Last week I had the pleasure of catching up with Ross Nochumowitz Founder of Betapunch.com.His two and half month old beta user acquisition start-up is “On Fire!” He has rapidly acquired 355 early adopters or beta users willing to play around with an software applications before the general public knows about them. A beta user is a necessary component in the Lean start-up movement. Beta users define the product’s validity. Beta users constructive feedback on the customer’s first user experiences to the site and suggest improvements. They help correct work flow bugs. In the early stages of a start ups Minimal Viable Product or MVP, the early adopters give critical feed back that shapes how the products look and feel. Beta users are most useful in determining if there is solid market viability and confirmation. Why waste huge amounts of time building a product no one wants? Betapunch is an platform where startups gain those valuable insights.
In a very short amount of time in addition to acquiring multiple users. Ross has also been able to effective draw in approximately 112 start ups to put their MVP in his shelf and bravely ask for feedback. He has been able to do this with very little advertising, a reddit ad listed Here and marketing part time with use of broadcasting giant, Twitter.
Here is an excerpt from our Interview:
Time to Pivot: How easy is it for a start up company or a few guys with an idea to test their new product and to sign up with you? Are they required to have a minimum viable product or meet some kind of minimal checklist? Do you require a Explanation Video or minimum amount of pages on their website?
Betapunch: No, Nothing like that. Just go to my website and sign up and fill out the screens. However, Having great design and a nice looking website are a must to pique user curiosity.
Time To Pivot: I looked at your website (which is elegant by the way) and see a two sided market issue. Which is harder to acquire? Signing up New start-ups or finding quality beta testers to give them honest feedback in a timely way?
Betapunch: Finding the start-ups is easier, that’s for sure. With hundreds of start-ups launching every day they need every bit of promotion or exposure they can get. I’m getting between 5 and 10 signups a day!
I feel that in order to gain high quality beta users you need to reward them and incentivize them. I am rolling out compensation that will be more clear very shortly. See the discussion pages on the site. We wanted to create a friendly competition to drive feedback comments.
Time To Pivot: How much time are you spending on this project a week?
Betapunch: About two or three hours a day. I wish I had more time to reach out to more start ups on twitter.
Time To Pivot: Do you cater to the bootstrapped entrepreneur or want venture funded start ups displaying their products are your site?
Beta punch: Both I don’t discriminate. Any Start up that wants great feedback should sign up. It’s a very easy process.
Time To Pivot: What would you say your biggest value proposition is to the inspiring start up?
Beta punch: Very cost effective customer acquisition. We can track the clicks we send to their sites. With so many start ups launching they can build a product over a startup weekend and get feedback by the following Thursday or Friday. We have some applications really seeing some great traction. Two that come to mind are Utellit and Dvour. Utellit is a mobile app for social voice messaging Dvour is a beautiful way to share recipes app. Our beta users are really engaging with their products and leaving tremendous feedback for the founders. Check them out!
Time To Pivot: I know I totally tried Utellit and love it. I’m trying to land an interview with one of the founders next week. Hey Ross, thanks for taking the time this evening to speak with me on your outstanding new platform. I wish you the best of luck and I will beta testing some of the new applications. Check this link for my beta test review of Betapunch.com.
Personally I found Beta Testing to be a lot of fun and a great place to learn about new products. Sign up with Betapunch and help shape the products of tomorrow.