Startup 101

Self Paced Course

Beta Launch.

Beta Launch

Transcript

Today we’re talking about how to launch your beta version to customers.

1. Keep your waitlist active.
Having a big waitlist of customers who have expressed interest is great, but it only matters if you can convert them into customers. As you approach your beta launch, keep the waitlist updated regularly with good news and ask if they want to be among the first to try your new product.

2. Launch to Small Groups.
Don’t launch your beta publicly or even to the entire waitlist. Instead, start by launching to small groups of 5–10 customers, so you can collect feedback, iterate, and launch with the next small group.

3. Focus on Engagement.
It might be tempting to focus on distribution or revenue at this stage, but you should actually focus on engagement. Are your first customers becoming reliant on the product? If so, revenue and distribution are easier problems to solve.

Best of luck out there.

Transcript

Keep Your Waitlist Active

Transcript

Today, we’re talking about keeping your waitlist active.

1. A waitlist of interested customers is often the convenient by-product of a good customer discovery process. However, potential customers expressing interest is a long distance from them actually trying it.

2. Keep your waitlist engaged with regular updates detailing product progress, success stories, and any other good news or materials you can share. You don’t want these potential customers to forget about you.

3. As you approach your beta launch, you can ask the waitlist if they’d like to be among the very first customers, and if you have kept them updated, many will indeed want to try the product at this early stage.

Best of luck out there.

Transcript

Beta: Focus on Engagement

Transcript

Today, we’re talking about focusing on engagement when testing your beta version.

1. At this early stage, engagement is more important than revenue or distribution. Why? Because we need to know if anyone will actually use our product before we worry about money or getting the word out.

2. If a customer is reliant on your product, they need it. So they will have to pay you, and they will very likely refer you to others. So engagement is the best route to revenue and distribution.

3. Now, focusing on engagement does not prevent you from working to find a specific customer profile or to qualify if a potential customer has enough budget for the product.

Best of luck out there.

Transcript
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