1. Product Hunt: [https://www.producthunt.com/ ]

An awesome community, Product Hunt is an excellent place to collect up-to-date news about products and apps. In the year 2013, Ryan Hoover created this prosperous and supportive community directly related to the tech industry. Definitely opt for Product Hunt and get your latest apps or products featured.

• Expect genuine feedback on your latest apps or products.
• You will positively get to know the constructive help related to the issues in your apps.
• Downside: your app announcement could get buried. If you make it to the front page, you get tons of attention. If you’re on page two, you’re in the middle of nowhere.

2. BetaList: [https://betalist.com/ ]

This is one of the highest operational platforms for obtaining pre-launch signups. Your startup project or a new app gets distributed to a very large base of reviewers.

• Excellent for technology-based startups or apps
• Gives the entire lists of latest and trending startups and allows early beta access to a few
• They mainly concentrate on private beta startups that are ready to launch

This is an excellent way to get connected to those passionate people who might possibly show some positivity to your to-be-launched product.

3. Hacker News – Y Combinator: [https://news.ycombinator.com/ ]

Hacker News is created and run by Paul Graham and Y Combinator (launched in 2005, it is an American startup accelerator; responsible to launch more than 2000 companies) is a unique social news website concentrating on Entrepreneurship and Computer Science startup incubators!

• Their tag line is anything and everything that satisfies individuals intelligent inquisitiveness
• News site with technology connected topics
• Entrepreneurs who share their experience during creating their apps, products, etc.

4. CrunchBase [https://www.crunchbase.com/ ]

It was originally founded by Michael Arrington, in the year 2007 is a robust collection of data related to the industry information – right from current industry trends, acquisitions, mergers, etc. Today, CrunchBase comes under the TechCrunch portfolio and is in full control of maintaining the CrunchBase database.

• A unique platform to find concrete data about most of the renowned public and private limited companies.
• The information like funding, core investors, mergers & acquisitions, founders, top management details, etc.

5. Betabound [https://www.betabound.com/ ]

A fully dedicated website for beta testing opportunities on the internet for your products that are in their beginning stage! Once you are confident, you can just announce your beta products and search for the initial adopters.

• Main focus is on Computer and Electronic Products
• Betabound also focuses on beta testing of Apps, Software, Websites and Games

6. The Museum Of Modern Betas (MoMB): [http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net/ ]

As the name is interesting so is the list as quoted by the founders – Highly awaited apps in the web world, which are not publicly released. Even if it looks a little thin when you go there, it’s worth checking out. MoMB is fully devoted to collecting most of the web-based applications that are offering a beta invitation.

7. PreApps [https://www.preapps.com/ ]

• PreApps has successfully helped various startups, first-time launchers, or novice apps in the past 9+ years.
• The Main aim is to successfully release the app that is matching its business goal i.e. the final users.
• Helps in launching your app successfully, systemically get excellent downloads and users with a perfect marketing strategy.

PreApps concentrate mainly on different types of apps on various platforms like Android, Windows, or iOS

8. Startup Tracker: [https://startuptracker.io/ ]

Founded by Jeremiah Smith, Startup Tracker does not list any kind of startup or prelaunch apps. But its main feature is you can get an in-depth knowledge of the latest and new startups. Hence we thought of including this website detail, which will be helpful.

• You can connect to abreast your knowledge of the upcoming and latest competing apps or startups.
• You can just highlight any business name and get the complete information on the status of that startup.
• Its unique “Discover” feature will not let your app go out of sight

9. Startup Genome: [ http://StartupGenome.com ]

Founded by JF Gauthier, Startup Genome is the global leader voice in ecosystem development. The list includes public-private partnerships and more than 100 governments in more than 35 countries across the globe.

The main motto is to enhance startup ecosystem performance by providing local leaders an absolute clarity, to gain momentum and strategy to direct their actions.

Their entire team is the perfect group of data scientists, policy experts, community builders, and entrepreneurs, throughout the globe.

10. Start-up Lithuania: [http://www.startuplithuania.lt/]

Lithuania provides the best possible conditions to get your business running at a very rapid pace. As it is, Lithuania has an excellent startup environment with very simplified Startup Visa rules. Its strategic location is blended with sturdy logistics support and different international markets

* We have a few new products under development. Shh!– don’t tell anyone!

The post 10 Product Discovery Sites appeared first on Shawn DeWolfe Consulting.

Everyone talks about shifting to digital, but so often it’s nothing more than talk. Just like anything else, it’s not enough for something to be a good idea for people to do it; they usually need something to push them into making the change. While COVID-19 has forced a lot of people to shift to online and remote work, the pandemic didn’t create the benefits of joining the digital economy. They existed long before people started self-isolating and will continue long afterwards.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of shifting to digital is that it’s asynchronous. Think of it as the difference between a text and a phone call. Phone calls only work when both people are available at the same time, but you can send a text on your schedule and let the other person respond on theirs.

How Shifting to Digital Benefits Your Clients

You can’t make a major change to your business unless you can get your clients’ buy in, and that means showing how shifting to digital helps them. Obviously, the digital shift is perfect for serving clients in the age of social distancing. They can order securely online and have the article waiting for them when they’re ready to pick up. That’s one advantage, but not the biggest–the biggest advantage of digital service is that it lets you serve customers on their schedule rather than yours.

A good website is always open so your clients can order products and services when they want to rather than having to wait for you to open up. They can also get email records of every transaction so that it’s easy for them to see where their money is going.

How Shifting to Digital Benefits You

The best changes are good for everyone, and shifting to digital is no exception. It not only helps your customers by making you more available to them, but it also helps you. By decoupling the order and fulfilment steps it lets you take orders for products that are on their way and then fulfill the customer’s entire order once you have everything in stock. That saves you money by making order fulfilment more efficient.

Digital also makes it easier to work on customer follow-up and retention as you have their email address and can use that to contact them. Communications and tracking are so much easier in the digital realm than they are with brick and mortar businesses.

Publicity

As a final boost, you can also often entice customers to post about their experiences with your product on social media such as Pinterest or Instagram. Having customers show off your product line can give you a kind of viral publicity that no amount of money can buy.

We do digital deployments, getting small businesses online. We’re not alone. Design Rush has a list of eCommerce web design companies that offer these services. To connect with us, Reach out, online, to SDC to start your migration today!

The post Why You Should Shift to Digital Now appeared first on Shawn DeWolfe Consulting.

To geek out: you need to hit them when their shields are down. If you are in a crowd, you’re a face in the audience. If you send in emails or submissions, you’re in a crowd on a desktop in what could be a busy office– one where you don’t stand out. If you’re posting comments online, well, swell: you’re part of the gigabytes of data made every few seconds online. If you speak one-on-one with people when they’re not at work you’re engaging them. When you ask them for something, you’re challenging them to try to have the nerve to turn you down.

Victoria (where I used to live), had a disproportionate ratio of panhandlers. I’ve come to the sad realization that the difference between many of the entrepreneurs and many of the panhandlers is location and delivery. People who hide out in their businesses or clutch to a support beam with an open baseball cap: they don’t get much business. I had one panhandlers step up and be conversational: he opened with a general question, then moved into the pitch. While the beggar in the shadows was easy to ignore, the one engaging me was much harder to dismiss out of hand. He challenged me to turn him down. Personal interaction in an unfamiliar setting (location and situation) can catch people off guard and make them open to your ideas and make it harder for them to dismiss you.

At WordCamp Victoria, I went to a great talk by David Hutchinson about building relationships to get your best content. His work involved going back to the basics of journalism: personal contact; build and maintain trust; and capitalizing on the material when its crucial.

When you are trying to build your genius idea into that first $10,000 of revenue, you may find yourself lacking. You might not hold all of the skills it takes to pull off what you’re planning. The phrase, “No man is an island.” is very true. You will not hold all of the skills required to be a success. You can gain all the skills you need if you develop one key skill: networking.

Rely on the skill of being social. Move into circles of people where you could make professional relationships– mixers, conferences and the like. They are likely there for the same reason as you, so it’s not like you’re there under false pretenses. Go. Mingle.

Have a conversation with everyone you can. Wedge in an excuse to start talking. Ask about them and steer the questions towards what you’re interested in. There are lots of good tips for how to start a conversation. This is a good place to start.

Get people interested in what you’re doing by telling about the cool stuff you do. C’mon: some part has to be cool. Tell them about that part; or build up to a big finish about what you and why it’s cool.

Networking can accomplish a few things:

• • Give your idea a litmus test. Maybe it’s not ready to come out of the oven and some suggestions could steer your concept.

• • Get help from others (more on that coming here).

• • Promote and publicize your idea. This benefit comes with a caveat. If you have an idea: talk about the idea. If you have a product: talk about the product. If your idea for a product isn’t ready, don’t try to sell it. People will say “I’d like to see that.” If the idea is new or seemingly nonviable / impossible, they’re not showing interest. They’re calling your bluff.

• • Despite the above, getting your idea out there is a way to mark your territory: you can announce what you’re doing. If someone else is doing something similar, maybe there’s room for collaboration. Maybe you can establish yourself as the lead horse.

• • You may get in touch with people who can supply your business or be supplied by your business.

• • Some of these events are attended by government people with programs meant to help entrepreneurs: help them spend your tax dollars– on what you’re doing.

• • Generate buzz that can filter up the tree in the direction of media, potential supporters and potential customers of your service.

When you make contact, you don’t want a one-night stand. Start to build a relationship. Follow up with your contacts to chat with them about what you’re doing, what they’re doing and how you can collaborate or involve them in what you’re doing. Networking and trust building a take-a-penny-leave-a-penny situation. You shouldn’t go in with the idea that you’re going to shake down your contact for all of their available resources; nor should you become someone’s lackey. Expect there to be some give and take as an outcome of successive networking. I’ve answered questions from people I’m in contact and the reverse has happened too. If you don’t have the personal bandwidth to be open to helping others to get specialty help in return, you should be conservative with putting yourself out there.

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