to offer blogs as well, something like john.besthi.re so we will see how it will go.

[argonaut]

Do it now. And do it several times. Airbnb "launched" 3 (4?) times.

If your launch fails to gain you any traction, good, that means you can launch again and no one will know the difference.

[timpattinson]

Reddit?