Some background: I previously built and sold a Chrome extension that reached 30k users, and created an open source tool with around 150 stars and 11k downloads that's been adopted by companies like Goldman Sachs.
I'm now building qoery.com. The product is functional but not fully polished. I have 60 sign-ups but no paying customers yet. The feedback I'm getting from existing users is "improve the product and we'll pay."
I've spent the last two weeks iterating heavily on the product based on this feedback. It's significantly better now, but growth has completely stagnated during this time.
So I'm facing a dilemma: should I keep iterating based on user feedback until I convert those first users to paid customers? Or should I shift focus to customer acquisition and try to find users who might pay for what exists today?
Looking for advice from founders who've been through this.
BinaryIgor•2mo ago
The users that you have but are not paying: what they're complaining about or find a lack of? Are there any emergent patterns? Or everybody wants basically something completely different?
SamTinnerholm•2mo ago
This is brilliant advice. I'll email my users to find out.
bob1029•2mo ago
I would find the customers who are willing to get dirty with you (screen shares, phone calls, etc)., and work only with those people until they are happy paid customers. Having a free tier almost seems like a bad idea for this product from my perspective. I'd want to interview my customers and pick carefully at first.
SamTinnerholm•2mo ago
Hi Bob,
I see what you're saying. Stay laser-focused on potential enterprise customers, and iterate with them until they pay.
SamTinnerholm•2mo ago
I'm now building qoery.com. The product is functional but not fully polished. I have 60 sign-ups but no paying customers yet. The feedback I'm getting from existing users is "improve the product and we'll pay."
I've spent the last two weeks iterating heavily on the product based on this feedback. It's significantly better now, but growth has completely stagnated during this time.
So I'm facing a dilemma: should I keep iterating based on user feedback until I convert those first users to paid customers? Or should I shift focus to customer acquisition and try to find users who might pay for what exists today?
Looking for advice from founders who've been through this.
BinaryIgor•2mo ago
SamTinnerholm•2mo ago
bob1029•2mo ago
SamTinnerholm•2mo ago
I see what you're saying. Stay laser-focused on potential enterprise customers, and iterate with them until they pay.