I’m two days in to launching my new startup idea, ThemeValet (‘WordPress website setup for busy people’) so I thought I would post an (honest) update of how things are going.
The following timeline may be slightly sketchy and actually includes a mix of stuff that happened on Day 7 and 8 (and going back to check exactly when everything occurred would be boring and unproductive) but it’s close enough and do you really care (no, you don’t).
Lots of amazing people retweet and share the link
I was (really, truly) blown away by how many people shared it.
Thank you again, if you did.
I have a conversation with a friend who says he’ll post it on Product Hunt for me
This is great, really great. Though I then panic and go back into ‘perfection’ mode, afraid of what people on PH will say about it.
I do manage to come down to a more reasonable level of calm and agree with him that I’ll make some minor improvements and then he’ll post it for me when I’m ‘ready’.
Of course, waiting to be ‘ready’ is a dangerous state of mind.
Someone points out that the name can be read as ‘The Me Valet’ when read in all capitals as one word (THEMEVALET)
I change the styling on my website so that it now reads ThemeValet in the header but the font doesn’t look good like that and the ‘h’ of Theme now looks taller than the T.
I make it two words in the header, even though it’s one word everywhere else.
Maybe I should just make it two words everywhere anyway? (grammar FTW).
I get asked if I will do two theme setups for $49 each, I (politely) decline
I’m not above changing my idea, but I don’t want to change the pricing based on one bit of feedback. Also the person asking was not really who I had in mind as my target audience (they DID have time to set up the site themselves).
I’ve also had two orders way back before the site was properly launched (from people most definitely in my target audience) for $99 and $249 and both were happy with the outcome.
I’m sure the pricing / offer will change over time but I need more information first.
I don’t blame the guy for trying 
Dan Norris (author of the 7 Day Startup) shares the link!
Oh wow.
Dan shared a link to ThemeValet (Theme Valet?) on his Facebook page. And I was so lame I didn’t even notice it straight away (thanks Gavin for letting me know!).
Dan who:
- wrote the 7 Day Startup book which I’m using as the base for a lot of my thinking about ThemeValet and business in general
- created WP Curve, an awesome and successful WordPress related startup
Will this make or break the business on it’s own?
No.
It it awesome though?
Hell, yes.
(Thanks, Dan).
I write a blog post
https://themevalet.com/blog/paypal-recurring-payments-with-wordpress/
I switch to different live chat software on the website
My chat software often shows several concurrent visitors on the site most times I check in to it and where they are (approximately) browsing from.
That’s pretty awesome.
I decide that it’s spammy to initiate conversations with someone before they start talking to me (via the live chat software) but then try it with a couple of people anyway.
They don’t respond.
I have no customers yet
I have a few people that say they are going to buy (just waiting for the logo to be ready etc) but no customers yet.
After all the shares and love I got for the idea earlier (even allowing for people just being ‘nice’) I have a brief moment of fear that maybe ThemeValet will be an idea that everyone loves but no one buys (and of course that could still be the case).
(Also the people sharing are not really my customers, though some of their audience may be).
But then I remember it’s only ‘Day 8’ (and only one day since launching) and remember my commitment not to:
- knee-jerk
- or let my ego get in the way
- or sulk
but just to try to get the idea in front of as many people as possible and learn.
Onwards.