Ask HN: Chicken and Egg issue, getting some feedback/traction? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Chicken and Egg issue, getting some feedback/traction?

How do you guys go about getting initial traction for your product? How many users do you usually get when doing so (if you post on Hn, for example). I'm finding this is the barrier to moving forward after building a good product.

I thought we could use this post to each discuss different methods for bringing in users initially without spending much if any money, and doing so in an ethical way.

Ideas such as contests, twitter, etc. What have you guys done? and What is a good # of users to start with to get over the "chicken or egg" hump?

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I've been thinking through the same problem recently, and while I don't have any good suggestions myself, I did find the following particularly helpful, perhaps you will too:

http://blogs.balsamiq.com/product/2008/08/05/startup-marketi... (hacker news discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=267639)

Feedback and traction are 2 different things. For feedback: directly contact people in the sector which your product is intended to serve. Send people whom you respect in the industry an email and ask them for their thoughts.

Getting 'initial traction' is likely about not losing interest while waiting for 'real traction', and being confident that your product/service accomplishes it's core function/value very well. Someone correct me if I am wrong: traction is measured in gaining popularity ( increasing users, or sales at an increasing rate ).

great response. thanks! do you find it okay to email people in the industry for their thoughts on an idea your planning on building? is this considered an ok email etiquette practice?

Some people emailed me back.

Not one person emailed me back to say I was not following etiquette standards.

This question has come up repeatedly here recently. Here is a link to where I gathered links to a few previous discussions. This is the third time I have posted this in a, say, the past week. So if search the site, you might get lots more info:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2126209

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