How to Hit 4 million Users in 6 months – A Startup Case Study

How to Hit 4 million Users in 6 months – A Startup Case Study(startupremarkable.com)

60 points by joelg87 13 years ago | 17 comments

xxbondsxx 13 years ago |

Open graph spamming, arbitrary rewards for inviting your friends, Facebook ads, cross-promotion, SEO... sounds exactly like Zynga.

Seriously though, hopefully this well shed some light on why Zygna uses the techniques they are known for -- they work. Amazingly well. Anyone who spends time in this industry discovers that pretty quickly. And it's really hard for upper management to see those upward kinks in the graph and say "please stop doing that."

The problem is that you have to become pushier and pushier over time and this leads to a slippery slope.

justjimmy 13 years ago | |

I don't think inviting your friends and get a reward should be tied to Zynga (and/or frowned upon) - this tactic has been used by many companies, ie: Dropbox. I personally like it.

It's Zynga's pay-to-win/continue concept that I have a problem with. That's the reason why I think Zynga is 'evil'.

bduerst 13 years ago | | |

Dropbox offers more of a functional reward, vs. the more intangible, arbitrary rewards that Zynga offers.

arctangent 13 years ago | | |

That and using their size to rip off the designs of smaller companies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga#Intellectual_property_con...

diego 13 years ago |

This is a sperm telling you how to fertilize the egg. Swim fast, be fit, etc.

How about all the other companies who try the same (completely obvious) tactics and don't reach 4M users in 6 months?

donebizkit 13 years ago | |

Agreed. I found this article generic. Actually most articles of the like are. It would be more interesting to know how companies get their first 500 users.

pygorex 13 years ago | |

They must have had some other differentiator. Looking at the product's home page it looks like they had support from Nike and several well known football clubs to promote and legitimize the app:

http://iamplayr.com/

Now, obviously, they still had to build a compelling product and plan & execute a marketing strategy. They needed to be ready to succeed. Most people don't have a personal or professional network that includes access to decision-makers in large, influential organizations. Even so they still need to be prepared for that opportunity if and when their network expands.

adestefan 13 years ago | |

That's why if you're going to present this as a case study (which it is not) the title should be "How 'I Am Playr' Hit 4 Million Users in 6 Months - A Case Study."

howardvk 13 years ago | |

Hey Diego Thanks for the comment. In my opinion the reason 'other companies' don't hit reach 4M users in 6 months using the same tactics are: A) Their product just isn't good enough B) They may not have the marketing budget to spend on Facebook ads for the initial boost to help Viral marketing kick in

Hence why you haven't heard of them. Hope that helps Howard

powertower 13 years ago | |

As the saying goes, they are shit out of luck.

howardvk 13 years ago |

Hey Zabar Yeah although 4 million users is awesome, I totally appreciate that 4 million is nothing compared to Zynga who have 290 million MAU's (you'll see I refer to this in the blog post in 'caveats', bullet point 2 Cheers Howard

zabar 13 years ago |

Thanks for sharing!

What exactly is social in the game ?

On a side note, 4M users for a game in 6 months is great but not that extraordinary. Looking at successes like Draw Something and SongPop, from small developers too, it's more in the 50+M but it's in the mobile social space, not sure if I Am Playr is mobile or not.

ab_thomas 13 years ago | |

"4M users for a game in 6 months is great but not that extraordinary"

Seriously, you think that's not that extraordinary...

enjo 13 years ago | | |

I had the same reaction! For anyone who's actually attempted to grow anything, that traction is astounding. The draw-something's of the world did something that doesn't even register. It's so outrageous it doesn't even count.

Doing this effectively is absolutely remarkable all on its own.

zabar 13 years ago | | |

No it's not. Look at the appdata traffic http://www.appdata.com/apps/facebook/155727011143809-i-am-pl...

Around 150k daily active user, it's nice, especially for a first game, but with that you are not even in the top 300 of the facebook platform.

Keep in mind that games are very different from other products. You tend to have lots of them for a short amount of time, then they move to something else. It's not like a service like Dropbox where once acquire you have a very good retention.

rhizome 13 years ago | | |

It's the same logic as, "Lebron James totally sucks."

morefranco 13 years ago |

Great article! Thanks for sharing