These are good hints that have worked for us as well.

> whether or not the product is good or bad doesn’t even matter because getting users is the key

I feel this is true more now than it has ever been! Ideas used to be cheap, execution the bottleneck. Now execution (of product development) has sped up so much that distribution is the bottleneck.

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3dsnano 4 hours ago | parent [-]

agree with the premise here (distribution is hard; get users or die) BUT there's no better marketing than a GOOD product that brings people real VALUE

get a 1000 users to your site → 1% conversion → 10 users. if those 10 users have a shitty experience because the product SUCKS, then all of that effort getting them there was wasted.

the alternative is making a GOOD product that people actually WANT to use and can get EXCITED about. you keep it SMALL and work with a limited subset of people who are interested in what you have and are willing to try it in exchange for the PROMISE that it will bring them VALUE. if (and only if) you can truly deliver value for this small group, their excitement and optimism WILL radiate outward. from there, it's about surfing these small waves, paying close attention, and very carefully choosing bigger and bigger waves to surf.

as softwarians we MUST make GOOD products that people WANT to use!!!!! throwing away money on advertisements until you have anything GOOD is a waste of time and effort.

	▲	probst 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm all for word of mouth and things radiating out, but doesn't that need some viral factor of sorts that makes the product one that's shareable? We have customers raving about our product actually, and saying they would be incredibly sad should it go away, but are struggling to leverage that into further sales... Affiliate marketing _does_ work to an extent, and is a kind of rideable wave I suppose? Do you have concrete examples?