So, we’ve quickly built our MVP, and now we’re in the beta testing phase. We’ve been hustling to collect valuable feedback to iterate our product, but we’re hitting a bit of a roadblock trying to break out of our initial circle.
We’re using TestFlight for our beta testing, and while I’ve managed to rope in some friends and family, it’s proving to be quite a mission to get others to download the TestFlight app. (Am I the only one feeling this struggle?)
Out of the 101 people I reached out to, only 40 actually downloaded the app. As I grapple with this challenge, I’m left wondering why other members in our team haven’t even invited a single friend. It’s bugging me, and I’m feeling the stress, but how do I navigate this kind of behavior?
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Technical people are painfully aware of the shortcomings in software quality. Sometimes this causes them to stop promoting the piece of software. Try to have an open discussion on the topic.
Why is your technical co-founder responsible for marketing the app?
I’m guessing they’ve already put in all the hard work to build the MVP, now you want them to do the marketing too?
When we built our first MVP, I was the technical cofounder and I did 99% of the work and I felt like I could take a break while the others pushed the app to users. As someone else mentioned, maybe your cofounder didn’t sign up to do this type of sales on top of his technical work?
Also, our mvp was embarrassingly bad, I knew it was so shit there wasn’t even a point giving it to my network and I didn’t want my name on something so poor. I had the mindset of “well I know what’s wrong already, I don’t need users to tell me”, so the test was inherently flawed and we basically only did it to reaffirm my position in which case I just needed to wait for my less experienced cofounders to catch up. Maybe this helps to explain your situation or maybe it’s nothing like it at all. Either way, just talk to them and relax a little, it’s a long journey
If he built it, and you’re not doing your part of the deal. What the hell is your role and equity?
You over estimated your own abilities while you’re cofounder built the whole thing.
Let me guess, if it’s a success, you’ll be the face of the company? 🤡🤡🤡
This just feels uncessesarily antagonistic.
Maybe a little bit they have a point. The technical co founder focuses on the product. What’s the other cofounder doing if not promoting the shit out of it?
not just promoting it, but creating feedback sessions and identifying opportunities and learning from the customer
True, but I’ve seen and experienced this too often myself.
- 40% is an excellent download rate
- Assuming your technical cofounder built the thing, isn’t it your job to push it out?
“Not my job” isn’t the right attitude for founders in the earliest stages.
I built an app by myself for 3 months and within a week of launch my non-technical cofounders were like “Welp couldn’t get PMF… Bummer that it didn’t work out, on to the next idea”
sounds like your co-founders aren’t very good. They should do as much PMF validation BEFORE you build something, then post going live they should try various marketing strategies that are free, gather feedback, build an iteration backlog etc. PMF cannot be determined in 1 week lmao.
A 40% success rate is excellent! We discovered that seeking feedback from users who only minimally engaged with your app doesn’t yield significant insights. In fact, 90% of our valuable insights originated from interactions with actual customers.
For individuals with technical backgrounds like us, engaging in outreach and marketing poses considerable challenges. It could be argued that it might be more effective for people to concentrate on their strengths rather than attempting tasks that don’t align with their natural abilities.Sounds like you need to meet, and talk about expectations
I did experience similar friction when reaching out to people to test my product. I think thats fairly natural for people to not want to help. Its probably due to time and energy it takes to use their product. In the end what i did was have a handful maybe 5 people test actively. Then the people developing the product and myself tested closely for bugs. Hope that helps! Best of luck!
You may be underestimating the amount of work your technical co-found has done so far. It’s not his/her responsibility to get clients.
Wtf is your role if you’re expecting the technical cofounder to also be a big part of distribution?
Welcome to the grind. Honestly your post comes of as blaming your employee when you need to be curious and look into why they don’t want to share the app.
If you are in charge then you better read the room because if your employees don’t want to tell their friends then maybe you have a blind spot.
Maybe they don’t believe in the app yet, don’t want to involve their families till it’s better, or maybe they feel like it isn’t ready. You should figure it out. It’s very important data that you can learn from.
First of all, 40% seems like a fantastic download rate. I’d be very happy with those numbers, especially if you can maintain that for another hundred.
A bigger question is whether those 40 people are using the app and giving feedback. Are they?
With regard to enabling your team to help recruit and evangelize, how much of the following have you done?
- prepare several versions of messaging and spoon feed it to the team, so that they don’t have to think about how to ask friends to sign up.
- get all potential beta testers on an email list for easy news blasts and updates. This way you can ask those who haven’t download to do it.
- create a beta testing group home, like a discord server, so that you can easily communicate with all who are interested. Use this for onboarding testers. If you can people into that server you can support them better, and ensure people don’t get stuck on the installation process
- create veeeeery easy step by step guidance for becoming and being a good tester and feedback giver
- set expectations up front about what being a beta tester involves. Installing TestFlight and giving good feedback are new concepts for most people. It seems weird if you haven’t done it before. The installation process is strange and unfamiliar.
- create internal updates about beta tester recruitment, perhaps as part of your daily or weekly standups, in which you note progress and encourage folks to share what’s working and what isn’t
- hold a team meeting for strategizing how to find good beta testers. Brainstorm tactics and see if you can get the team thinking about how to pull this off.
- once some of these assets are in place, have a beta tester recruitment kickoff pizza party, during work hours, where the only task on the agenda is recruiting testers
Keep in mind that many people simply aren’t comfortable recruiting friends and family. And many people don’t have that many friends to ask. It may just not be what they signed up for. In that case, explore strategies focused on strangers rather than acquaintances.