#50- Seth Godin's interview on Product Hunt
I was going through data in my older email account and found these fantastic notes from Seth Godin’s dated Product Hunt Live that I had stored as a draft. I am not sure when was this conducted, and I was not able to find an active link to the interview as well. However, that should not stop me from sharing this with you all!
Lets get right into it!
1.On starting everything from ‘zero’ again?
SG: Starting from zero has its advantages. Delighted to share my free ebook - ‘The Bootstrapper’s Bible’
2.On growth strategy to acquire first set of users for a gaming mobile app
SG: The biggest mistake mobile creators make is not building virality in. Without virality at its core you have a statistical chance of zero. Build a tribe, platform, community outside the app, or the app should create it within.
3.On figuring out early marketing strategy for first 30 days at a new startup
SG: Sell to 10. Find the tiniest audience and engage with them. You have nowhere to hide, no miracles to expect. If you cant be good enough for them, who can you be good enough for?
4.On the #1 startup lesson for first time founders
SG: Aim for the smallest possible audience you can live with, and just focus on delighting them always!
5.On the biggest marketing mistakes that founders make
SG:
How do you define marketing? The stuff you slap onto things you make? Or the necessary hassle to get paid enough to make another thing?
What happens if marketing begins before you do? What if the act of making people want something > trying to get people to want what you made?
Definition of a good product is great marketing, executed properly via good engineering
6.What should every marketer know?
SG: It is not about you. We are ignoring you, waiting for you to be amazing. You have more leverage than you know. If you try hard enough, you will not have to sneak around.
7.On getting people to care about your brand
SG: Keep your word on the following-
Earn trust
Create connections
Make promises
8.On getting a pricing model that is fair to both customer and creator especially in a low pricing market
SG: Customers don’t care about you at all, hence no such thing as fairness in digital economy.The customer doesn't care about you. And that is when the market is bigger than your immediate network who knows and trusts you.
True measure of a good app isn’t that it works. It is better when my friends use it to. Power of apps is in the network effect. My phone has 10 alarm apps - they all work but nobody wins. None have a network effect, hence they all will get a small share. Before building, ask - Will people cross a street happily to get this app?
9.On public speaking tips
SG: Speak, speak again, and speak again. After you have had 50 speeches, ask this question again. But do not try to get it right before you do it. Nobody learned to walk or ride a bike this way
Cheers! Until next time! 👋