💬 Q&A: How did Tinder, Snapchat, Zapier, Doordash, Reddit, Stripe, OnlyFans, and more get their first 1000 users?
Ali Abouelatta (Founder of First1000)
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How did Tinder get their first 1000 users?
How about Zapier, Calendly, Spotify, Snapchat, Doordash, Slice, Reddit, Roam Research, Stripe, or OnlyFans?
Let’s learn.
Meet Ali.
Guest: Ali Abouelatta.
Fun Fact: Ali has traveled to every continent (excluding Antarctica).
Q&A Time.
Question #1: You have done a variety of case studies from Zapier, Snapchat, Tinder, Doordash, Roam Research, OnlyFans, what common theme(s) have you noticed about founders getting their first 1000 users?
The only common theme about each company I wrote about is they broke one of the “famous advice or bible truth” such as focusing on a niche, ship fast, do things that don’t scale.
For example, Zapier did not raise money. Doordash did not drop out of school. Roam Research shipped more slowly. OnlyFans had the father and brother as cofounders.
Question #2: Getting the first 1000 users is not easy, what was the most surprising or memorable method you came across?
There are 2 very memorable moments.
(1) Slice founder’s main issue was credibility in going after supply. He wrapped his car with Slice stickers to appear corporate (contrarian to many startups) and more trustworthy. He would park it in front of the restaurant and it gave the impression of being “big” to the restaurant owners.
(2) Tinder had an interesting issue in they needed liquidity between people searching for partners (supply and demand). Tinder hosted parties at sororities and served as the admission ticket (you had to show the Tinder app to get in), this created early exclusivity and market liquidity.
Question #3: You are building a trove of artifacts, have you tested any of the methods for your own newsletter? What worked?
I tried a lot. The biggest one that worked was the Product Hunt launch. My first launch on Product Hunt got 3 subscribers (not very good). I wanted to do another round and interviewed the folks at Superpowered and they shared their Product Hunt launch playbook. The next week I did all the steps and it went bananas, I got 5K+ subscribers, was #1 of the day, #3 of the week.
Click here to read the First1000 case study on Superpowered.
I also built a lot of distribution products. One that went viral is when I owned the word “distribution” via Toucan. I also built a merch store for the All-In Podcast.
Question #4: What are your thoughts on companies who have mimicked successful growth tactics but it did not work for them, what was the reason?
The things that work, work because they are novel. There is a half-life for growth tactics. When someone comes up with something ingenious and it becomes industry standard, it starts to lose efficacy. Growth hacking is about being novel.
The other reason is context. Early-stage founders sometimes do the growth tactic without understanding why it worked. For example, Morning Brew has written a lot about their milestone-based referral program (e.g. sticker -> hoodie -> mug), but you cannot just go to an enterprise startup and say “that milestone program worked, let’s adopt it” — Morning Brew users wanted the association with Morning Brew, to be part of the movement/community, and that’s why the milestone program worked. You have to think, do users want to associate with your enterprise company? Is it cool?
Double click on why it worked. Focus on the learnings, not the output.
Question #5: I imagine you get many readers seeking growth tactics for the next stage (e.g. 1K to 10K, 10K to 100K, etc.), how do you think about adding those insights to your newsletter?
This is not on my near-future roadmap. The problem with going from 100K to 1MM is you are optimizing what’s working, it’s not as interesting. The growth journey is “we have no f*king clue what we are doing -> do a bunch of tests -> optimize things that are working.”
There is so much to cover in the growth journey and having the constraint of 0 to 1K is beneficial to me and the readers. It allows me to go deep and spend 40-60 hours on a specific period of time to uncover unique insights.
Question #6: What has been the most surprising or delightful customer response to your newsletter?
Most surprising is when Guy Kawasaki tweeted about my Slice case study, it was mind-blowing. I was scrolling through Twitter and thought Guy must have been hacked. I opened it at least 500 times for two weeks to see if he deleted it.
Most delightful…I like it when people curse. When someone responds and says “that was f*king awesome!!!” I feel it communicates so much passion for the newsletter, these responses always crack me up.
Question #7: How do you go from zero to one in a new space, where do you start?
Start with the angry customers of your competitors. For example, if I am starting a new competitor to Slack, find the loudest and most critical users of Slack and reach out saying “hey, I know you hate this, we fixed everything you hate, let’s talk.” These users (1) have so much insight that can take you months to figure out, extract the acute pains; (2) exhibit the behaviors you are looking for; (3) are already angry and have nothing to lose; and (4) if they like your product, they will be positively loud and kickstart your customer acquisition.
Focus on loud users, not necessarily influential users who may not care.
[Note: a good example of how Zapier offered solutions via targeted product forums, resulting in a 50% conversion rate].
Question #8: What have you learned about building in public?
Building in public was never an intentional thought. I do not always know what I will write next, sometimes I will ask people and they come back with ideas.
I have met at least 100 people in the past 6 months who read the newsletter and get a lot of the same questions. So I thought it would be easier to put it out there and it makes the call more specific and productive.
Question #9: What topic(s) are you diving deep into now?
European startups (lookout for a super case study on this).
Bootstrapped companies.
People ask a lot about enterprise companies. It is hard to get insights.
Dogecoin. I spend so much time diving into history, it is fascinating.
Question #10: Do you have any asks for the Curious Expeditions community?
If you want to learn more about how companies got their first 1000 users, read my newsletter and follow me on Twitter! I post a lot of good memes.
And if you have a very interesting story (e.g. founding story, acquisition), shoot me an email, let’s collaborate.
Thanks for the chat Ali. First1000 is full of insights and is becoming a go-to resource for startup handbooks. I like how you are translating lessons into action with your own newsletter. Keep raising the bar!
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“Fly High, Burn Bright, Be Curious.”