Successful launches without a following?

by Haseeb Siddiqui

A few years back I attempted to start a newsletter & community around productivity. I wrote a few issues on https://bookletter.substack.com/ but eventually burnt out and didn't continue.

Now I am trying to get back into building some SaaS products. I have no community or following, what would be the best ways to get attention to my products once they launch?

Haseeb Siddiqui

on March 5, 2023

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If your goal is to build a SaaS, but you are planning to build following from newsletter and then using that to grow the SaaS, seems like a long shot.

If you want to grow the SaaS without a huge following, below are some things that could be helpful. Some of these are covered in Zero To Founder
- Start post your SaaS updates to sites like IH, Reddit (This is a good way to build traction). If the updates are interesting enough and has some learning bites for others, you can get some traction.
- Pick a Social media and do the same. This is nothing but #BuildInPublic trend that most people are following.
- Then use places like BetaList to start building your waitlist. Again, places like Betalist don't need huge following.
- Create High quality Free content related to your SaaS and post to places like Reddit, IH and high quality free content is loved by audience anywhere and get the emails.
upenv

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4 years ago
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  Thanks Upen, will do on the first 3. I guess I'll need to get to building first and generate the content/following based on the product itself.
  
  Haseeb Siddiqui
  
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  4 years ago
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    That's right. Good luck. Some times just keeping that momentum makes the difference.
    
    upenv
    
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    4 years ago
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  I feel like posting SaaS updates on IH is not very useful in my case, because we are building something for online shop owners with more than 1 mio € in annual revenue. That's not a crowd I can reach on Indie Hackers, i don't know about Reddit. So it all depends on his target group, doesn't it?
  
  nearmint
  
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  4 years ago
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    Yeah ofcourse. It won't fit to everyone. I was answering more from the OP question.
    But if are building something for online shop owners with more than 1 mio € in annual revenue, the best way would be directly to do cold outreach those companies founders assuming you have a way to find these shop owners.
    
    upenv
    
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    4 years ago
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      Yep, currently doing just that :)
      
      nearmint
      
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      4 years ago
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        You are on it 🙌
        
        upenv
        
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        4 years ago
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Hey Haseeb,

Recently I interviewed Nitish, (founder of Ansy). He launch on PH and ranked at top3 without any social media presence. He shared some strategies on how you can have a successful launch on PH without social media presence.

Sharing the article below, I feel that will help you 👇🏼
https://launchpedia.co/nitish-ansy-product-hunt-interview/

Just_Karthik

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4 years ago
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  I can see the upvotes etc. but does this interview include how much traffic/conversions they got as a result of this PH launch?
  
  Haseeb Siddiqui
  
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  4 years ago
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    Yeah, they have got 2500 visitors and 2000 signups from their Product Hunt launch
    
    Just_Karthik
    
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    4 years ago
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Wow congrats.

Ameliaclarkson1

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4 years ago
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That's pretty cool. I'm looking to scale my SaaS https://askmax.xyz

bugtheplanet

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4 years ago
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In the same boat. I feel like it’s impossible to do it the organic way so communities, communities and more communities.

candid_jan

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4 years ago
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  i think its possible to do it, you just have to be an early adopter of a social media and build a community there
  
  player1
  
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  4 years ago
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