It’s important to distinguish what most people reading this are likely to consider ‘marketing’ with what actually made these businesses successful.<p>All of the businesses cited succeeded because they established a differentiated position in the market - GMail because it gave you 10x more storage than was available at the time, and a conversational interface; WhatsApp because it meant that international SMS was now free; Tesla because it sit at the intersection of eco-friendliness and premium design.<p>Saying that GMail is just about messages, Tesla just about electric cars does a disservice to what actually makes these businesses exceptional. And you do genuinely need that differentiation, otherwise all you have to compete on is price.<p>I’d be worried that someone reading this would take the idea that all you need is an average business idea and some growth-hackery business tactics like a landing page and Facebook ads, and presto you have a business.<p>Most businesses do fail because of poor marketing, but not marketing as the HN crowd generally sees it.
Big fan of Rob and his work, for those unfamiliar with him he's one of the founders of MicroConf, half of the "Startups for the Rest of Us" podcast and built and then sold Drip (an Email Service).<p>Whether or not you're seeking to build your own microsaas or you're going full VC funding I feel pretty strongly that you'll see the time spent reading his book as worthwhile.<p>Here's a direct link to it (it's not gated on his site, so this seems fine to share)<p><a href="https://robwalling.com/assets/ebook.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://robwalling.com/assets/ebook.pdf</a>
Some good advice I heard here a few years ago is start marketing well before you start coding. Eg create a website, start your advertising, look for customers while providing a white label product or even just a promise to deliver later. Its a great way to find out if anyone is interested. If you can attract actual customers then you can start coding. If you have trouble getting any attention maybe you have the wrong product.
This!!! I have started many "side projects" with the notion that once I build it I will then find customers etc. This is terrible thinking and most of the times lead me to think my idea is horrible, when in reality I have done nothing in terms of marketing. So yes I fully agree with start marketing the day you start coding.<p>When I started <a href="https://mattebot.co/" rel="nofollow">https://mattebot.co/</a> I made sure to make marketing a top priority for products I release in the future.
fascinated by the 'ideas aren't worth that much, tell everyone' argument<p>have been trying this and every time my splash page gets a click I get nervous (cloudprogress.io).<p>certainly lights a fire under me on the prelaunch work though
Somehow I read title of book like this. As developer I should market the day I started coding. Like I started coding 17 years ago, I may know some stuff, hire me please.<p>It's funny how different perspectives we have.
Marketing usually costs money.<p>If you’re trying to bootstrap, you probably should wait until your product is finished? There are very few free avenues for self promotion on the Internet for “code”, other than a blog.