It's a huge milestone to complete and launch version 1 of your app. But is it time to pop the champagne? For most startups, the real challenge begins once their product is out in the world. Some founders assume that if you build it, they will come—but the truth is, without proper planning and budget allocated for post-launch activities, growth can stall.
At the same time, if you were hoping to use your product launch to attract investment, the bar for what will pique VC interest has gotten much higher. While there was a time that Angel investors might routinely invest in just an idea, more recently they want to see validation before they'll write a check. Unless you have a proven track record as a founder, even building v1 of your product isn't that interesting to many investors until you can show traction.
Let's look at 9 key steps you can take to set up your product (and company) for growth, investability, and success.
I used to live near the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach and the first time I went to see a comedy show there, I was surprised when Jay Leno came on stage as an unlisted opening act. It turns out that for years, while he was the host of The Tonight Show, he would show up almost every week with a stack of jokes written on index cards to test out in front of a small audience before including them on The Tonight Show. He would rapid-fire read through them and make two piles of cards – ones that got a laugh and ones that didn’t. Anything that didn't get a chuckle, didn't make the show.
Learning from failure is great, but it's much safer to fail in front of a small audience than on a big stage, so consider starting with a limited release before you plan a huge media campaign around your new product. This allows you to learn and iterate rapidly without the pressure of a full-scale launch. A limited release helps you identify potential issues, gather early feedback, and make improvements before exposing your product to a larger user base. This approach can significantly increase your chances of success when you decide to expand.
Once your product is in the hands of real users, you’ll start getting invaluable insights. Listen to what your users are saying—whether it's praise, complaints, or suggestions. Set up channels for feedback, like in-app surveys, social media monitoring, and customer interviews. Then, prioritize improvements based on how impactful they are for user experience. Balancing quick wins with deeper structural improvements will help you iterate effectively.
Once you have users, you need to understand how they interact with your product. Defining key metrics is critical. Whether it’s daily active users (DAU), retention rates, conversion rates, or customer satisfaction, figure out which metrics truly represent your product’s success and use them as your North Star. Monitoring these metrics will help you spot trends, identify pain points, and validate hypotheses about your product. To do this effectively, you need to build in analytics pre-launch. If you don't integrate an analytics platform and instrument your app to capture key events before you launch, you'll be flying blind.
Don’t assume that the version you launch with will be your “MVP.” In fact, you should expect to get it wrong out of the gate. While you need to have a hypothesis about what will be viable, it's not until you show that real users will adopt your product that you can claim to have an MVP.
Ultimately your product should be a living, evolving solution that gets better over time. Based on user feedback and performance metrics, you'll need to start working on v1.1 or v2.0. Fix bugs, refine features, and consider adding the features your early users are asking for the most. Early on it’s important to maintain a culture of continuous learning to make sure you stay on track to finding product-market fit.
Early adopters can become your biggest advocates. Start building a community around your product, whether it’s through social media, discussion forums, or events. These early users are valuable not only for their feedback but also for word-of-mouth marketing. Engage with them authentically and make them feel like they’re part of your journey.
To grow your user base, you need to invest in marketing and advertising. You don’t want to spend all of your funds getting to the starting line only to realize you have nothing left to put gas in the tank to attract users and customers. Start by identifying your target audience—who are the people most likely to benefit from your product, and where can you reach them? Experiment with different marketing channels to see what resonates best, including:
Establishing a clear marketing strategy will help you reach new users and generate awareness. Remember to align your messaging with the value propositions that appeal most to your current users, and use analytics to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. Don't be afraid to iterate and refine your marketing approach based on what works.
You’ve attracted users—now it’s time to make sure they stick around. The metrics you added in Step #3 are critical to understanding where users drop off and where they are most engaged.
Improve your onboarding process to help new users understand your product's value as quickly as possible. A well-thought-out onboarding flow can significantly improve retention. Build in ways to re-engage users who drop off, like push notifications, email reminders, tutorials, or even direct outreach to understand why they churned.
Pre-optimizing for scale can be a trap, but once you’ve latched onto a bit of success it’s important to have done some planning for how you’ll support success and growth. Is your infrastructure ready? Do you need to adjust your pricing strategy? Should you start building partnerships or exploring new marketing channels? Do you need to hire people in Customer Support? Growth requires planning and coordination, and laying the groundwork early helps ensure you’re prepared for the challenges that come with scaling up.
Finally, take some time to reflect on your long-term vision. Does the feedback align with what you originally intended? Are there new opportunities or directions you hadn’t considered before? Adjusting your roadmap based on what you’ve learned from v1 will keep you nimble and focused on solving the right problems.
From the outside looking in, many successful software products seem like their success was inevitable and the journey from conception to where they are today was straightforward. The truth is that the mature products you know and love as a customer often look nothing like what the founders initially envisioned. Very few businesses, if any, launch version 1 of their product to instant success. The journey after launch is all about learning, iterating, and growing. By actively listening to users, tracking your metrics, and refining your product, you set the stage for a successful v2 and beyond.
