📰 Viral Nova

When you hear about a success, it’s usually talked about in a bubble. It can even seem as if someone stumbled onto some luck and got rich over night.

What you rarely hear about is the grind that led to the outcome. The countless hours and previous experiences that made it all possible.

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably someone who wants financial freedom. That’s why you’re drawn to a one-person operation that can create that independence.

So, for the first time, I’m lowering my guard and opening up. Seven years later, I’ve realized that I learned so many valuable lessons from the dramatic highs and lows of Viral Nova… and I want to share them with you.

Take my experiences and use them to fast track your own success.

This is the untold backstory of Viral Nova. I hope you enjoy.

Before Viral Nova It turns out, I did exist before Viral Nova exploded. A lot of traditional journalists, seething with jealousy, treated me like a bad writer who got lucky. I wasn’t really ever bullied in my life until I came face to face with the New York elite media.

The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.

The very best startup ideas tend to have three things in common: they're something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all began this way.

Problems

Why is it so important to work on a problem you have? Among other things, it ensures the problem really exists. It sounds obvious to say you should only work on problems that exist. And yet by far the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.

I made it myself. In 1995 I started a company to put art galleries online. But galleries didn't want to be online. It's not how the art business works. So why did I spend 6 months working on this stupid idea? Because I didn't pay attention to users. I invented a model of the world that didn't correspond to reality, and worked from that. I didn't notice my model was wrong until I tried to convince users to pay for what we'd built. Even then I took embarrassingly long to catch on. I was attached to my model of the world, and I'd spent a lot of time on the software. They had to want it!

Why do so many founders build things no one wants? Because they begin by trying to think of startup ideas. That m.o. is doubly dangerous: it doesn't merely yield few good ideas; it yields bad ideas that sound plausible enough to fool you into working on them.

ProductHunt
ProductHunt doesn’t seem to be as effective anymore. We still utilize it as it doesn’t cost a lot of time. I believe everyone should do it, but I also know this is why it’s not as effective. The saturation of people using it makes it less effective. Take time to interact with people before you launch. Find friends and build a network, help people, and they’ll help you get to first place. Many people write that they can get you to first place. Some of these are probably truthful, but most are scammers, so don’t fall for it. Status of the ProductHunt launch We had a huge swing in traffic from the ProductHunt launch. However, it was short-lived. Most people didn't stay, and it was unsuccessful. ProductHunt is an oversaturated marketing channel, and thus, competing in the ProductHunt arena is not easy, and there are a lot of bots, too. I would not recommend spending time on ProductHunt in 2024.

AppSumo/BetaListen
AppSumo, also known as BetaListen, is a software directory that’s not as effective as it previously was. You can apply for it for free and it does not cost a lot of time. It is saturated mainly due to an influx of many people, making its effectiveness sub-standard, which is the opposite of what it once was. You can also find friends and build a network of people that will help you get to first place. Be wary of scammers trying to pull a fast one on you with such claims and promises. Status We're in talks with AppSumo to release it there. They even contacted us, most likely from watching some of our content on Twitter or YouTube.

For consumer-facing products or services, one of the best places for that to happen is Starbucks. I call it “the Starbucks Test”: grab your laptop, set up shop at a Starbucks table, and approach someone in line. Offer to buy their coffee in exchange for their time. The deal? They listen to your two-minute pitch and spend a few more minutes discussing their thoughts with you. Do this 20 times, and in a few hours, for about $100, you’ll gain priceless insights. Chances are it will be even more cost effective than that, since you’ll probably get all the answers you need after just a few conversations. The key is asking the right questions. Skip the generic “What do you think?” Instead, ask pointed questions like: • “After hearing that pitch, tell me: What does our company do?” • “How does the service work?” • “Who might use this, and for what purpose?” • “Would you want to use it? Why? For what?” The answers to these questions will reveal the clarity of your messaging, as well as your future customers’ pain points, needs, and desires.