UFOstart Newsletter

Hey 👋

We often see startups struggling to acquire their first users. Many think it's all about marketing, but it goes deeper than that. Inspired by PostHog’s blog post on reaching their first users, we've analyzed their strategy and have some actionable insights for you today!

So, what's on the agenda?

• The Challenge of the First Users 👥

• Top Posts/Bite-Sized Insights of the week

The Challenge of the First Users 👥

The Challenge of the First Users 👥

“Getting our first 10 users was the hardest part. After pivoting five times, we finally landed on PostHog and created a one-month plan to validate our idea quickly.”

The first users are often the hardest to get, but you can do it! 🔥 Here are some key strategies you can apply:

1. Build a Product for a Specific Audience

• PostHog’s Approach: Focused on developers, differentiating from competitors who targeted product managers and execs.

• Actionable Insight: Identify and focus on a specific, underserved audience that you understand well.

2. Focus on Unique Selling Points

• PostHog’s Approach: Emphasized self-hosting, open-source transparency with a permissive MIT license, and ease of deployment with built-in event autocapture into SDKs.

• Actionable Insight: Highlight what makes your product unique and beneficial to your target audience.

3. Prioritize Rapid Validation

• PostHog’s Approach: Launched without monetization, focusing on learning and user feedback rather than immediate revenue.

• Actionable Insight: Optimize your early stages for learning. Consider delaying monetization to gather crucial user insights and reduce barriers to entry.

4. Key Lessons Along the Way

• Deadlines are Motivating: Implement hard deadlines to drive focused effort.

• Have a Plan for Finding Users: Know your audience and how to reach them.

• Optimize for Learning, Not Revenue: Manual onboarding provides invaluable insights.

• Prioritize Repeat Users Over Volume: A small group of loyal users is more validating than a large number of casual ones.

• Be Concise and Direct: Keep communications short and transparent.

• Be Ultra-Responsive to Users: Speed is crucial for startups.

• New Users Are More Likely to Pay: Fresh prospects are easier to monetize than existing free users.

Want to know on which marketing channel to focus first? Find your best fit channel in less than 5 minutes here 👇

TOP POSTS

Check out the most insightful and game-changing posts just for you:

What do you think about PostHog’s Go-to-Market strategy? 🤔

👉 Have you noticed any good strategies to get your first users? Reply to this email and let’s discuss!