[PROGRESS] Launched a Software - Time to Market It

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper"><b><span style="font-size: 18px">Preface:</span></b><br /> I started this software about 6 months ago. I posted my progress on a private discord group dedicated to sales/marketing.<br /> After careful consideration, I decided to document my continued journey in public to inspire others and receive feedback.<br /> <br /> Hello everyone!<br /> <br /> This thread is dedicated to my journey as I go through marketing a software built from scratch.<br /> I wrote this as I saw many posters are still in the &quot;idea&quot; phase while few actual executions.<br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">What is my software?</span></b><br /> My software was built out of an idea of connecting two major platforms, Discord &amp; Telegram.<br /> I saw few mention that they wish to communicate with each other.<br /> Unfortunately, those that were on either platform prefer to stay on there.<br /> I saw a potential problem to solve.<br /> For those interested in trying out the software:<br /> <a href="https://chatcreed.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">ChatCreed - Communities United</a><br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">Execution</span></b><br /> After reviewing the setup, I built the whole infrastructure and hosted it online.<br /> This process took several months as I am a full time Software Engineer.<br /> I dedicated the weekends and evenings building, testing, and deploying.<br /> For those curious, I am a Docker fanatic and love containerizing.<br /> As of January 2023, I launched the software online.<br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">Current Step</span></b><br /> Deploying software is one thing, marketing is another.<br /> I currently have a marketing plan laid out in Trello.<br /> Google Ads are running, and cold dms are documented on a spreadsheet.<br /> I am constantly deploying A/B testing and refining the DMs.<br /> <br /> I appreciate any feedback or questions below.<br /> I will respond.<br /> <br /> Any major updates, I will edit this main post.<br /> Other updates will be in its own posts below.</div>

 

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[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper">Thoughts for Software Developers:<br /> <b>NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR INFRASTUCTURE.</b><br /> Nobody knows about your:<br /> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">load balancing</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">hosting service</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ram, memory, storage, cpus</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;is it scalable???&quot;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;can it handle 1,000,000,000 visits per minute???&quot;</li> </ul>These are traps that developers need to get out of their heads.<br /> Get your software built and deployed.<br /> <br /> There is no point launching an infrastructure like Google if you have ZERO business to do so.<br /> Worry about it when you have MRR.<br /> <br /> That is how I am approaching my current software.<br /> Get it launched and start marketing.</div>

 

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper">After hearing feedback, I updated the dashboard to provide direction for new users.<br /> Before it was unclear where to start, as result users were confused (not what you want in a dashboard).<br /> Now, there is a clear path (join the Discord and Telegram groups to try out the software).<br /> <br /> I also fixed emails not working (Mailjet is what I use).</div>

 

[Andy Black]

<div class="bbWrapper">What&#039;s the URL for your software? Seems it might be useful for some forum members.</div>

 

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 23590" data-quote="Andy Black" data-source="post: 1044769" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=1044769" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-1044769">Andy Black said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> What&#039;s the URL for your software? Seems it might be useful for some forum members. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I have updated the main post after reaching out to a Mod. Cheers!</div>

 

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper">ChatCreed finally picked up by Google&#039;s Search engine!<br /> Definitely recommend everyone to get their website/ socials index on google via<br /> <a href="https://search.google.com/search-console/about" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">Google Search Console</a><br /> Compared to before, ChatCreed was not even a thing on Google, now appears at the top.</div>

 

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[HustlersAmbition]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 95532" data-quote="hexelbyte" data-source="post: 1044319" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=1044319" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-1044319">hexelbyte said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Thoughts for Software Developers:<br /> <b>NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR INFRASTUCTURE.</b><br /> Nobody knows about your:<br /> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">load balancing</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">hosting service</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ram, memory, storage, cpus</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;is it scalable???&quot;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;can it handle 1,000,000,000 visits per minute???&quot;</li> </ul>These are traps that developers need to get out of their heads.<br /> Get your software built and deployed.<br /> <br /> There is no point launching an infrastructure like Google if you have ZERO business to do so.<br /> Worry about it when you have MRR.<br /> <br /> That is how I am approaching my current software.<br /> Get it launched and start marketing. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>FAX FAX FAX</div>

 

[MJ DeMarco]

<div class="bbWrapper">Congrats on taking action, watching!</div>

 

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper">Spent the weekend researching and asking for feedback from multiple sources.<br /> The main focus were the reaction and critique on the landing page.<br /> <br /> What many told me were:<br /> &quot;I don&#039;t understand the value.&quot;<br /> &quot;How does this benefit me?&quot;<br /> <br /> Turns out deploying software is literally just that. Deploying.<br /> An oversight that I expected were the marketing/ value proposition. <br /> The reason of this was to take the approach &quot;Learn as you go&quot; rather than overplanning.<br /> I wanted to create a tangible asset to push myself forward. No more action-faking.<br /> <br /> In order to conquer this portion of the journey,<br /> I got myself a course and some materials that I will go over the next few weeks over &quot;SaaS Marketing&quot;.<br /> Although I have a plan laid out on Trello, I feel that it might just be a &quot;shotgun&quot; approach to see what sticks rather than focusing on how to present a stronger value proposition (ex: &quot;What can your thing do for me?).<br /> <br /> So far, I keep hearing &quot;Don&#039;t present the features, present the value/ benefits&quot;.<br /> Ironically, I have studied marketing/ copy before coding (Coding just stuck better).<br /> <br /> Will continue to recieve feedback and revamp.</div>

 

[RebeccaBoyleCopy]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 95532" data-quote="hexelbyte" data-source="post: 1044318" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=1044318" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-1044318">hexelbyte said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">Preface:</span></b><br /> I started this software about 6 months ago. I posted my progress on a private discord group dedicated to sales/marketing.<br /> After careful consideration, I decided to document my continued journey in public to inspire others and receive feedback.<br /> <br /> Hello everyone!<br /> <br /> This thread is dedicated to my journey as I go through marketing a software built from scratch.<br /> I wrote this as I saw many posters are still in the &quot;idea&quot; phase while few actual executions.<br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">What is my software?</span></b><br /> My software was built out of an idea of connecting two major platforms, Discord &amp; Telegram.<br /> I saw few mention that they wish to communicate with each other.<br /> Unfortunately, those that were on either platform prefer to stay on there.<br /> I saw a potential problem to solve.<br /> For those interested in trying out the software:<br /> <a href="https://chatcreed.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">ChatCreed - Communities United</a><br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">Execution</span></b><br /> After reviewing the setup, I built the whole infrastructure and hosted it online.<br /> This process took several months as I am a full time Software Engineer.<br /> I dedicated the weekends and evenings building, testing, and deploying.<br /> For those curious, I am a Docker fanatic and love containerizing.<br /> As of January 2023, I launched the software online.<br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: 18px">Current Step</span></b><br /> Deploying software is one thing, marketing is another.<br /> I currently have a marketing plan laid out in Trello.<br /> Google Ads are running, and cold dms are documented on a spreadsheet.<br /> I am constantly deploying A/B testing and refining the DMs.<br /> <br /> I appreciate any feedback or questions below.<br /> I will respond.<br /> <br /> Any major updates, I will edit this main post.<br /> Other updates will be in its own posts below. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>Your software sounds like a great solution to a particular problem people are having. <br /> <br /> For marketing SaaS, content is key. Your website looks good but could be improved to give a little more information and highlight the benefits better. <br /> <br /> A regular blog and possible video demos or guides would also be a good idea.</div>

 

[hexelbyte]

<div class="bbWrapper">It&#039;s been a while since my last post.<br /> Unfortunately, I decided to shutdown ChatCreed by end of April.<br /> <br /> Here&#039;s what I got out of the experience.<br /> <br /> 1. The software was way too niched. The ideal customer were Discord/ Telegram OWNERS that wanted to connect to each other. Notice that is way too difficult to find clients. I noticed that either both users are too &quot;cheap&quot; to even bother connecting the two sources.<br /> <br /> 2. Too reliant on other parties. The software leeches too much on Discord &amp; Telegram, so there is a constant need to stay up to date on their APIs to make sure everything is stable.<br /> <br /> Now for the positives.<br /> <br /> 1. Learned alot about backend development with APIs, and DB. This whole project was a one-man show. I got a ton of experience (which I will bring up later) that allows me to reuse for future projects.<br /> <br /> 2. Integration with marketing tools. Did a bunch of research on how to market the software. Although unsuccessful for this project, future projects will be more enabled.<br /> <br /> 3. Improved on Frontend web development. Even though I used Bootstrap, I learned alot of the web framework infrastructure to bring quality user experience.<br /> <br /> Now for the current state:<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve been working on another software that is currently deployed and waiting for approvals from Google!<br /> Took all the lessons from ChatCreed and made an effort to see this one succeeds.<br /> <br /> Depending on the situation, I&#039;ll continue to provide updates in this thread.<br /> <br /> Cheers!</div>

 

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[JetzeMeilink]

<div class="bbWrapper">Good luck man! Following</div>

 

[kareemt]

<div class="bbWrapper">Funny I once thought of the exact same idea with the exact same applications, Discord and Telegram. Me and my friends were using Discord, and suddenly some of them switched to Telegram as it was more mobile friendly. I made the software but it was basic (no GUI for customers ofc) and I used synchronous programming back then because I was terrible at asynchronous - still maybe.<br /> <br /> Following, wish you all the best with your next software!</div>