(This text is translated from Japanese into English by DeepL, so there may be some grammatical errors. Please understand.)
In October 2018, my coworker and I started a side project in web app development.
We wanted to create a web app that solves the tedious task of recording the money owed and borrowed that occurs when you go on a trip with friends in a spreadsheet and calculating who should pay back how much to whom at the end of the trip.
We developed the front-end in Vue.js and the back-end in Python (Flask) and deployed it on Heroku.
The functionality is simple: create a group page from a browser and add members to it. After that, you can share the URL of that group page in a group chat to keep track of who paid what to whom and how much they paid for what. As you record the expenditures, you will be able to see the calculation results of who should pay back how much to whom in real time.
We named it spliito.
Until we get on a growth path
The app grows semi-automatically once the number of users grows to a certain number because the action of "sharing with friends" is built into the user experience. However, my specialty is not marketing, so I have been taking measures through trial and error.
- Contacted people who are about to travel via Twitter and introducing them to our product.
- Printed QR codes on chocolate packages and hand them out in town
- Gave a speech about product development to the developer community and introduced the product.
Roughly around the time MAUs increased to about 150, the product gradually began to enter a growth path.
Tenfold growth in 2021
Despite the impact of the coronavirus, the number of users increased tenfold from January to December 2021, finally reached 50,000 MAU.
Our main source of income is Google Adsense, which brings us about $300 per month so far.
This year, we are planning to expand to the U.S. and are writing an article introducing our product in this way.
Marketing measures for expansion to the U.S.
We are expanding to the U.S. without knowing what to expect, but I have conducted user interviews with about 5 of my American online English teachers and have confirmed that there is some need for this product.
We are now operating several channels.
- Create a podcast channel that provides information about Japan, and insert a short product introduction there..
- Write articles on Medium to introduce our product and attract customers through Google searches.
- Opened Twitter account
- Posted on ProductHunt
However, I have yet to see results from any of them, so if you have any advice, please let me know.
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