[Part 5] $0 to $10k MRR: The Marketing Strategy (+117 ideas to grow traffic)
2 main growth pillars, doing stuff that doesn't scale, and a look at the traffic numbers
Hey friends,
Welcome to part 5 of my $0 to $10k MRR series.
If you are new to SaaS Decoded, or haven’t yet heard of the $0 to $10k MRR series, you can find the first four parts listed below.
![[Part 1] $0 to $10k MRR: Idea, Foundation, and MVP](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!us6c!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F68c42968-31b0-4cfd-903d-e52507cb26f2_1258x678.png)
![[Part 2] $0 to $10k MRR: The reset,checklist, and waitlist](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JD81!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a21626b-738f-4900-aba6-adc9f6af3984_983x639.png)
![[Part 3] $0 to $10k MRR: The alpha launch, "dogfooding" your product, monetization and early ops](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVee!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49413475-5140-452b-b6d8-cffed5cf8475_1393x727.png)
![[Part 4] $0 to $10k MRR: Radical transparency, demo video, the switch to marketing](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M1s2!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb2e1dbdf-3511-4e7a-b70c-037b71336dc7_1278x856.png)
Since my last post in this series I’ve switched my attention from developing Project Echo to marketing the service to potential users.
I have put in on average one deep vibe-coding session each week with a lot of focus on building integrations, and speed improvements.
Here are some of the highlights of the dev work I have done in the last few weeks:
Built Slack and Notion integrations.
Built a REST API and MCP server so agents can now read and write to Project Echo.
Lots of speed improvements and bug fixes.
I’ve also spent time enhancing the Open page by adding new metrics, a profit & loss and tech stack section, and implementing Nocodb in the backend to allow me to add content without Cursor.
Now that I’ve shared some updates, let’s dive into the meat and potatoes of this post; my marketing strategy for taking Project Echo from zero to $10k MRR.
The marketing strategy to get Project Echo to 10k MRR
At this early stage Project Echo’s marketing strategy boils down to two main pillars, “owner-led growth”, and “product-led growth”.
The “owner-led growth” pillar has 4 main areas of focus:
Content - I create content that promotes Project Echo to my personal audience. The open page, this series and my personal YouTube channel will play a big part in this area of focus. The goal is to tell the story, and educate people. Indirectly people will find out about Project Echo and some will choose to sign up.
Social media - The idea is to get better at social media marketing and grow my audience exponentially on LinkedIn and X. A lot more of my time moving forward will be on audience building and getting better at leveraging social media.
Networking - This part is very limited but whenever I have the opportunity to network with SaaS founders in real life I will take that opportunity and help share the story behind Project Echo.
Things that don’t scale - A big part of marketing an early stage SaaS is doing things that don’t scale. I’m going to cover this area in more detail later in the post.
The “owner-led growth” pillar is the most important at this stage in Project Echo’s story because it’s all there is. Since there’s no marketing budget, or team helping me out, I need to convert my time into awareness.
I like to think of it as adding the initial “energy” into a system that can then run itself (and gain speed).
Once enough “energy” has been added, the 2nd pillar, “product-led growth” can start contributing to growth.
In this pillar there are also 4 areas of focus:
Flywheels - There are at least 2 product flywheels built into Project Echo at this stage. The first is a usage-based flywheel, and the second is a multi-user flywheel. Both will help get the product in front of more people at an exponential rate once usage, retention and the weekly signup count hit certain levels.
Integrations - Project Echo already has some integrations but the idea is to support a wide range and have Project Echo listed in many “app marketplaces”. This way the app can leverage the high number of users search for apps. Slack, Notion, Zendesk, Intercom, Jira and Linear are just some of the marketplaces I have my eye on. Before I can start submitting Project Echo to these marketplaces, we first need dozens of active users who are using these integrations.
Pricing model - Since Project Echo is freemium+, our pricing model should make signing up and trying the service a no brainer. The high value free plan is also aimed at creating some “lock-in” which will help with retention and increased word of mouth. I’m more than happy having a 2- 3% conversion from free to paid as long as the free users help me drive more and more awareness (top of funnel).
Word of mouth - If I get everything right and provide insane value at the right price, word of mouth will help me get in front of more and more potential customers. The way to influence word of mouth is by providing a remarkable service.
How do things stand today?
Growth so far has been slow. As of now a few hundred individuals have visited the Project Echo site, and in total 15 users have signed up to the service.
Out of those 15, most have finished the onboarding but none have become “activated” or “retained”.
I’m going to publish a dedicated post that will go into detail on how exactly I’m defining user segments. At this stage it’s too early. I first need to strengthen the top of the funnel and get more signups.
The graph below shows the daily active users according to Posthog since I started using it in early July.
The graph below shows unique visitors, pageviews etc according to Plausible which I’ve been using for longer than Posthog. Plausible is only installed on the public pages of the site while Posthog is tracking activity across all pages (public, subdomains and the app itself).
The bottom line is that the top of the funnel is small and needs to grow significantly. It’s been almost two weeks since the last user signed up to the service.
Doing things that don’t scale
At this point I have to get my hands dirty and do a lot of “one off" / unscalable actions to help boost the top of the funnel.
To help me source ideas, I turned to Viktor, my AI agent that works with me in Slack. Below is the exact prompt I sent Viktor.
The output was what you’d expect, a 100+ tasks listed in a dedicated project in Asana. Viktor did a great job in providing clear instructions in the description field of each task.
The plan is to work through this list in the coming week and finish it before the weekend.
I don’t expect every item on the list to have a direct impact on the top of the funnel but at this point it’s more important to take action and drive traffic however I can than focusing on optimization.
Below is the exact list that Viktor created for me. I’m sure some of you are wondering what ideas the AI came up with.
Apply to be listed in the Slack App Directory
Write a personal JOMO post about what you gave up to build Project Echo
Submit to GitHub awesome-product-management lists
Submit Project Echo to EU-Startups or regional startup directories
Cross-post content from Twitter/X to Threads and Instagram
Post a problem-focused LinkedIn post about fragmented feedback channels
Reach out to 5 Product Management newsletter writers for a feature
Submit Project Echo to SoftwareAdvice directory
Engage in startup Discord communities daily for the rest of launch week
Optimize your Twitter/X profile bio with Project Echo
Write weekly what we shipped tweets throughout launch week
Post in Notion and Slack communities about Project Echo integrations
Post a transparency tweet showing Project Echo free vs paid features
Write a 5 feedback mistakes that kill SaaS growth Twitter thread
Post your Project Echo journey on r/Entrepreneur as a lessons learned post
Add Project Echo to your email signature
Reach out to your SaaS Decoded audience about Project Echo
Create a case study showing Project Echo used to manage its own feedback
Write a build vs buy Twitter thread about feedback management
Reach out to 5 SaaS founder communities for a featured member spotlight
Submit Project Echo to MCP server directories and awesome-mcp GitHub repos
Submit to startup launch aggregators like Killer Startups and BetaPage
Create a teaser page for a future Project Echo referral program
Submit your founder story to Starter Story
Share Project Echo on Facebook groups for entrepreneurs
Reach out to 5 journalists who cover SaaS and startup launches
Create a Product Hunt Collection featuring the best tools for SaaS product teams
Submit to Pitchwall startup community
Create a shareable product feedback quiz or checklist
Share Project Echo via a LinkedIn native poll
Post in Customer Success Slack communities about Project Echo
Write a why we have an unlimited free plan blog post
Post in r/CustomerSuccess about managing product feedback
Respond to hashtag buildinpublic tweets and share Project Echo context
Post in r/webdev about the technical side of building Project Echo
Cross-post your LinkedIn article to Medium
Share Project Echo with startup accelerator communities
Create a Twitter list of SaaS PMs and founders and engage daily
Submit to Startup Stash resource directory
Write a lessons from building Project Echo post on LinkedIn
Submit an application to AppSumo marketplace
Do a rate my SaaS post on Indie Hackers or Reddit
Post in r/GrowthHacking and other growth-focused subreddits
Write a Twitter thread comparing Project Echo free plan to Canny pricing
Share Project Echo on the Fediverse and Mastodon
Create a short explainer YouTube video for Project Echo
Update your LinkedIn Featured section to highlight Project Echo
Comment on high-ranking blog posts about feedback management tools
Post in the Product Coalition community Slack
Write cold emails to 20 small SaaS companies that need feedback management
Post in the SaaS Club Slack community
Post a before and after visual showing feedback chaos vs Project Echo
Set up Trustpilot profile and ask early users for reviews
Submit to Futurepedia AI and productivity tool directory
Start a Product Hunt Discussion thread to build community presence
Add Project Echo to SourceForge directory
Answer product management questions on forums that Google indexes
Post on Threads.net about your launch
Post in LinkedIn Groups for Product Managers
Post in Discord communities for SaaS founders and product people
Create a free Notion template showing Project Echo in a PM workflow
Submit Project Echo to Slant.co as a software alternative
Request reviews from your first users on G2 and Capterra
Post in the Product-Led Growth community Slack
Submit to AI tool directories highlighting the MCP server feature
Write a how to collect and manage product feedback blog post
Submit to Product Hunt Upcoming page before your main launch
Create a LinkedIn company page for Project Echo
Post in GrowthHackers community
Create a public roadmap for Project Echo using Project Echo itself
Use Project Echos own changelog to announce your public launch then share it
DM 10 Twitter followers who are SaaS founders with a personalized note
Reach out to 5 SaaS podcasts as a potential guest
Share Project Echo on Startup School community (YC)
Share Project Echo on r/nocode and r/buildinpublic
Write and publish a Building in Public week 1 update on Twitter
Post in the Mind the Product community Slack
Tweet daily helpful tips about product feedback management
Submit to Startup Buffer directory
Post in r/B2BSaaS subreddit
Submit to LaunchingNext startup discovery site
Submit to BetaBound for beta tester matching
Submit to MicroSaaS directories
Submit to Wellfound (AngelList) startup directory
Post in Facebook groups for SaaS founders
Post a short Loom walkthrough video on LinkedIn and Twitter
Reply to LinkedIn posts about product feedback and feature request management
Email your personal network a personal launch announcement
Find Product Hunt hunters with large followings and ask them to hunt Project Echo
Reach out to 5 SaaS newsletters for a feature or mention
Post in r/entrepreneur on Reddit
Post on Hashnode about your SaaS launch
Post on dev.to about building Project Echo
Write a Project Echo vs Featurebase comparison page for your website
Submit to GetApp (Gartner Digital Markets)
Write a Project Echo vs Canny comparison page for your website
Post in the Indie Hackers Show IH forum
Post in SaaS Slack communities in their launch or products channels
Search Twitter/X for feature request and feedback tool queries and reply
Search Twitter/X for Canny pricing complaints and respond
Write a Twitter/X thread about the problem Project Echo solves
Message 20 LinkedIn connections who run SaaS businesses
Post a LinkedIn article: Why I built Project Echo
Answer product feedback tool questions on Quora
Search Reddit for feedback tool threads and reply with Project Echo
Post in r/ProductManagement on Reddit
Post in r/startups on Reddit
Post in r/SaaS on Reddit with your launch story
Submit to StackShare
Submit to SaaSHub
Create a listing on Capterra
Create a dedicated listing on G2.com
Submit Project Echo to AlternativeTo as a Canny alternative
Create a Product Page on Indie Hackers
Submit Project Echo to BetaList
Post Show HN on Hacker News
Submit Project Echo to Product Hunt
It’s going to be a busy week but I’m ready for it. Wish me luck!
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the next one.
Justin
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