Hello there! 👋

Hope you’re doing well!

Before starting, here are the new videos I made if you want to watch them 👇

👉 I made $1,436,828 with 2 Shopify Apps
👉 Why my 3 SaaS businesses failed

Let’s go with the newsletter!

In today’s email we’re going to talk about:

• My developers working on my apps

• Debrief of Pre/ditions

• Shopify Editions & Shop Tank

• Simple but not easy strategy to get to $1K MRR

Let’s go! 🔥

My developers working on my apps

I see this question a lot. How do you find good developers?

You have 2 ways:

• Work with freelancers

• Work with agencies

The problem with freelancers is that they can be less skilled and it can be complicated to work with them. But at least you control the whole process.

The problem with agencies is that it’s slow, you have to work with middle man and can’t control the whole process.

I personally use a solution in the middle.

I work with an agency that places developers on your project.

• They are already trained

• You work with the developers in 1-to-1

• You control the whole process and the way they’ll work

I work with an agency called Grodas on both WideBundle and WideReview and I think they still have developers available.

If you want to, contact Alex who works at the agency by clicking here (Tell the agency that I recommended them to you)

No engagement, they will first listen to your needs.

Debrief of Pre/ditions

I went to Canada last week to attend Shopify Editions. Shopify haven’t hosted an event for years. So I had to attend this one.

The day before Editions, Mantle and Gadget, two companies building tools for Shopify App Users, organized the “Pre/ditions”.

Hundreds of people attended that event. The venue had many different rooms, and many talks were held simultaneously.

In the afternoon, a panel discussed the importance of data in building Shopify Apps.

You know it’s a topic I love so when they asked me to be one of the speakers I accepted of course.

2 other people were on this panel: Matt Bahr and Björn Forsberg

So 2 other experts!

There are a few topics we discussed that you should know about:

• Tracking metrics alone become vanity metrics. Tracking just the MRR doesn’t mean anything. Tracking just the number of installs doesn’t mean anything.
  Tracking only the conversion rate doesn’t mean anything. What makes it interesting is the combination of all the factors.

• Data isn’t just a painful thing. It’s a way for you to understand in which direction you should go. Focusing on a metric that is already good is a mistake.
  Improving your installation rate that is at 50% is a bad choice when your conversion rate is only at 3%. But if you don’t track it, how would you know?

• You should track 2 types of metrics: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative is what you get by talking to people. Quantitative is what you get by tracking numbers. Both are important.

I can understand that flying to these events and attending them can be expensive.

I want you to understand that it’s an investment. If you attend these kinds of events, you can meet many people, including Shopify Agencies and potential partners (to form partnerships).

And if you don’t have enough money to travel, which I understand, I think the best way would be to do a freelance job before building Shopify Apps so you can put money on the side; it’s the best choice!

Shopify Editions & Shop Tank

The next day, the biggest Shopify event ever! Shopify Editions!

Thousands of people were there in a big venue, with a big stage!

I was able to see Tobi and Harley for the first time (after trying last year but they were not in Canada at that moment)

And also finally met Shopify Partners and Shopify employees I talked to online.

Now one good thing I loved doing was Shop Tank!

If you know Shark Tank, it’s the Shopify version.

4 judges. 4 apps. We had to give our honest opinion on what we think about the app and we then chose a winner.

4 apps demoed:

• Intelligems (the winner with an amazing presentation)

• CaseoAI

• Revie

• Selector

And I loved it!

It gives me the idea of organizing a ShopTank (with a different name) where instead of giving advice and finding a winner, we would actually do like Shark Tank with actual money given to Shopify Apps! What do you think?

Simple but not easy strategy to get to $1K MRR

First of all. Don’t try to skip the steps.

You don’t find how to get 1000 users. You find how to get 1 user, then 10, then 100.

And in the beginning, the goal is to get users 1 by 1. Take the time to do it.

Many people asked me, how do I get the first users?

And it’s always the same thing! No shortcut, here is a quick strategy if you need one.

1/ Go to Linkedin

On Linkedin I want you to add a professional picture. We see your head with a smile. Have a quality picture. Any smartphone today can do it.

Write a good tagline (the small description that appears on your profile). A good tagline explains who you are, what you do and who you help.
ex: Founder at Your App - We help small Shopify merchants get more reviews.

Add the link to your app (you can add a link on your profile)

2/ Start writing content daily about Shopify and your app

Here are some examples:

• When you release a new feature, share screenshots, explain what it is and share your opinion (add personality to your posts)

• When you have a new review, share a screenshot of the review

• When a user has a win (you helped your user achieve something) share it with details on what they did

• When Shopify releases something for merchants (not for you), talk about it

• Give value about your app’s topic (for example how to get more reviews if you have an app for reviews)

The goal is to add personality to it! don’t make flat posts like you’re a robot.

3/ Make 10 connections per day

The power of Linkedin is the ability to create connections without waiting for people to follow you. So use that and start connecting with 10 people per day.

But you should connect with relevant people!

You can use the spider’s web strategy, which is pretty simple. Most of the time, the question is, “How do I find potential users?”

Here we go: Find just 1 person with some followers that works with Shopify (not an app owner) but for example: brand owner, employee at agencies, etc.

Then look at all the people who commented and liked the posts of that person. Find the people who also work with Shopify.

Send a connection request to them.

Then, do the same with these people.

If you do it every day for a year, you will definitely go to 1000 followers (which is enough because it’s a niche)

4/ Engage with each connection

Don’t just connect and forget about it. Actually contact every person and engage with them.

Don’t do it like a robot as well.

“Hey, saw you were working with Shopify and I’m trying to connect with as many people as possible. [ADD ICE BREAKER]”

An ice breaker is something that will show you’re not a robot and actually checked what they were doing.

An Ice Breaker is personalized and will put you ahead of 99% of people. Take the time to do it well.

You will be able to talk about your work and your app at some point in your relationship.

You have the process here. If you combine it with the Shopify App Store improvement (I shared strategies already in this newsletter) then you will definitely grow your app.

If you think there is a shortcut and don’t want to do the work, I’m sorry for you, but there is no shortcut.

Don’t worry, the most complicated part is starting. Getting 1 user per 1 user can be frustrating, but then it becomes easier

; the most complicated part is starting

Thanks for reading this email. Feel free to share it with a friend, a partner, or a customer.

So see you in the next email!

Mat 😁