AudioPen · B2C · voice-to-text note app
Build in public on Twitter for years so people trust your launch
Founder credits it for first-day sales; users say they like following his journey
Workedfounder-brandcommunity
What they did
He had built in public on Twitter for months to years before AudioPen, building credibility and hype before the product existed; members of his Halfday Build hackathon community cheered him on publicly, which he believes helped buyers trust him. He deliberately presents as a solo indie builder rather than a big company, sharing his story and the effort behind the product. Advice: share designs publicly, see what people like and don't like.
What happened
He credits it (with product-need fit) for payments on launch day; users regularly compliment him that they like being part of his journey
- Stage
- Pre-launch (Pre-launch and ongoing)
“Secondly was I had a certain level of credibility on Twitter because I had been out there building in public for a few months or maybe a few years at that point.”
“I think I had other people that were cheering me on as a part of this Halfday Build community, which also really helps because people like to see other people that trust you before they make a purchase decision.”
“I get complimented regularly by users that one of the reasons why they like AudioPen is cause they like that they've been part of my journey as a builder for the past couple of years.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- AudioPen: Build 4-5 tiny tools in a week, post each on Twitter, keep the winnerOne of them got far more love than expected and became a $15K/month app
- AudioPen: Message the people who liked your prototype and ask whyLearned their use cases and designed the full version around them
- AudioPen: Open a waitlist before the app is ready and let beta testers inBeta testers paid on Stripe within 12 hours, without being asked to
- AudioPen: Do one thing well and skip tempting nearby marketsFounder credits focus (and being early) for standing out; no numbers
- AudioPen: Sell $99/year and $159/2-year plans that don't auto-renew, with a limited free tier5,000+ paying customers out of ~200K users