Painful Lesson: Always 'Show and Tell' Your Product Before You Develop it
It's said that amazon asks their product makers to write a press release about the release of the product and work backwards from there.
Working backwards has its uses...
I recently wanted validation on a product I had already finished developing
I thought I needed it so others will too. I put in a lot of time architecting it, designing it with careful UX and UI.
When it came time to show and tell through a demo video i couldn't create a simple enough one that explains what it does.
So anyway I posted it in some communities and people we just confused and nobody signed up.
So I had to abandon the project as there were no takers
Cut to about a week back where I had another idea... This time instead of simply developing it further, I jumped straight to see if I can create a explainer video of the product. So with zero expectations about it working I made one without audio or music or even subtitles and posted on reddit. It was just a screen recording of it working on my laptop.
To my surprise people wanted it. Some even demanding it. I quickly put up a "coming soon" website to capture emails. 36 people gave their emails! Many more I could message on reddit once I am ready.
Here is the link to the reddit post...
https://www.reddit.com/r/EntrepreneurRideAlong/comments/13xm1s5/i_made_this_seo_keyword_searching_thingie_for_my/
Here is what i wrote....
You can see the interest...
The ugly video I shared... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-873SkJ2RI
link to the coming soon page... https://keywordranking.me/
Now I am developing the product into something others could use in collaboration with actual users and i have to do it fast since so many are waiting. This is a first for me. This is probably what product Market fit feels like... probably.
Any feedback on my website would be great! We're launching very soon!
Nice! I love how your framed the reddit post as a giveaway, instead of a request for help.
Asking people to try things out and send feedback has resulted in some spicy responses when I have done it.
It is understandable when you wrote "Painful" because that innate need to build and then show always comes first in the mind. But this is a good example of how things can work better if done the other way.
Good story and thank you for sharing this!
Thanks
Amazing, it's great that you are building a distribution before product is launched. Since it is a hard part and it is usually easy to code.
I had no idea about that subreddit, I might follow your path and try to post demo of my product. Thanks for this info
awesome. best of luck
Great story. Good luck with the project.
Thats pretty neat.
You could release it as is to gain traction and collect feedback while you develope the UX and design of the product.
I've seen it many times also with info products (courses etc)
Build the landing page first. Get people to sign up and mention a release date.
Once you have enough sign ups, start building it.
If you don't get enough, just refund the ones that paid.
Simple.
Clever.
Successful.
You done the right thing, working backwards is always the key. Great job on the post!
Thanks for sharing! You had a simple and super idea to test. I surely try to do the same when I'll be ready.
Just one question : are you active on Reddit and especially in the group you posted to?
Completely agree. By incorporating feedback and iterating on your product concept before full-scale development, you increase your chances of building a successful and market-ready solution. This approach saves you time, money, and disappointment down the road, as you are more likely to create a product that resonates with your target audience and fulfills their needs.
Interesting sharing! I think a lot of starter will encounter this issue. It is important to validate it before building it.
Love it, and thanks for sharing. Definitely the way to go when releasing products - ship early and ofter, get feedback, improve product, iterate.
Thanks for sharing. This doesn't cost a lot of money and seem work! Wish the success to you!.
Thank you