Command Bar is a user assistance platform that makes software products easier to use. Co-founded by James Evans, the company offers a range of experiences embedded into software products to help users in a personalized way, from natural language interfaces to guided walkthroughs and nudges.
Growth Strategies and Tips:
- Cold outbound email campaign with personalized videos: Command Bar created a Chrome extension that allowed them to visually demonstrate their product working on potential customers' websites. The team made personalized loom videos for each prospect, showing how Command Bar could be integrated with their app and help users. This targeted approach resulted in a 30% response rate and helped Command Bar land their first 10 customers.
- Leveraging Y Combinator for initial traction: Command Bar joined Y Combinator with no customers but managed to gain their first 10 customers from within the YC batch. Although these customers were paying only $50-$100 per month, it validated the idea and gave the team confidence to continue building the product.
- Focusing on user assistance experiences: Command Bar differentiated itself by focusing on user assistance experiences that go beyond traditional chatbots or onboarding popups. Their product, Copilot, provides personalized walkthroughs and can even complete actions on behalf of users, making it more helpful than typical chatbots.
- Integrations and manual curation for delivering relevant information: Command Bar's platform combines data from integrations with customers' existing content and allows for manual curation of specific flows. This mix ensures that users receive the most relevant and helpful information when interacting with the product.
- Positioning as a better alternative in an existing category: Initially, Command Bar struggled with explaining their unique product and spent a significant portion of sales calls educating potential customers. By embracing comparisons to existing digital adoption platforms and positioning themselves as a better alternative, they reduced the time spent explaining their product and made it easier for customers to understand the value proposition.
- Leveraging review sites for social proof: To gain visibility and credibility within the digital adoption space, Command Bar focused on building a presence on review sites like Capterra and G2. This helped establish social proof and made it easier for potential customers to discover and trust the product.
- Omnipresence in marketing channels: Rather than seeking a single high-performing marketing channel, Command Bar adopted an approach of being present across multiple channels simultaneously. This included content marketing, ads, SEO, and more. The team focused on developing a unique perspective for each channel and quickly cutting what wasn't working, rather than expecting any single channel to drive a majority of growth.
