The hard decision to close and pivot
by Steven HylandsWe’ve made the hard decision to close the current version of Lowdown.
Initially, we tried to solve an engagement problem for Slack communities—and we did. Unfortunately, we found it very difficult to turn communities into paying customers.
We then switched focus to teams and tried too hard to make what we built work for them. It just didn’t solve a painful enough problem.
So we’re switching gears and are razor-focused on the single most painful problem we hear over and over about Slack—information overload.
The new version of Lowdown will be more personal. Enabling individuals to silence Slack and focus without missing out on what matters.
A private beta period will start soon and we're on the lookout for companies to take part in our beta (signups open here https://getlowdown.com).
Thanks indiehackers for your help to date!
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super bummer!! i just recently saw that you were catering more towards communities that individual teams. i was going to subscribe once I built out my community. do your timeframe for testing was long enough?
i think that might be something interesting to pursue (unless slack launches native digests).
wishing you the best with the new focus!
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Hi @optemization, we had a lot of communities sign up to our current product and found it a struggle to convert them. I think it was a mix of the fact many aren't businesses so not looking to pay much and they often want more than just Slack highlights in their newsletters. Generally, it's just not the main use case of Slack and it felt like building a business around them would be difficult.
Our new product will still be usable of course by communities and I can imagine will be extremely useful to them too (I know of several I don't look at frequently but I'd love to get updates from specific channels).
Do you think the new product sounds like something you'd use in your community? Thanks!
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Best of luck with the new focus Steven!
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Thanks :)
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Hey Steven,
I had a look at Lowdown previously and "useful but not valuable" was exactly my takeaway. I just couldn't justify the cost.
I hope the new direction works better. Always tough to pivot, doing the same with my own plugin at the moment.
Best of luck!
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Hey Lesley, appreciate you sharing your perspective. Best of luck with your own project!
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Hi, Steven,
I've created something similar for Slack; you can check it out here: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/our-time-to-think
If you want to chat, let me know.
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Cool! Yeah for sure let's sync up. My emails on my profile :)
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"Useful but not valuable" is a tough call to make. I'm glad you made it before it was too late.
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Hey Rob, yeah it's been one of our struggles realising that it just wasn't solving that painful a problem to be of real value to enough people. I'd certainly spend more time gaining confidence in the pain of a problem upfront in future.
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Best of luck!
How would your feature transform into a product?-
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Cheers Alex. We think there's a lot of scope for a tool that helps you get the most of Slack from a productivity sense. So if this initial test works out I'd imagine we'd continue to build out the product in that direction.
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Best of wishes! 🙏
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Cheers!
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It's always a tough decision, but it's great that you guys already have a community to start with! All the best :)
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Thanks! Yeah it's been helpful to get a few early beta users lined up that's for sure :)
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God speed Steven! It's part of the drill!
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The road to paying customers can be long!
But I don't understand what you meant by 'closing'... from what it seemed, you a pivoting to a new market with the current product, no?
So, the new version it will be focused on individuals but you'll be targeting companies?
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Hey, good question should have been clearer. We're shutting down the current version as the pivot is quite different in how it functions. Closing it frees us up to focus on the new app and create an experience tailored to its needs rather than trying to support both.
The new version empowers individuals in Slack to pay less attention without missing out on information, but yes we really have to target companies as they must install the app. We need them to be bought into using Slack more productively. It's a hard sale for sure, something we're aware of but have a few ideas on how to leverage team members interest in the product to make it desirable. Ultimately we want to prove that it makes teams more productive first and use that to help sell the offering.
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Yeah, basically you'll have to make users convince their companies!
I have the same issue. Currently trying freemium models, but since the product is not quite there yet, I double I'll be seeing any results in the short term.
Do tell us how your sales strategy pans out, ok :D
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I definitely will share how it goes. Would be great to hear how you get on with this approach too. It's certainly not straightforward but it's possible :)
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My strategy is to go bottom up and attract team members first. That's why the pricing includes a small free tier (betting on product-led marketing here) with a small marginal costs in order for it not to be a barrier of entry.
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Cool. I've been considering this too but trying not to think into it too much until we get a few companies to try the product. Hopefully, we can get a feel for the right approach from that experience.
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Goodluck for the next chapter of Lowdown.
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Thank you!
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