in a very crowded market back in 2016...

They broke even 60 days after launching to an email list of 2,400 early advocates.

How?

This posts explains...



There's a famous saying I remember from somewhere...

If you want to get someone to like you... do you do something for them? Or ask them to do something for you?

Always ask them to do something for you.

We'll come back to this later...

Most SaaS companies will throw up a prelaunch landing page, collect a grand total of 71 emails addresses through spamming the link around the internet and a failed Product Hunt launch.

They then announce the "the big reveal" by email on launch day and maybe get 1-2 people sign up as free users.

This is how NOT to throw a prelaunch party.


on the other hand... know how to host a party.

Here's what they did right:

1. 8 months before launch...

set up a landing page that simply shared the vision for their product with an email capture form.

2. Their CEO Shawn Finder focused heavily on LinkedIn:

He created content detailing the
vision, product strategy, and roadmap and connected with influencers in the space.

Slowly building up an audience and network in the sales automation space.

But here's the masterstroke...

3. Engage advocates with the roadmap

Shawn brought these people into the prelaunch party by:

- Sending surveys to understand their problem
- Jumped on calls with customers to talk further and gain their input into the product roadmap
- Sent videos showing each new feature built and asking for feedback

"Imagine having a building and you're going floor by floor as you're building it... we made our early subscribers feel like they built the product with us." - Shawn Finder, Autoklose Founder

Remember... the more people do things for you, the more likely they are to like you, tell their friends about you on LinkedIn... and buy your SaaS.

2,400 people signed up to the email list and they and ended up booking 100 demo's on launch day.

Shawn had 4 of his friends take a week off work to perform the demo's, a couple of them quit their job to join full time and they broke even 60 days later...

What did we learn?

To get someone to like you (buy your SaaS), ask them to do something for you.