Looks like we're about 7 days from being ready for public beta on socialmedian. 4200 alpha users have given us a ton of great feedback and have helped us ship more than 400 updates the past 4 months. Nervous and busy getting ready for the move from private to public. Or, should we wait for TC50?
the last question at the end is over whether to just launch next week when the product is *ready* or hold the launch for a month to launch at the TechCrunch50 conference....if they want us that is which is still tbd. we're discussing.
The rules for TechCrunch50 are that you must be a invite only leading up to their event. So, that would forbid us from opening up to the public next week as we'd like.
Historically these early-stage events (like Demo) have mostly been for benefit of startups that wouldn't otherwise have easy access to capital -- it gets them on the map with VC's. We don't really have that problem as we've turned away many VC offers thus far and have built socialmedian on a shoestring budget funded by myself, the washington post, and some leading angels. So, we'll probably just go beta next week and focus on the product and the userbase as we have been vs. the marketing events.
Hey ric, to be clear, not referring to whether to "launch" our beta on techcrunch, referring to whether to wait to launch it at their event in september for pre-launch co's.
From a purely promotional perspective, the next few weeks are pretty much dead time, with many bloggers and leaders on vacation. You don't necessarily need to wait because of bugs or inadequacy in the applications, but maybe in order to attract the most buzz. It all depends on how anxious you are to test the waters, of course. Either way, I am sure it will be a success.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I think we're ready to go and what the site needs most now is more users who can give us more feedback. They'll be mistakes for sure but we'll learn a lot and this is about getting the product right over time more than it is about splashy marketing events.
I say launch when you feel things are ready. Why compete for attention with so many other companies on the same day, when you could own a slow news day.
It's GO TIME. I agree with Calebelston. You'll be competing for attention during the event. You may stand out more during a slow period. And do you know any journalist worth their salt that ever takes a REAL vacation? They won't want to miss covering it.
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