Zero to a Million Users @drewhouston, @asmith @drewhouston - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Zero to a Million Users @drewhouston, @asmith @drewhouston - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Apr 25, 2023 126 likes •764 views

Zero to a Million Users @drewhouston, @asmith @drewhouston (dropbox) @asmith (xobni) Summer 2006: Humble beginnings Xobni, Dropbox 2 ,000,000 VC-backed startups in SF Both reached 2 million users in 2 0 years Biggest risk:

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@drewhouston, @asmith

Zero to a Million Users

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@drewhouston

(dropbox)

@asmith

(xobni)

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Summer 2006: Humble beginnings

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  • Xobni, Dropbox –

VC-backed startups in SF

  • Both reached 2

million users in 2 years

2 ,000,000

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Biggest risk: making something nobody wants

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Good marketing will not fix a bad product

Weak product-market fit cannot be fixed by good marketing

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But good product will be wind at your back

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Xobni Analytics: Solved problem no one had

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Goal: product-market fit ASAP

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learn early, learn often

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Idea Prototype Launch

Cost of change at each stage

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Learning on a $0 budget: Talk to people!

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Learn without launching

Hacks: Fake landing pages, screenshots, etc. AdWords tests

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Dropbox’s minimum viable product: 3 min screencast on Hacker News (Apr 07)

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Simple landing page: capture interest/ email address

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starting from zero

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Go where your early adopters hang out

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Private beta launch video  12,000 diggs; beta waiting list jumps from 5,000 to 75,000 in one day (Mar 2008)

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Avoid ghost towns: bootstrapping to critical mass

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Niche first, world later

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Fake it till you make it: Aardvark & simulating features that weren’t ready

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marketing: building buzz

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Tie yourself to a bigger trend

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Meet journalists in person. All the time.

Adam

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Journalists are really busy – come up with the angle for them.

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Media resources page on web site

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Word of mouth rule #1: have a great product

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Generate word of mouth with scarcity

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Help users generate tell their friends

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Invite screen

  • Facebook

pictures

  • Auto-ranked
  • Outlook

detection via looking at mail headers = FUN!

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Sex it up! Have fun!

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Inbound marketing / “social media”

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how do you get people to use your product?

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Focus: do a few things really well instead of a lot of things poorly

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Every 10% easier  50% larger audience

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Don’t make me think: No decisions  nothing to screw up

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Don’t make me read, either: Designing landing pages & signup flows

early beta late beta

  • concise beats

comprehensive

  • call out the next step
  • simple converts better
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Hook the user first, educate over time (tours, tip emails, etc.)

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You do not see the same product your users do! (craigslist, usertesting.com)

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Make feedback painless – then iterate!

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how do you make a product that spreads itself?

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The best products turn users into evangelists

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Encouraging word-of-mouth: Referral program increased signups by 60%

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Tricks of the trade: FB & Twitter feed, emails, contact list importers Trailing 30 days: 3 million invites sent

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metrics: know thy funnel

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Basic funnel

Users $$$

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Startup Metrics for Pirates. Live it.

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Output I: know where to invest marketing $$

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Xobni finding: AdWords users don’t convert to paid BUT they refer others who do!

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Output II: allocate engineering resources between usability, engagement, & virality

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Example: user education around people search

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scaling without virality: “dollar in, dollar out” marketing

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Some markets don’t elicit virality or buzz

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($16 rev - $10 svc cost) per month  $6/ mo x 22 mo lifetime = $132 $40 advertising, affiliates, etc.

Netflix example

(numbers not exact) $92 lifetime gross margin/user

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a quick taste…

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example user acquisition costs

satellite tv $700 cellular $400 cellular (prepaid) $100 web hosting (shared) $150 netflix $40 facebook apps less than $1

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example monthly rev per user

satellite tv $70 cellular $60 web hosting (shared) $5 netflix $16 facebook apps less than $1

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example monthly churns

satellite tv 1.5% cellular 2% web hosting (shared) 2% netflix 4.4% facebook apps more than 50%?

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example freemium conv. rates

efax 8% ning 3% dell pre-load AOL less than 1%

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Thank you!

Questions?

Feel free to reach out! @drewhouston - drew@dropbox.com @asmith - adam.smith@xobni.com