Getting from an idea to a paid user in 1 week - ViralViews

It's finally been a week of building up viralviews.co from scratch to our first customer!

How it started

My partner reached out to me in my LOOKING FOR COFOUNDER post on indiehackers (YES it works, and you should do it too 😁)

We got on a call and jumped on an idea on building on an idea of his. I immediately thought it had legs 🤩

So... I got to work!

MVP

Building out the MVP took ~3-5 days.

When you've been building one failed project after another, you can pump one out 😬 pretty fast.

My philosophy is this:

It doesn't even have to be a 'viable product', but an IDEA of what it could be.

I put shortcuts in code, mocks for API calls, and threw any optimization out the window. Forget commit messages 😆

Getting initial traction is 10% engineering and 90% business, marketing, and sales.

JUST GET IT OUT and focus on the area where sh*t matters 👊

Selling the idea

You might be thinking:

"How do you even start selling without a product?"

Without an initial product, you're selling what the app WOULD do for the user. How it can make their life easier.

It involves a bit of storytelling. And a touch of optimism and luck ✨

That's where having a strong foundation behind the app MATTERS.

Make the VALUE PROPOSITION dead simple, and repeat it to yourself over and over again.

YOU need to really really believe it. Or else, it shows when you talk about it.

For viralviews, it's simply this:

Save time by having all industry-relevant, trending social media content in one place. Strategize your next posts accordingly 👏

Doesn't work out in your initial outreach?

Tweak and repeat.

3. Find your territory

Define your ideal user and customer.

Find where they hang out. Dial down in that space 10X.

For most B2B software, I imagine it's a mix of Twitter and LinkedIn.

☝️ Reddit seems to be a good place for discussion as well.

After every focus working session, I'd dedicate a time block to reach out to as many industry professionals as possible.

I'm talking about 50-100 REALISTIC connection requests a day.

Then again...

No level of sales skills will help when you're selling where there is no demand.

So find where you're getting the most traction, and do your due diligence. No way around it when you're just starting out.

Conclusion

This was definitely the first time where I've been able to sell a software product so quickly.

But following this approach... the hard engineering work comes AFTER getting the user.

The benefit is, you're able to work with the users to mold the EXACT app that they want.

Can't ask for much more than having users who believe in you 😁