Stagetimer · B2B · remote timer for stage speakers
Post your free tool in a small niche subreddit and ask for feedback
Users replied with feature lists and 'I've been waiting for such an app'
Workedvalidationcommunity
What they did
Building for an industry he wasn't part of (video production), he searched for where those people hang out and found small, hidden niche subreddits. Posted a link: 'Hey, try it out. Give me some feedback. What do you think? Is this useful to you?' No price on the website, so it didn't read as a sales pitch. Only one post per subreddit, no spamming.
What happened
People wrote detailed lists of what to build and said they'd been waiting for such an app; this validated the idea and shaped the product. No user counts given in the body.
- Stage
- launch
- Effort
- One post per subreddit
“I'm building it for people that are in an video production industry. Where are they? Where do they hang out? I'm looking for a subreddit. It took me quite a while to actually find one. These are quite hidden.”
“So, I put a link in here and I say, "Hey, try it out. Give me some feedback. What do you think? Is this useful to you?"”
“And because there's no price attached to it on the website, it's also not, he just wants to have our money. It works really well. And then the other thing is I don't spam it. So, one post per subreddit.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from StageTimer
All 17 StageTimer tactics- Offer a limited free plan that shows your logo on the on-stage timerWord of mouth is 40%+ of signups; logo effect not measured
- Offer to sponsor niche industry podcastsPodcasts didn't want sponsors, or the pitch was wrong
- Visit an industry trade show without a boothNo business done; very expensive
- Rely on search traffic (SEO) as the main marketing channelMuch stronger than any other channel; no numbers
- Run Google search adsFounder says Google works right now; no numbers
- Run YouTube video ads for a B2B toolDidn't work; founder blames the video
More from this episode
- Stagetimer: Ship a one-button MVP in 3 days using tools you already knowShipped in 3 days; first dollar took 224 days at 1 hour a night
- Stagetimer: Write how-to pages and videos for using your tool with gear people already own~50% of traffic comes from Google; niche searchers far likelier to buy
- Stagetimer: Put your logo with your web address on every link people shareAbout a third of traffic is word of mouth; people say they saw it at an event
- Stagetimer: Offer a free plan so freelancers bring your tool to every event they workFounder says free users hitting limits and upgrading 'happens very often'
- Stagetimer: Have your spouse learn marketing and take over ads, sales emails and supportFounder says support is 'amazing' and customers are happy; no numbers
- Stagetimer: Watch people outside tech do their jobs and fix what wastes their timeFound a timer idea worth $25K/month; founder expected it to make little