How Medium’s Design Solved My Problem
Recently I watched a snapstorm (several snaps in a row on Snapchat) from Mark Suster where he explained that many startups make the mistake of blogging for their peers rather than blogging for their customers.
This was something I struggled with intensely when starting this series because I knew I would be blogging for my peers. I also knew it might be a mistake. But then why go through with it?
2 reasons. The first and most important reason, as I laid out in the Introduction to this series is public accountability. I wanted a way to hold myself accountable to overcome the fact that I’m going at this solo. Part of the reason investors don’t invest in solopreneurs is the lack of accountability. Multiple founders can keep each other in check, or even better motivate and encourage each other. I wanted or probably needed this series to exist as a substitute. I am grateful to the few of you who read this series regularly like A.H. Chu and SF Ali because you reinforce my sense of duty to my work.
The second reason is that I was worried about writing too much. In addition to this series I also write 750 to 1000 words a day in my personal journal at 750words.com.
I already write enough to fill 6 or 7 novels a year. I don’t want to commit more time to writing when there’s so much else that needs to be done.
But Suster’s snapstorm put the issue back into my head. And I keep thinking how to solve this problem and kill 2 birds (2 audiences) with 1 stone (1 blog) — and then it came to me!
Solve the problem with design!
Boom —
Here’s how — I created a publication for my company here on Medium and moved all of the posts from this series over to it. The plan is simple. Use the Feature design tool to display the customer relevant posts at the top.
When you first visit the blog you might see (yet to be written) articles such as
- Feather Laundry Switches to Organic Detergents
- Feather Signs a Deal with Delivery.com
- CEO of Feather Seen Going Door to Door in Dallas
If a potential customer is browsing, they will see something different than what they see now — literally a Medium article containing the Table of Contents. Using Medium’s Feature feature allows me to create a blog that addresses both my customers and my peers!
I should’ve done this earlier. I didn’t because I already had a publication with a decent following. I didn’t want to put that publication to rest. The lesson? You can’t let sentiment obstruct you from the path to more success.
This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a 2016 Dallas startup called Feather. For your reference here is the Table of Contents for the series.
Previous Story: How to Categorize Expenses for Your Startup
Next Story: Feather Signs a Deal with Delivery.com
Follow me more closely on Snapchat!
Thanks for reading!
