More than one year ago I founded together with a friend of me a company
named FlirtSmart. In this blog I would like to share a number of lessons I have
learned from this venture.
FlirtSmart (www.flirtsmart.com) is a mobile application to flirt with interesting people around you. Based on the users’ profiles and personal preferences a match percentage is determined between the FlirtSmart users. The match percentage helps you find other users that are interesting for you. One can use the radar or scan your surroundings using augmented reality to see where the matches are and check out their profile to see if it’s an interesting match and use the chat function to start interacting.
Due to the network effect (the application is only relevant when there are sufficient users within a specific location/proximity), it was paramount for us to create a buzz around the product launch. At the time of the launch we immediately needed a large amount of users, only then the application would be relevant. The complication was that we did not have any budget to spend on marketing at the time.
We needed to focus on a specific geography and chose the Netherlands (our home market) to roll out the product first. Because we had no marketing budget, we needed to be creative. Our only chance was to leverage free publicity to its full extent. Two days before the launch we started to approach bloggers, blogs and journalists from news websites. We told them that we were a startup that could revolutionize the way people date, meaning that our application could truly change the way people date.
To our surprise two days later many articles were published all over the web, talking about our new company. The media believed our (exaggerated) story that our product was much more than just a “new” application. Within 1 day we had more than 5000 new users without any marketing expenditure (except for the time we spend to spread the word). These 5000 users (primarily located in Amsterdam) were sufficient to make the product work. Users could immediately after the launch see thousands of profiles of the people around them. Most blogs and website articles linked to our webpage or the Youtube video. Without any SEO (there was no budget) we managed to also increase our exposure at Google right from the launch.
In my next blog I will write more about the lessons I learned regarding customer acquisition.
FlirtSmart (www.flirtsmart.com) is a mobile application to flirt with interesting people around you. Based on the users’ profiles and personal preferences a match percentage is determined between the FlirtSmart users. The match percentage helps you find other users that are interesting for you. One can use the radar or scan your surroundings using augmented reality to see where the matches are and check out their profile to see if it’s an interesting match and use the chat function to start interacting.
Due to the network effect (the application is only relevant when there are sufficient users within a specific location/proximity), it was paramount for us to create a buzz around the product launch. At the time of the launch we immediately needed a large amount of users, only then the application would be relevant. The complication was that we did not have any budget to spend on marketing at the time.
We needed to focus on a specific geography and chose the Netherlands (our home market) to roll out the product first. Because we had no marketing budget, we needed to be creative. Our only chance was to leverage free publicity to its full extent. Two days before the launch we started to approach bloggers, blogs and journalists from news websites. We told them that we were a startup that could revolutionize the way people date, meaning that our application could truly change the way people date.
To our surprise two days later many articles were published all over the web, talking about our new company. The media believed our (exaggerated) story that our product was much more than just a “new” application. Within 1 day we had more than 5000 new users without any marketing expenditure (except for the time we spend to spread the word). These 5000 users (primarily located in Amsterdam) were sufficient to make the product work. Users could immediately after the launch see thousands of profiles of the people around them. Most blogs and website articles linked to our webpage or the Youtube video. Without any SEO (there was no budget) we managed to also increase our exposure at Google right from the launch.
In my next blog I will write more about the lessons I learned regarding customer acquisition.
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