February 15, 2013

Erli Bird : Bring Out the Hipster in You

Erli Bird is a website developed by a small group of people in Chicago who want to help solve one of the biggest challenges for new developers: Finding early adopters and customers. For those of you who are early adopters, you now have proof that you indeed "had it before it was cool." Developers can submit their startup to Erli Bird, and if accepted, they will promote your company to their subscribers and put it on their site. Subscribers on the site get points for every new company they check out. Erli Bird also has a mobile site for mobile users to help out as well. Sign up by clicking this link.


Here's what they have to say about themselves:

The Problem

One of the biggest challenges for every startup is finding initial users and customers. Many companies invest thousands of dollars creating a new product only to fail out of the gate, without ever achieving a user-base large enough to truly test an idea. Others waste months developing complex new technology, and upon launching, quickly find out that they’ve made very big mistakes or solved the wrong problem altogether.

Our Solution

Erli Bird was created to solve these problems by allowing your startup to get in front of engaged,
influential users in the early stages of building your product. This allows you to connect with hardcore users and evangelists, quickly learn from your customers, iterate, and build more compelling products.

How Our Service Works

• Apply to be featured by completing the submission process http://erlibird.com/get-early-adopters.
• If accepted, your startup is featured for several weeks. Your company will appear on our homepage and have a dedicated “feature” page.
• Offer our users (A) early access (B) an exclusive promotion or (C) just ask for their help.
• Optionally limit the number of “early adopter” slots available for your startup. This is useful in the
event you want to start slow, have a limited number of giveaways or promo items, or want to make it more exclusive.
• Your feature page will have a built-in feedback section. This is used heavily by our users, and many startups on Erli Bird find this to be extremely valuable.

And This Is Free?

Indeed - our basic service is free ☺ However, we only accept quality startups that make an effort to create a great campaign and really make the most of our service. We also offer two premium options: (A) Rotate in our top spot on our home page for 1 week ($95) and (B) Be featured in a direct email unique to your company, sent out to our subscription base of ~20K ($195).

Martin Tam is an editor and the Director of Video Production at [blank]’s Universe. He is also a technology enthusiast that particularly enjoys computers and photography. He enjoys breaking things and sleeping in his spare time.