One of the things I see a lot of people screw up on is trying to get "traction" and buzz and virality going BEFORE they actually have something that is fully functional in people's hands. Seems to me that if your buzz dies out before the product is actually ready to be used in it's basic form...you're screwed.
No, this is probably the only thing they did right. Getting early traction is important for many reasons.
- It gives you an opportunity to get early feedback from people interested in your product. If you can get an email you can talk to your users.
- It gives you some early KPIs and a limited, but important understanding of acquisition channels. If you can't find any one who is interested in your product as a concept, how will you get users?
- It motivates companies to get products out earlier.
- It helps when talking to investors to mention that you have 1,000 people on a waiting list.
I agree though, you always need to get the product to market.
I get your point, but I think that if you're consumer focused, and your app doesn't actually do it's core function when you start drumming up hype, you're screwed. Consumers have a low attention span and want instant gratification. You may only have that once chance to get them hooked, and a beta sign up list has pretty low engagement rates. If they hear about the hype, find a beta sign up page, and bounce, you've lost them.
