My AI Copywriting App Hit #1 On Product Hunt
I'm Alex, the brain behind Flipner, a groundbreaking venture in the AI copywriting space. I’m excited to tell you about my startup. Before Flipner, I dabbled in various startups across multiple domains, amassing a wealth of entrepreneurial wisdom. The eureka moment for Flipner occurred during the summer of 2023.
Picture Flipner as your pocket-sized AI copywriting ace. The lightbulb moment occurred as I experimented with GPT for content creation. Even though GPT is good at creating text, I've had trouble with writing long but empty content. Technically sound, yet lacking substance. This gap in meaningful content creation inspired the solution—injecting human insights into AI-generated texts.
Flipner is indispensable for anyone navigating the digital content realm—be it social media management, blogs, newsletters, or crafting unique articles. You feed it your scattered thoughts, whether through voice notes or text, and Flipner transforms them into polished articles, posts, or any textual content, tailored to your desired style and tone. Its convenience is unmatched; an idea pops into your head, you record or jot it down in Flipner, and voilà.
Flipner AI can cater to a broad spectrum of content creators: bloggers, professional scribes, journalists, and anyone engaged in academic or scientific writing. With the capability to adapt to various writing styles (presently 10, with plans for expansion), it's a versatile tool for any content creation need.
Flipner's public launch on February 1st was nothing short of spectacular. Making its debut on Product Hunt, it swiftly climbed to the #1 Product of the Day and secured the #2 spots both in the weekly round-up and the Artificial Intelligence category. Since it's too early to talk about money just three weeks after launching, we already have over 20 pieces of valuable feedback from our first users, which we have started to implement. The best is yet to come!
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I'm passionate about writing, and crafting everything from Facebook and LinkedIn posts to YouTube video scripts. Ideas flood my mind constantly, whether I'm working, strolling through the city, shopping, or exercising. To capture these fleeting thoughts, I've used whatever was at hand: smartphone notes, voice messages to myself, and the like.
However, this method proved cumbersome, often leading me to forget where I saved what. Additionally, as an enthusiast for testing various AI solutions, I sought a market solution that could not only preserve my ideas but also aid in generating polished texts. My "aha" moment came while using GPT for content creation.
Despite GPT's skill in creating text quickly, it sometimes produced content that was long but shallow. This realization sparked the inception of Flipner, aimed at addressing the shortcomings of existing AI text generators that, while technically proficient, tend to produce texts that feel mechanical and obscure the author's voice. Flipner maintains the author's dominance, with the AI serving merely to structure the author's thoughts, delivering their ideas in an enhanced format.
AI is often criticized for generating content that lacks originality and is viewed as incapable of fully substituting the human element. To address this issue, it's crucial to shift the perception of AI from being a replacement to a supportive asset.
The journey began with conversations with content creators across various fields. Nearly all emphasized the intellectual labor involved in writing and the importance of preserving the author's original thought and intent. This feedback underscored the demand for more than just a content generation tool; users needed a comprehensive system for organizing and refining their ideas.
Thus, the concept for a novel platform was born—a tool that not only aids in text production but also provides a repository for notes, thoughts, and voice messages. This platform would not only generate content but also allow users to curate it, managing styles and formats according to their preferences.
Crucially, it would reposition AI as a facilitator, using the user's input to produce content that remains true to their voice and vision. By transforming AI into an instrument for assembling content directly from the author's inputs, this platform would ensure authenticity, reflecting the unique perspective and insight of its users.
To validate this idea, I initially consulted friends and acquaintances about their note-taking habits and content creation processes. This exploration expanded to include a broader audience, culminating in extensive interviews with over 50 individuals from diverse fields such as blogging, journalism, and academia. These discussions helped to refine the concept, leading to the development of a prototype that addresses the needs and concerns of potential users.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
The journey to create the first version of our product spanned approximately seven months, encompassing both the validation of our market positioning hypothesis and the technical development of our system. I managed to gather a team of developers experienced in app creation, and together, we set out to build our platform.
As previously mentioned, our customer development phase revealed that the writing process for individuals extends beyond mere writing, starting from the collection of thoughts and ideas. Thus, Flipner distinguishes itself from other AI copywriting tools by aspiring to be a central hub for users such as bloggers, writers, and copywriters, aiming to simplify not only the act of writing but also the ideation process.
Our approach includes a three-step model:
- Capturing ideas in text or audio notes
- Organizing these notes within the hub for various tasks, and
- Using AI to produce finalized texts from these notes.
In the future, we intend to add a "write like me" function, allowing users to personalize the system's writing to match their own style.
In developing our Minimum Viable Product (MVP), we focused on incorporating basic features for all three steps: note-saving, management, and summarizing.
The decision was made to design the MVP interface to be as straightforward as possible, limiting the selection of a handful of languages and styles for text manipulation. A significant hurdle was ensuring accessibility on both web and mobile platforms to facilitate testing on mobile devices. Given the prolonged verification processes of Google Play and the App Store, we opted for a Progressive Web App (PWA) as a streamlined solution.
We also encountered difficulties with integrating payment systems, which experienced protracted authorization periods. This issue led to a one-week delay in Flipner's public debut. Although initially planned for January 25, we ultimately launched on a more auspicious date: February 1!
Describe the process of launching the business.
I aimed for a powerful launch for Flipner, not just by making the app publicly available, but by creating buzz around its release. I chose to launch on Product Hunt because the platform is frequented by a significant portion of our target audience, offering an opportunity for initial traction and user feedback.
The preparation phase, blending marketing strategies and technical development, lasted about three months. We began preparations in November, establishing a temporary marketing team of three to gear up for the launch. This process also significantly influenced the development of the Flipner website, which I had set up early on to gather leads for a waiting list.
We decided to adjust our positioning statements, create social media accounts for the brand, and prepare a series of creatives and videos.
For the creatives, we focused on the key functional features of the product. However, creating the video was more challenging. We had to fit all the system information into a 1.5-minute video without the possibility of hiring a professional editor, so we opted for a simple onboarding video featuring a "talking head," created using standard screen recording tools.
Additionally, we began building a community around the product by announcing our upcoming launch through a Coming Soon page on Product Hunt, gathering over 300 emails from interested users. Almost all our preparatory activities were cost-effective, except for purchasing a Premium subscription on LinkedIn. Given that the project was funded with personal resources, I did not plan to engage major influencers but tried to do everything on our own.
And it worked! On February 1st at 00:01 PST, I officially launched Flipner AI. The 24-hour launch on Product Hunt resulted in Flipner achieving:
- #1 Product of the Day
- #2 Product of the Week
- #2 Artificial Intelligence Tool of the Week
- 1,770+ votes
- 500 registrations
- Hundreds of feedback
- Dozens of additions to the backlog
- 4 interview requests
- Dozens of backlinks in various AI directories for free
The main lesson from this launch was that any success is the result of well-coordinated team effort and targeted preparation. Simply posting Flipner on Product Hunt without preparation might have placed it at a lower rank, without the boost in registrations and support we achieved. This success has led to further strategies for developing Flipner.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Since the launch occurred just a few weeks ago, it's too early to discuss user return rates. However, my strategy includes engaging in dialogue with all the active users who have purchased the app since its release.
Additionally, I aim to conduct targeted interviews with users to discuss the app's usability in detail. Furthermore, since Flipner's launch, we've gained over 4.7 thousand backlinks, and I plan to further increase this number by listing Flipner in various directories. Also, we've managed to feature in several newsletters at no cost, which has significantly boosted our registrations.
To enhance user retention and re-engagement, we're focusing on the continuous improvement of the platform and the introduction of new features. This includes broadening the range of supported languages, incorporating various styles and tones of voice (TOVs), and adding new integration capabilities.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
The forthcoming step for Flipner involves launching on a grand scale once again, but this time on the AppSumo platform. This platform has been highly recommended by numerous startup founders as a superb means for attracting more early adopters, achieving traction, and enhancing sales. Currently, I aim to make our debut on this platform by April.
Moreover, I'm looking to broaden our marketing strategies by engaging in partnership activities with bloggers, authors, copywriters, and others within our target demographic.
In the near term, another objective is to delve deeper into understanding a specific target group - journalists. Today, if you were to inquire about the utilization of artificial intelligence in their craft journalists or professional writers, approximately 80% might respond they do not use it.
The predominant reason is that AI, in its present form, is often criticized for generating content that lacks originality and is viewed as incapable of fully substituting the human element. To address this issue, it's crucial to shift the perception of AI from being a replacement to a supportive asset, underlining its utility in assisting individuals in crafting their unique ideas into coherent narratives.
I am keen to explore this approach further and alter the prevailing attitudes towards AI tools, testing whether this hypothesis is viable.
When creating the first version of a product, aim to keep it as simple as possible. In other words, don't overcomplicate things. Don't polish the product to a high shine, don't try to incorporate all the necessary features at once.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I would like to highlight three main issues or unexpected challenges that we encountered.
The first one pertains to the initial concept of our product. The original idea was to enable people to create text content purely by voice, using artificial intelligence. Imagine wanting to write an article and dictating to the AI for 3, 5, 10, or 15 minutes about the desired content.
Before implementing the product, we made a strategic decision to conduct several interviews with potential users and realized that the concept was not feasible. The reasons are as follows:
First, people find it difficult to record a long voice message for the AI, as it's quite challenging to articulate thoughts coherently in one attempt. Second, it's unclear how to make corrections to a lengthy recorded audio message. Third, people do not only want to record content with their voice; in certain situations, they also need to write text.
From these insights, we concluded that we need to create not just a system where a person can speak their text content but also a system that allows inputting short audio messages, arranging them in the desired order, and adding text notes. Based on these components, we can then generate a complete content piece or a full-text article for the user.
The second issue we've encountered, which remains unresolved, involves the significant noise in the information about products designed for AI-based content creation. There are numerous such products that generate content, making it challenging to stand out.
However, it's important to note that we don't generate content. Instead, we transform a person's thoughts, the bearer of knowledge, into text. Highlighting our unique features in a market saturated with similar text-generating products is a complex task for us.
The third issue we encountered was a technical one. Fundamentally straightforward, we still stumbled upon it. The problem lies in the fact that we didn't thoroughly plan before launching our product.
Specifically, we didn't give enough thought to the onboarding process for our users. It's not that we didn't consider it at all, but rather, we neglected it. We overlooked the importance of explaining to our users how the product works.
Consequently, after the launch, we faced a significant wave of users who didn't understand the product, resulting in them not properly testing it.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
Speaking of the solutions we use, it's worth mentioning first and foremost that our website is built using Webflow. The system itself is proprietary, developed by our team but based on the OpenAI API. As for the billing system, we decided to use LemonSqueezy. For analytics, we use Google Analytics, Semrush, and Hotjar, and we are currently in the process of integrating a system for product analytics.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I can say that, like any entrepreneur, I constantly find inspiration in the materials published on TechCrunch. As for books, my top picks are "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Launching a product is a journey filled with learning and adaptation. Based on my experience, I'd like to share three pieces of advice that I believe are crucial for anyone embarking on this path.
1) Consistent communication.
The first thing that needs to be done consistently, regularly, and without any laziness, is to communicate with your audience, your target users, and those who are involved in or could potentially use the product. It's crucial to constantly converse with them. This means conducting interviews with them, a process is known as CustDev, to learn about their pains and problems, and to find out why they use the product or why they don't.
Essentially, this is the main principle that will allow you to build a product that people need. Alternatively, if during the interviews you find out that people don't need the product, it will save you time and money as you won't end up creating a product that is not needed.
2) Simplicity in the first version.
When creating the first version of a product, aim to keep it as simple as possible. In other words, don't overcomplicate things. Don't polish the product to a high shine, don't try to incorporate all the necessary features at once, and don't strive to make it perfect, cool, big, and impressive right from the start.
Your task is to create a minimum viable product (MVP) that meets a few criteria. First, it should solve the problem it's designed to address. Second, it should be at least somewhat pleasant and convenient to use. And third, it should function well enough, but it's okay if it has a few bugs. If your product has bugs and it's essentially a startup, your initial users will forgive you.
3) Product beyond code.
Lastly, always remember that a product is not just code, not merely a programmer's code wrapped in an interface. A product is, in many ways, also about marketing channels. These channels are how you attract your target audience to this product. It's about the messages and the communication that you broadcast to your target audience through these advertising channels. This aspect of the product is often overlooked by founders with a technical background.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
At the moment, I'm not planning to expand the team until we fully test the MVP of our platform to determine the next steps. However, we are looking for those willing to test our solution and share feedback.
Even if you're not a writer, but rather a founder of your own project, Flipner can be useful for you in capturing ideas for your pitch deck, for example.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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