How We Went From Being Virtually Unknown to 3k Signups a Day in 5 Weeks | Hacker News Reader

How We Went From Being Virtually Unknown to 3k Signups a Day in 5 Weeks

dshipper.posterous.com

10 pointsdshipper11 comments

I still can't work out what it actually does, and why I would want to join.

Is there information anywhere about why I should be interested?

Having visited http://wheremyfriends.be/ I gues it draws an animated map of where it thinks my Facebook friends are currently located.

Is that it?

Yup that's what it is. It's a simple app to draw your friends on a map.

It's great to hear someone gets excited about being featured on Mashable but that's only a nice start. The press buzz quickly goes down and so does the fresh stream of users. Here is where the real test begins: if the startup is able to keep the users and make more of them sign up.

I agree that this coverage is only the beginning, but it seems that they're riding an extended wave of signups rather than just a quick burst. A week long stretch of 3k new users/day is an encouraging start. I truly hope that the virality they've built into the app will help sustain the growth a bit longer.

I don't think viral effects alone will be enough to turn the project into a sustainable startup however. The current value proposition of "see how worldly you are" doesn't have me reaching for my wallet anytime soon.

I would have to say Dan, Ajay, and I all agree. After reading blogs and articles (including a great one from Fred Wilson) we know growth comes in step-wise functions. Press coverage/big-story etc will spike growth, then it will level it down a bit. The better the value proposition, the less it will drop. Also we understand that sites with features get viral bumps, and it is up to the entrepreneur to keep building and keep them their for a sustained business (i.e. Instagram).

All that said, WhereMyFriends.Be was truly a fun web app that we wanted to put out there. We made it for ourselves to see if we could do it, then when we thought other people would enjoy it we started making it public and releasing it. As of now, we still have no intention of making it into a sustainable business [unless any of you have any suggestions...]. We are just looking to have a little fun, and give people a fun thing to play with.

I think that is the most important question. How many, or rather what percentage of the free users stayed on 2 weeks after the article?

How much other press did you get? When i look at at site (and a lot of Gen Y) I look for at least 3-4 pieces of "social proof"...Mashable would definitely be one, but i am looking for a handful other before i "buy".

If i were you i would use the Mashable effect to parlay it into more press at other small/medium size outlets, That is how you could really get the most value out of the hit.

That's an interesting story, but it has little value to entrepreneurs, unless there's a lot more to the story. How did you go from unknown to 3K signups? You got listed on Mashable. That's it?

While I can see where you are coming from I don't think that our success boils down to "just getting listed on Mashable." We didn't just snap our fingers and one day get on Mashable. We had to come up with an idea, design it, execute it and promote it. All of those factors played into our being featured. Once featured we also had to make sure the servers stayed up, deal with users and try to help spread the app further. And all of those factors will be described in detail in forthcoming posts - I thought it would be relevant and interesting to give some of the back story first.

I didn't mean to judge you precipitously. Will now withhold judgement until Part 2 ships. :-)

wheres the rest of the story? i was soo into in lol! really good writing

Part two comes tomorrow!

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