Newsletter Issue: 08 – April 10, 2024

A slew of startups have employed a beta strategy to launch a new product or offering. This approach allows you to gather feedback, identify bugs, and refine your offering based on feedback from a sample audience while also capitalizing the FOMO effect.

Slack used an invite-only beta when it first launched, generating a great deal of buzz and anticipation around the product. The limited access also gave the company a chance to refine its product based on early user feedback, laying the groundwork for its later success.

Activision Blizzard gave exclusive beta access to the game Overwatch 2 to carefully selected Twitch influencers. As a result, Activision Blizzard shattered viewership records with over 1.5 million concurrent viewers, instantly generating mass interest in the upcoming launch.

PayPal, Google, and other major tech companies have also employed exclusive beta programs in the past to create a sense of exclusivity and privilege among early adopters. This not only generates anticipation and buzz, but also allows startups to collect valuable user feedback to improve the product before a full launch.

The key benefit of the exclusive beta strategy is that it taps into the human psychology of wanting what others can’t have. By limiting access, you can build hype and excitement while gathering insights to refine your product before releasing it to a wider. This can be an effective way for startups to stand out and generate initial traction.