Making TalkNotes.io

30 August 2023

I was waiting to get unblocked from Facebook to run ads, and instead of doing nothing I decided to work on an app idea I had for a while. Turn out it did well!

Got the idea when trying to use Google Docs audio transcription, but it sucked. So, I made a quick prototype, then soft-launched TalkNotes.io on Twitter:

Then, I added it to every single startup repertory I could find. I don't even made a list, I just checked competitors backlinks + google + some I knew and spend 2 hours filling forms.

Ended up with 1000 users from that + Twitter:

I also quickly redesigned the landing page to focus on sales instead of free signups. It directly increased the $

Then I got super sick and was completely unable to work for a week. Still recovering. Made $1500 of sales in total. Not incredible but not bad, I think there is potential so I'll focus on it.

Now, my problem is to figure out how to go past the "launch" phase. That's my #1 issue. I think I kinda nailed it, I know how to launch products fast & make a couple of bucks from it, but that's it, it stops there after.

So, this is what I will focus on now. Learning to grow for the long-term game. My priorities for now are:

• SEO
• Ads
• ???

03/09/2023

Sales went down.

I'm a bit stuck, because I don't want to launch on ProductHunt without the feature users request (Longer audio + Mobile app) but this feature is super complex, and I'm not sure it would fit the scope of the app.

I'll need to talk with current users to see if:

• I integrate the feature directly into the app, even if it is a different workflow
• or if I create a new app specifically for longer audio

I feel the target audience is different, so it would kinda make sense to make 2 apps, but also it would divide all marketing efforts by 2.

I definitely feel lost.

08/09/2023

September was brutal, sales completely plummeted. Spent lots of time looking for strategies and other solutions. After a couple of days, I realized...

What a complete moron I am. I spent months learning about sales & cold outreach back in my early days. I even started with that when I made the first version of Galeby.

Yet, I haven't though of doing it for one second for any of my apps since then.

Direct sales are an amazing way to get feedback quickly.

Not sure how TalkNotes fits with that, but I'll investigate.

13/09/2023

Managed to get a few sales back. Mainly because I was mentioned on a big account on LinkedIn and I ran ads. Ads started decently but completely plummeted.

Until now, I have been doing direct sales. People HAD to pay to access the app even tho there is a free version.

I'm changing that to free signup, then show a paywall popup when people try to use a premium feature.

Let's see how it goes!

15/09/2023

Damn, that was stressful.

I ended up having TONS of free signups, but it completely killed sales. I swapped back to the paid model. Users now see the popup when they try to click the main call to action.

I managed to get $26MRR so far, yay!

But that's kind of terrible lol, at $11/month I'd need 100 people to reach $1000 MRR, that's ridiculous. The order of magnitude to sell a $10 and $50 product is not that different, so it's terribly inefficient. I'm going to focus on adding more value to create a $50/month plan.

I was able to identify good ideas by talking with customer, so, I'll start with that.

23/11/2023

Well, I haven't posted any update for a while now! Main reason is that I use Talknotes for journaling, and it's honestly not very interesting, just regular day-to-day operations

I'll publish all my notes one day

But in the meantime, I reached $2000 MRR last week, this is huge!!

I published tips about growing MRR here. But here is a summary:

Honestly, most of what I did to reach the first $500 MRR is also what brought me to $2000 MRR

• Adding the app to tons of directories (anything with a DR above 10 on ahref = I add) -** Optimzing the landing page** (I tweaked the copy/design based on feedback I received)
• Using Canny to track people's feature requests and making almost every requested feature
• Obviously, not giving up.

Now, what REALLY made a difference is obviously ProductHunt launch. I ended up #1 product of the day and went from $500 to $2000 in less than a month.

I wrote some tips here:

One thing I'm very happy about is that I managed to "unlink" the growth from my Twitter.

By that, I mean that even if I don't post on Twitter, the app keep growing, because most of the traffic come from Facebook & Google.

It's better because if I want to sell it one day, it's not tied to me, so better deal for the buyer.

Right now I'm focusing on writing good content about Brainstorming using AI, since I saw it was the #1 use case

Next steps: Improving my advertising game and seeing if I can scale it.

02/08/2024

I just sold Talknotes for $200,000 ! I will publish the whole notes soon