Hello!

We’re just one week after our Wide Event with 150 people.

I hope you’re doing well!

Without waiting, let’s jump into this newsletter!

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

• The Wide Event Success

• Gil just sold his Shopify App to Shopify

• Shopify Pre/ditions

• How to find app ideas

Let’s go! 🔥

The Wide Event Success

Last week was the Wide Event in Paris. Our Shopify partners event.

And we can say it was a success!

150 people from all around the world attended this event. I’m so proud that we’ve been able to create something like that!

We had 4 talks:

• Ruslan shared how he built and sold Shopify Apps

• Rhian shared how she built her business and why you should bet on yourself

• Alexandre Ali & Robin Ali shared how they grew Pandatea

• And I shared how I grew my network to 35,000+ followers online

That were followed by a networking time and petits-fours

People loved it and are waiting for a 3rd edition!

So we’ll prepare this! But not for the coming months, I have to rest a little bit…

Gil just sold his Shopify App to Shopify

Gil just announced publicly that he had sold Checkout Blocks to Shopify.

That’s a big move especially because this app was only created in 2022.

It’s also great to see that Shopify values Shopify Apps!

I’ve known Gil for a few years now and I followed him since the beginning of this app.

And I wrote a post in our Shopify App Founders community about how he did it

Here is basically the strategy if you don’t want to read this long post

• Gil started approximately 6 years ago. Even if this app was created in 2022

• Gil didn’t start with Shopify Apps and was able to understand Shopify’s market, what was Shopify vision, who were the merchants, what they needed

• He had built a checkout app before this one that allowed him to understand the needs

There were 3 main reasons for his success:

• Building a high quality product

• Sharing online about new releases

• Talking to merchants

Most apps are good products. Some apps are great products. Only a few are amazing products.

Gil was able to do it by following every Shopify standard (we feel like this app is part of the Shopify admin dashboard) and by releasing features almost every week.

As he was building his app, he’s been constantly sharing on Linkedin/Twitter about it. And when you do it consistently for a long time, you get compounding effect and amazing results.

His goal was to connect with as many Shopify Plus merchants as possible:

• Attending events

• Connecting with merchants on Linkedin

• Contacting Shopify Plus agencies

Doing all the things most people don’t want to do.

And since he was targeting Plus merchants and his app was “expensive” he didn’t mind doing 1-on-1 to onboard new customers.

In the beginning he would get 1 user every month, then 2, then 5, etc…

He was constantly talking to his own users to understand what they needed and wanted. And when you stay lean in your strategy:

• Hire only when you absolutely need it

• Keep your processes simple

• Don’t over complicate marketing

Then you will be able to ship features FAST

He did also a bit of Shopify App Store ads. He could do it because his app isn’t cheap so he could cover the expenses even if he had to spend $100 or $200 to acquire one customer.

Being a Shopify Plus app also means that you can’t compete with other apps on reviews. So paying for ads to stay at the top is a pretty good strategy!

You get the bigger picture here, but if you want to go in details, you can read my post by going to the Shopify App Founders community (the post is pinned in the group)

Shopify Pre/ditions

If you don’t know it, on June 25, Shopify organizes “Editions”.

After stopping Shopify Unites, they decided to create a new in-person event called Editions.

It happens only in Canada.

Before this event, Gadget and Mantle (2 useful tools when you’re a Shopify App Founder) partnered to create the Shopify Pre/ditions!

And they brought many people to speak at this event.

Gil will be speaking, and I will be speaking (mostly about analytics). But many other founders will also be speaking!

It’s a great way to meet each other in a smaller place before the main event.

If you want to attend you need to grab a ticket by clicking here

How to find app ideas

In this Zero to Hero #3: The Shopify App Growth Blueprint we talk about finding app ideas

In a previous email, I shared how to validate a problem (after finding one).

If you didn’t read it yet you can do it by clicking here.

So now our goal is to create the best app possible.

We’ll do it in different steps:

1. What features people would like to see in an MVP?

2. Would they use the design you created?

3. Daily communication with early users

1) What features people would like to see in an MVP?

You’ll have a million feature ideas. And your users too.

The problem is that you can’t build all of them right now (and some might be a wrong decision).

Imagine a big forest where you don’t see anything, except the first path.

You can think about all the things you will do after taking this path:

• I want to build a tree house

• I need to find water

• I need to find the path that isn’t dark

You name it…

But! All you see right now is the first path.

What if there is already a tree house that you can use? What if some animals don’t let you build one?

You get the point, you don’t know yet what’s happening in there.

That is why you shouldn’t start building everything, but you should start with the most important features, easy to build and necessary.

To do this, you need to talk to your potential users (again).

And ask them immediately:

• What features, if had them, would make you install my app directly?

• What is the one feature you absolutely need on this app?

Don’t come up with the features yourself. Sure you can look at competitors, but what you’re building should be different. And if there is a need, it means your competitors aren’t doing what you’re about to build.

Remember we found a problem that can be solved with an app.

But the same problem can be fixed in different ways. So your goal is to figure out the best one.

Most common issue when building: You think you understand the problem and you start building for months until you find out people didn’t want what you created.

That is why having conversations with your potential users is crucial. And you will need to go deeper to ensure you understand properly.

“You want feature A? Why? What should be inside? You mentioned X and Y, can you elaborate?”

You need to know everything as if you were inside their head!

The questions I gave you are a starting point, but they’re not the only ones, you have imagination, you can continue the conversation after that.

After a few conversations and questions, you may have a pretty clear understanding of your MVP (and again, I say MVP).

I didn’t explain here but the MVP is the first version of your product:

• Simple so you can build it fast and iterate

• Yet good so people are willing to use it

You need to find a balance!

Think about it: You should be able to build an MVP in 2/3 weeks full-time.

If it takes 2 months, there is a problem, and it might not be an MVP!

2) Would they use the design you created

One you have a clear picture in your mind, you need to ensure it’s right.

If your app has a widget (it’s easier with a widget) you can start creating the design of the widget.

Or the design of the dashboard, or the design of whatever you can think of.

The goal here is to create a preview of what people will have so they can project themselves.

The goal is to answer 1 question: Did you understand what they wanted?

That’s what I did with WideBundle. I shared a design of the bundles based on what people wanted.

And after a few back and forth, I improved it until they said: YES, this is what I want!

Once you have the design and the features, feel free to share even more online. Not only with the people you have, but new people.

Because the goal is to constantly:

• Contact new people

• Talk with the people you already contacted

You can iterate on the design and go back to step 1 if it’s necessary.

Don’t build until you’re sure this is what they want!

Some people will do the following:

• Creating a landing page with the design and potential features to collect emails and send ads to it

• Share on Reddit, Facebook groups, etc… and ask for feedback on the design

It’s great, the goal is: get eyeballs on it.

Because at this point you should have something people want. So you will attract the people who wanted it in the beginning but were too lazy to contact you during the validating phase.

It’s by doing simple things over and over again that you start to get traction!

Build, Talk, Iterate, Repeat… You start to get it because I repeat it so often.

3) Daily communication with early users

Talking to early users isn’t a one-time task.

When I was building WideBundle, I was constantly chatting with my early users.

Whether it was by email, live chat or messenger, it doesn’t matter.

The goal is to get constant feedback about everything you do and not let them forget about what you’re building.

They should be building the app. They are the brain and you’re just the hands

As you get ideas for the app, ask them what they think.

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 😁