How to get eyeballs on your startup: a first-user plan
Start with one audience and one problem. Make a short demo of the complete task, share it in one relevant community, and give interested people an easy way to try the product. Track completed tasks and useful feedback before expanding to more launch channels.
1. Define a person and a task
Replace “anyone who wants to be productive” with something you can observe, such as “freelance designers who send a weekly client update.” List where those people discuss that task and what they use today.
Read existing questions before proposing a solution. Collect the language people use for the problem, the workaround they describe, and what makes it frustrating. Use those details to improve your landing-page explanation without inventing testimonials.
2. Show the result in a short demo
Record one complete workflow, starting with the input and ending with a result. Keep the cursor and text easy to follow on a phone. Show real product behavior and explain any setup or paid features needed to reproduce it.
Give the page one main action, such as trying the app or installing the extension. If there is no usable product yet, say that visitors are joining a waitlist. A clear expectation helps you interpret the response.
3. Choose one place to share it
Match the channel to the product. A working technical tool may suit Show HN; a niche workflow may suit a relevant Reddit discussion; an indie app can have a searchable ShipDeck listing. Follow each platform’s current rules and explain your connection to the product.
Respond to questions yourself. A launch post is the beginning of a conversation. If people repeatedly misunderstand the value, rewrite the demonstration before distributing the same message more widely.
4. Ask about a real attempt
Ask what someone tried to do, where they stopped, and what they expected next. Avoid asking only whether they like the idea. An observed failure often gives you a more specific change to make.
On ShipDeck, verified owners can read private structured feedback on their products. Review other projects thoughtfully to understand the process and earn a boost credit when your review is accepted. Rewards are tied to accepted feedback, not praise.
5. Measure activation by source
For a screenshot tool, an activation event could be the first exported image. For a budgeting app, it could be a completed first budget. Define the event before the launch and compare it across sources.
Keep a simple sheet with source, visitors, activated users, and the questions you heard. An illustrative result of 8 activated users from 40 visitors is a 20% activation rate; it is not evidence that you will get the same result. Small samples fluctuate, so combine counts with qualitative feedback.
A one-week launch checklist
Give each day a concrete deliverable and keep the scope small enough to finish.
- Day 1: Pick one audience and collect its recurring questions.
- Day 2: Make the core task work and record a short demo.
- Day 3: Check the landing page, mobile experience, and activation event.
- Day 4: Publish one permitted announcement and respond to questions.
- Day 5: Fix the most common point of confusion.
- Day 6: Update the listing and ask interested users about their attempt.
- Day 7: Compare activation and feedback, then choose the next experiment.