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Launching on AppSumo

In this section, the speaker talks about their experience launching on AppSumo and provides insights into using the marketplace versus the select deal.

Using the Marketplace vs. Select Deal

• The speaker recommends using the marketplace instead of the select deal for more profitability.

• They suggest doing a select deal only for brand authority and user proof.

• The speaker believes that startups can be more effective with marketing than AppSumo.

Sales Numbers

• The speaker made 1.2 million in gross revenue and around 800,000 in net revenue from launching on AppSumo.

• Their highest sales day was around 32,000, settling to around 21,000 after refunds.

• The speaker believes that AppSumo is very good in certain circumstances but not for select deals.

Launching Startups with AppSumo

In this section, the speaker talks about how AppSumo solves the problem of getting users for startups and why it's worth trying.

Getting Users Quickly

• The speaker emphasizes that getting users quickly is a hard problem for startups to solve.

• They pitch starting an accelerator program with AppSumo to solve this problem further.

Trying It Out

• The worst thing that can happen is not getting users and learning from the experience.

• The speaker compares AppSumo to early versions of Google SEO or Facebook Graph exploiting networks to get millions of users quickly.

Introduction to AppSumo and Lifetime Deals

In this section, the speaker introduces AppSumo and explains how it solves the problem of getting customers. They also discuss lifetime deals and crowdfunding deals.

AppSumo's Solution to Getting Customers

• AppSumo solves the problem of getting customers.

• Choose a product that you are willing to support for a lifetime because it is a lifetime deal.

• Do not screw up a lifetime deal or crowdfunding deal as it follows you for life.

Lifetime Deals

• Offering a lifetime deal means being willing to support it for life.

• Some businesses could stay as lifetime deals forever, just like software in the early 90s.

• Software has insane margins, making it super profitable.

The Profitability of Lifetime Deals

In this section, the speaker discusses why offering lifetime deals can be profitable and how appsumo fosters a community of power users.

Profitability of Lifetime Deals

• Staying as a lifetime deal does not mean bad business model; software was insanely profitable before SaaS existed.

• Margins are so insane that some businesses could stay as lifetime deals forever.

Power Users on AppSumo

• There is a percentage of appsumo users who are super enthusiastic power users who test everything that comes out just because they love testing software.

• You're guaranteed to get feedback if you launch something on appsumo.

Building for AppSumo Users

In this section, the speaker talks about building specifically for the appsumo market and targeting pricing plans and features towards them.

Building for AppSumo Users

• In all the years of starting startups and helping people start startups, it has never been this easy to get users quickly.

• Appsumo built a business model that fostered a community of power users.

• Build specifically for this market by targeting pricing plans and features towards them.

Pricing

• Pricing is a whole other thing, but you can advise on how to do that.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes by discussing why lifetime deals work and how appsumo created a go-to-market strategy.

Why Lifetime Deals Work

• People will always need lifetime access to these tools.

• Software is insanely profitable, making it very possible that these tools will stay profitable for lifetimes.

AppSumo's Go-To-Market Strategy

• Appsumo did something brilliant here; they basically created a go-to-market strategy.

Building a Sustainable SAS Business

In this section, the speaker talks about how to build a sustainable SAS business and how to carve out market share from existing monopolies.

Carving Out Market Share

• Use advertising or a sales team to carve out market share from existing monopolies.

• Building a sustainable SAS business is possible by providing access to tools that people need.

• The software market has worked in such a way for the last few years that every new software startup has created their own monopoly.

Appsumo Marketplace

• Appsumo marketplace is an easy way to get customers for your product.

• You can pay for users to get started with your product and gain traction on the platform.

• Once you're in, you can stay as long as you listen to user feedback and iterate your product.

Monopolies in the Software Market

In this section, the speaker talks about how there are many monopolies in the software market and how it's not necessary to invent anything new to do well on Appsumo.

Monopolies in Software Market

• The software market is filled with monopolies that solve similar problems.

• Products like CRM, sales support, SEO, copywriting tools are constantly on what's hot list of Appsumo marketplace.

• People always need access to these lifetime tools which makes them profitable even if they don't invent anything new.

Using Appsumo Marketplace

• Appsumo marketplace is an easy way for startups to get customers quickly.

• It's important to set up metrics like Mixpanel and Google Analytics/Google Optimize so that you can track user engagement with your product.

• If users aren't using your product then it's not actually good.

Importance of User Engagement

In this section, the speaker talks about the importance of user engagement and how it can help you improve your product.

Importance of User Engagement

• It's important to track user engagement with your product using metrics like Mixpanel and Google Analytics/Google Optimize.

• If users aren't using your product then it's not actually good.

• You can fool investors but not your users.

Improving Your Product

• After the first boot camp ended, GPT usage dropped to zero which meant that no one was using it.

• It's important to listen to user feedback and iterate on your product in order to keep getting customers.

Metrics and Power Users

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of paying attention to usage metrics and making users actually use your product. They also talk about the benefits of having power users who can provide feedback.

Usage Metrics

• Pay attention to usage metrics to increase user engagement.

• Power users can provide valuable feedback for iterating on your product.

Chrome Extensions

• Chrome extensions are high margin because they run entirely on client machines.

• Google will promote your extension naturally, leading to more users.

• Honey is an example of a successful Chrome extension that solved a burning problem and was sold for billions of dollars.

White Label Chrome Extension Solutions

In this section, the speaker talks about how you can build unique solutions into Chrome extensions quickly using Donnie's new chat GPT no code option.

Custom Solutions

• You can build custom solutions into Chrome extensions using Donnie's new chat GPT no code option.

• Tutorials will be released teaching how to generate custom solutions like honey or custom sentiment analysis or machine learning tools.

Launching in Larger Circles

In this section, the speaker recommends launching in larger circles after getting your first customers manually and from your own network.

Getting Customers

• Launch with your first 10 customers manually before expanding to larger networks.

• It's useful to get customers even if you're struggling to get them.

Launching on AppSumo

In this section, the speaker talks about how to launch a product on AppSumo and shares some tips for success.

Tips for Launching on AppSumo

• Use AppSumo as a go-to-market strategy to compete with any SAS by picking a successful SAS that is not patented and copying it.

• Use profits from your product to buy Google ads or hire a sales team to carve out market share with any SAS Monopoly.

• Target hard and frequent problems, especially for digital marketers, to get users. Even if you're targeting niche problems like AR products, you can still get customers because people always want these tools.

• Ask your account manager at AppSumo if you can send them a Google tag to track your sales data on your page. This will help you push ads and optimize them.

Marketing into AppSumo

• The way to market into AppSumo is through their Facebook groups or all the Facebook groups related to Lifetime deals.

• A marketing firm that specializes in helping people launch on AppSumo told the speaker that they could help but he figured out how to do it better than them.

Joining Facebook Groups for App Development

In this section, the speaker recommends joining various Facebook groups related to app development and providing value to the group by being active and helpful. This helps in getting feedback and drumming up interest before launch.

Joining Facebook Groups

• Join all the Facebook groups related to apps, including official ones like Kenmu Group, Digital Think, SAS Tribe.

• Be active in these groups and provide value by helping people out.

• Use this opportunity to get feedback on your product before launch.

• Being active in these groups can help drum up interest before launch.

Launch Day Preparation

In this section, the speaker talks about how to prepare for launch day. They recommend getting enough sleep beforehand and being prepared for answering questions and providing support on launch day.

Preparing for Launch Day

• Get enough sleep before launch day.

• The hard part of launch day is answering questions and providing support.

• Answering questions quickly is important as it leads to more sales.

• Set up channels like live chat and email for support.

• Doing all the support yourself as a founder is recommended as it helps you learn valuable insights from customers.

Importance of Support After Launch

In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of support after launching a product. They recommend using customer feedback to iterate on your product and staying involved with customers even as your company grows.

Importance of Support After Launch

• Support is crucial after launching a product.

• Use customer feedback to iterate on your product.

• Stay involved with customers even as your company grows.

• Doing all the support yourself as a founder helps you learn valuable insights from customers.

• Support is more valuable than sales on launch day as it helps you improve your product exponentially.

Best Practices for Launch Day

In this section, the speaker talks about best practices for launch day. They recommend setting up libraries on your website and extension, using tools like Firebase Analytics and Extension Pay, and tracking user sessions with tools like Optimizely Hot Shark.

Best Practices for Launch Day

• Set up libraries on your website and extension.

• Use tools like Firebase Analytics and Extension Pay to track analytics and charge users.

• Track user sessions with tools like Optimizely Hot Shark.

• Don't lose data as it's more valuable than sales on launch day.

• Use best practices to improve your product.

Launching on AppSumo

In this section, the speaker discusses how to launch a product on AppSumo and get sales.

Getting Sales on Day One

• The most exciting day is when you get your first sale.

• AppSumo guarantees sales on day one if you follow their guidelines for choosing an urgent and frequent product and pricing it correctly.

• To make the most sales, you need to get onto the front page of AppSumo's website or email list.

Metrics for Getting Onto the Front Page

• You can get onto the front page by meeting certain metrics such as sales, refunds, comments, and reviews.

• You stay in the "What's Hot" section based on your actual sale numbers.

• It is possible to stay constantly throughout your entire deal over a year by meeting these metrics.

Tricks for Maximizing Sales

• Purchase your own deal to boost yourself up to the front page. If you have a good product, other people will try it too.

• There are tricks that can be done inherently to maximize sales profitably.

Taking Advantage of Early Opportunities

In this section, the speaker talks about taking advantage of early opportunities like Google SEO tricks or Facebook Graph tricks.

Exploiting Network Effects

• Absentmindedly reminds us of exploiting network effects in early days of Google SEO and Facebook Graph where we could exploit it to get users very quickly before they turned those into products because network effects allow you to very quickly reach millions of people right on those networks.

• AppSumo is reminiscent of that period, just much smaller.

Recommendations

• The speaker recommends trying these tricks to get users because it helps you iterate your product but also taking advantage of this opportunity like these tricks that he's teaching right now.

Appsumo Promotion Strategy

In this section, the speaker discusses a promotion strategy for Appsumo that involves pricing products high and using refunds to get onto the front page.

Pricing Strategy

• Price your deal as high as possible to trigger the front page.

• Start with $99 max up to $79-$99. It's hard to go up but people don't mind when you go down.

• Don't price it low because people will buy and immediately refund it on the front page.

Refund Strategy

• Don't refund because you get 70% of that sale anyway, which helps keep you up there.

• Refunding pushes you back down, so only do it if necessary.

• This strategy only works for good products. Bad products will result in negative ROI.

Triggering Front Page

• If priced around $1000, appsumo seems to rank based on revenue.

• Pricing high triggers more sales even if they buy and refund once they've pushed you to the front page.

• This strategy resulted in over 600 purchases totaling over $600k for the speaker's white label product.

Promoting Your Product on AppSumo

In this section, the speaker discusses how to promote your product on AppSumo and get the most out of it. They provide tips on how to make sure your product is successful and how to get promoted by AppSumo.

Tips for Successful Promotion

• Offer a good product that solves a problem that is hard and urgent for people.

• Make sure your product looks complete, even if it's not perfect.

• Treat customers well and constantly iterate your product.

• Follow guidelines for creating a good product.

Getting Promoted by AppSumo

• Be proactive in talking to your account manager about promotions.

• Share interesting history or stories about your brand with AppSumo.

• Reach 100K in sales or have 255 Taco average reviews in Marketplace to be added to the email list.

• Participate in the Marketplace as it is easier than Select deals.

• Black Friday Sumo Day and last day of sales are big days for sales.

Benefits of Being Promoted by AppSumo

• Get added to an 800k email list automatically when you reach certain milestones.

• Get a boost in sales from being promoted by AppSumo, which can lead to more legitimacy for your brand.

Launching a Startup with AppSumo

In this section, the speaker talks about how to launch a startup using AppSumo and the risks involved.

Launching with AppSumo

• The speaker recommends launching a startup with AppSumo as it is unique and provides constant feedback from users.

• Seed investors are generally against crowdfunding and AppSumo due to the risks involved.

• Crowdfunding can be risky as customers trust founders with money upfront, and there is a heightened emotion if something goes wrong.

• It's important to treat angry customers kindly and hire someone for support as soon as possible.

• Choosing a product that makes the risks worth it is crucial when launching a startup.

Unique Market

• The market for startups on AppSumo is unique, making it easier to get feedback from users quickly.

• The community on AppSumo is valuable even if you make no money at all because of the process of iterating based on customer feedback.