#24 Weekly Dan — Good Product Fallacy

Marketing is a scapegoat

Hello there

This is the #24 Issue of Weekly Dan.

Ready to become a better Maker?

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Every Tuesday, I share an actionable essay for Indie Entrepreneurs.

Today let’s talk about good products.

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False affirmation

Products are like children:

No matter how ugly they are, you will think they’re beautiful if they’re yours.

If I got $1 every time Founders said they have a good product, I would be too rich to write this newsletter. But not to stop shitposting on Twitter.

Seriously, first-time Makers are obsessed with their products. From the landing page to the first session. Their product value is beyond humans’ comprehension.

At the end of the day, word of mouth starts from Founders. So let’s repeat one more time, “I have a good product”.

But is it a good thing to do?

No. Absolutely not.

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Earning the title

There are three reasons why this mindset is harmful to your business.

• Less focus on improvement. Why would you spend weeks on customer research and building new features if the product is already good? It’s already perfect.

• Marketing is a scapegoat. Product quality is not the problem; we just need more website visitors. The money will come once they try the product.

• Risk of overconfidence. The product is already good, so we should broader our target audience. We are ready for the mass market.

Here is the harsh truth.

You should treat your products as mediocre at best. Just an average one.

Forget about having a “good product” before the product-market fit.

Was Notion a great product in the first year? Absolutely not, but it’s now.

The same goes with Miro, Slack, Airtable, Webflow, ConvertKit, or any product that is considered good now.

Products can’t peak in the first months. That’s why it took them years of customer discovery and adding valuable features.

They were not born as a good products. They earned this title.

So your and mine products are not good. Let’s hope they are not too below average, either.

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Long term game

“Dan, thank you for ruining my day. Any tips, or that’s it?”

Glad that you’ve asked.

If your product doesn’t have a product-market fit, do this.

If you are not sure do you have a product-market fit or no, then you definitely don’t have a product-market fit. Sorry.

1. Build a better product

   1. Talk to paying customers to understand what value is crucial for them

   2. Talk to users with relevant problems to understand what value is missing

   3. Build at least one BIG feature every 1-3 months

   4. Optimize the User Experience of the first session to lose fewer customers

   5. Get as much honest (and brutal) feedback as possible

2. Do marketing with clear and high ROI

   1. Drop brand awareness marketing campaigns

   2. Don’t do SEO before you’ve validated the product idea

   3. Create the content on the platforms that are growing

   4. Nail one acquisition channel before going to the second one

   5. Focus on creating an irresistible experience for early adopters

3. Change your mindset

   1. Stop saying that you have a good product

   2. Don’t get offended if someone criticizes your product

   3. Don’t build a product for yourself

   4. Enjoy positive testimonials more

   5. Be more humble

Improving the average product is better than being blinded by the “good product”.

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That’s it!

Mind to give me some feedback?

And see you on Friday with the usual 5 golden nuggets for Indie Makers.

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Absolutely not a CTA 🙃

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2) Let me roast your landing page.

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