help

stuff. just stuff. its all too easy to order more stuff. so much stuff. I dont need any more stuff but I cant stop ordering stuff.

Paid user acquisition is a curse. Later stage consumer startups that depend on it are the walking dead.

• After launch, ROI declines consistently across every advertising channel
• Early metrics are misleading because traffic is front-loaded due to the way ad algos work

Digital ad metrics have decayed every year since the industry was created.
• CPMs on major ad networks are now increasing at ~40%/yr.
• In 1997, CTR on HotWired was 78%. In 2019, Facebook’s average CTR is about 0.9%.
(H/t @andrewchen)

Facebook/Google algorithms are so good at targeting people that paid acquisition traffic tends to be highly front-loaded.

Founders and investors are often shocked when numbers rapidly decay — because the ad population has been saturated.

So, what’s the answer for these startups? I think a few things:
1. Optimize ad spend as the userbase saturates
2. Build a distribution moat to re-target customers later
3. Focus the core business on things that spread organically
4. Explore emerging advertising channels quickly

[1/4] Ok this is really funny, check this out.
I was in the process of booking a flight via @OneTravel. Trying to make me book ASAP, they claimed: "38 people are looking at this flight".
Whoa, 38 is a lot, I have to hurry up. But first I have to check how they came up with 38 >>

[2/4] Right click and a quick "inspect" on the number, I found out the element's class name is "view_notification_random".
Awesome variable naming guys.
So you're _randomly_ trying to freak me out. Alright >>

[3/4] So what's your sophisticated pseudo-random algorithm?
Apparently, OneTravel are choosing a number between 28 and 45.
Because as you all know, based on serious psychological research, these numbers tend to make people book their flights fast #sarcasm #not42 >>

[4/4] Here's a bonus graph.
Thanks @IddoYadlin and #WolframAlpha.

Bitfinex files discovery in "Yo bro, where did our $800 million go?" action and it is every bit as interesting as you'd expect it to

Here's their CFO describing their agreement (which we know from other litigation was never contractualized because, presumably because money launderers hate paper trails):

Bitfinex's CFO was shocked, shocked to learn that the money launderer they engaged to provide money laundering services while I-swear-to-God-this-is-an-actual-quote "we learned to bank like criminals" may have from time to time lied to banks.

"Institutional constraints" means, here, "We were attempting to avoid velocity checks placed by our banking partners to detect fraud and money laundering, which would have detected our fraud and money laundering."

Money at the speed of code, yadda yadda yadda, the Bitcoin economy is surprisingly blasé when several hundred million dollars is in an interstitial state for months.

In a situation never before encountered by a financial institution: the check was not, in fact, in the mail.

🔥 7 practical ways to write copy that converts:

1/ Get specific

Landing page copy is full of unfalsifiable, blanket claims: “more, easier, faster ...”

If you want to stand out get specific. You can’t bullshit specifics:

2/ Call out the type of customer you serve

People pay attention when they know something is specifically for them:

“What? Loads of authors are using this. I’m an author. Maybe I should be too ...”

3/ Use value-based messaging

Talk less about your product and more about the value your product brings.

People don’t want a better toothbrush. They want a brighter smile:

4/ Write for one reader

You're not talking to 1000 people. You're talking to the single person reading your page. So write like it.

An informal tone and addressing your users personally (“you”) makes a big difference:

I've been asking people after their trips if they liked it or not.
854 trip reviews later, here's the % most liked cities:

Mexico City: 100% liked it
Vienna: 100%
Saint Petersburg: 100%
Madrid: 100%
Tokyo: 100%
Belgrade: 100%
Budapest: 93%
Lisbon: 93%
Berlin: 93%
Singapore: 91%

Most disliked cities by trip reviews:

Ho Chi Minh City: 36% disliked it
Bucharest: 30% disliked it
London: 29% disliked it
Canggu: 29% disliked it
Warsaw: 27% disliked it
Krakow: 25% disliked it
Amsterdam: 24% disliked it

Interestingly, almost 1 out of 3 people (29%) going to top destination Canggu have a bad time. Not unexpected because it takes quite some effort to have a good time there with no choice other than having to drive a motorbike the biggest one.

More than 1 out of 3 people (36%) have a bad time in Ho Chi Minh City. That's also understandable. It's not an easy city either. Locals are less easygoing than for ex Thai and again you have to drive a motorbike everywhere. Not much public transport except buses I think

The divide between 93% of people having a good time in Berlin vs. 29% having a bad time in London is interesting too. These are two big W-EU cities. It's been said before that London is a playground for the rich. Berlin is more affordable, spacious, creative and fun I think

Another month flew by. Here's your @closettools September stats!

MRR: $13475.49 (+6.90%)
Organic: 4633 (+7.47%)
Trials: 237 (+21.54%)
New Customers: 146 (+5.0%)

If you're just getting started Indie-hacking, this thread is for you.

I'll tell you how to get here.

THREAD 🔥👇

Market 💹

The market you chose is the most important facet of your Indiehacker journey. It doesn't have to be the best market, it just has to be right for the thing you want to build.

Pick a market that is growing, has needs that are paid for, and has demand for your product.

Product 👚

Start with your MVP and iterate slowly and intentionally. Introduce features at a good clip, but don't sacrifice quality.

Do your testing. Ship excellence. Write your documentation. Design with the user in mind.

Your customers will trust you.

Ideas 💡

It's true, ideas are worth nothing. Execution is all that matters.

However, your product idea(s) should solve problems.

It should make your customers more money, save them time, or both.

Make things that give them more of what they care about.

Patience 🧘‍♂️

It has taken me 3 years to learn the skills I needed to make this product (business). And another 1.5 years to get the product to the revenue it's at now.

This is a long-term game. Build valuable skills. Put your head down and execute.

Most commit messages are next to useless because they focus on WHAT was done instead of WHY.

This is exactly the wrong thing to focus on.

You can always reconstruct what changes a commit contains, but it's near impossible to unearth the reason it was done.

(thread)

Think about the last time you `git blame`d something.

You were almost certainly thinking "WHY is this like this?", not "What is a one-line summary of what happened in this commit?".

Here's the antidote: use this commit template (stolen from @joeferris).

```
[one line-summary of changes]

Because:
- [relevant context]
- [why you decided to change things]
- [reason you're doing it now]

This commit:
- [does X]
- [does Y]
- [does Z]
```

Leading with the WHY has tremendous value.

First, it captures context that will be near impossible to recover later. Trust me, this stuff is gold.

Secondly, if you train yourself to ask why you're making every change, you'll tend to make better changes.

Give this template a try for a while.

The first time you see a commit message like the above instead of "refactor OrderWidget", you'll be a convert.

🔥 How to build a website which converts email subscribers

THREAD...

Over the last 2 months, Marketing Examples welcomed 31,000 first time visitors. 4,000 of these visitors subscribed to the email list.

That’s an email opt-in of 12.9%.

The industry average is 2%. The top 10 percentile average is 5%.

So, screw it, I’ll go there:

“Marketing Examples is one of the best websites in the world at converting passers-by into email subscribers.“

What follows is a series of things I've observed whilst trying to build a website which maximises email subscribers.

1 - Being obvious works

I imagine a few of you have read The Alchemist. Pretty good book right? How many of you signed up to Paulo Coelho's email list?

No matter how good your work no one is going to go out of their way to sign up to your email list. You have to make it obvious

There are four ways to sign up to the Marketing Examples email list:

1) From the fixed position navbar
2) At the end of any article
3) Through the exit intent popup
4) Directly from the subscribe page

From any given point you're only one click away from subscribing.

https://t.co/Cotah6eeRa

Makers, we need to talk.

We have a culture problem, and it's starting to bite back.

Our launch-and-dump culture on @ProductHunt is harmful, and it's hurting our goals as a community.

👇

Let's get started with a bit of backstory...

I was told today about an event that shed light on a recent change to the PH ranking algorithm

A maker on Ramadan Makers launched a product, reached a decent amount of upvotes. They never made it to the homepage.

Quite frankly, this is fine. We really don't expect ALL maker products to reach the homepage, considering PH should probably have a quality bar.

However, looking at the homepage just showed a different picture: products from bigger companies with only 12 upvotes, featured.

This is a problem: it is probably now a little harder for indie or products from creators to get featured on the homepage, which sadly is a huge problem for most rising and new makers on the scene right now.

But there's a bigger problem, and it's a culture one.

Makers nowadays have a very harmful culture when it comes to launching on Product Hunt.

This is the usual product lifecycle nowadays:

1. Launch on PH, Twitter
2. Gain attention and "internet points"

This causes issues.

Shy people are either overthinking or highly observant of the social setting.

And in many cases it can be both.

'So what do I do?'

You learn the 75/25 law.

'What is that?'

The law of charisma...👇

Let's address the over thinkers first.

Do you have any idea why you overthink?

'Yea. Because others are judging how shy I am.'

Incorrect.

Others are thinking about themselves, not you.

But the fact that you think they are thinking about you, you fuck up the interaction.

Now you stay in your head too much & avoid the present moment.

A major no no in the social world.

Your tendency to think that others are judging you for being shy, coincidentally makes you more shy.

And that's when you start giving off a strange vibration to the social setting.

This is when you begin attracting comments like 'why are you so quiet?'

🔥 A lesson in pricing

THREAD ...

Peter Thiel spends 6 months writing down everything he knows about business. His book sells for $10.

Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger spend 6 months writing down everything they know about design. Their “book” sells for $79.

Believe it or not, both prices make perfect sense.

Thiel is selling to the masses and the masses are sensitive to price changes (price elastic).

If he raises the price to $30 they wouldn’t think twice before substituting his book for one of the many cheaper alternatives on Amazon.

Adam and Steve are selling to hardcore fans and hardcore fans are insensitive to price changes (price inelastic).

They've all been following the Twitter tips, watching the screencasts, reading the Medium posts.

In their minds, there are no substitute resources available.

When demand for your good is inelastic, you raise your price.

In the case of Adam and Steve, all the way up to $79.

As the diagram shows, a 8x price increase ($10 to $79) results in just a 2x drop in books sold (20k to 10k) and 4x more revenue (area of the rectangles).

Yesterday, I wrote about how easy it is to sell ice cream on a crowded beach: https://t.co/a9z2ZTixb7

Today, I’m at the local fair.

There are hundreds of vendors.

But there are also huge crowds who are hot and thirsty; lots of demand for cold drinks!

Go where the crowds are!

Again, this is just a metaphor!

But it’s a good reminder:

🍋 If you have a lemonade stand, it’s better to go somewhere hot, where there are a lot of thirsty people.

💻 If you want to make software, it’s better to go where there are a bunch of potential customers.

BTW - targeting a good market doesn’t mean you’ll automatically win!

There are a TON of factors that influence a business’ success (or failure).

But choosing a market that has a lot of demand (and good channels) is essential for future success.

In business, nothing is guaranteed.

You might be in a good market today, but tomorrow it could fall apart.

Markets are fickle.

Some days they want 🍦, other days they want 🥤.

The economy can go up, or it can crash.

A good competitor can come in and grab market share.

But this reinforces the point:

“Business is already hard, why make it harder?” – @asmartbear

Why try to enter a niche where there’s no demonstrable demand?

Why try to serve a total addressable market of 500, when you could go after 500,000 potential customers?

I'm doing an AMA on @IndieHackers.

Drop some questions in there! Happy to answer anything, esp around building side projects with a full-time job :)

https://t.co/da4Ael9TnE

My high level plans for Starter Story.

On almost quitting

cc: @daviswbaer

@daviswbaer How I find so many businesses to interview

@daviswbaer On balancing different projects

🔥 Marketing tools are damaging your SEO. And how to fix it.

THREAD...

1/ It's no secret that a site's “performance” is a ranking factor for search.

But how does Google actually measure it?

Well, open up Chrome DevTools, click the ”Audits” tab, then ”Run Audits” and you'll see that “Performance” is made up from 6 metrics.

2/ Most casuals assume that performance is all about how fast a site displays on the screen — “First Meaningful Paint”.

But if you look at Google's weights you'll see that “Time to Interactive” — how long it takes for a site to become interactive — is far more important.

3/ Essentially, Google prioritises “interactivity” over “visibility”.

Even if your page appears fast, 3rd party scripts loading in the background (delaying user interaction) will see you penalised.

4/ One example of this is @ToDesktop.

Their site content loads in < 1s, but run it through a Google Audit and its “Time to Interactive” is 8.8s.