This Is How You Should Actually Make Launch Videos

Y Combinator · · 47 min

Y Combinator's Aaron Epstein talks with Hey Clicky founder Farza Majeed about launch videos. Farza argues that frequent, scripted but casual demos shot on a phone beat expensive produced videos at getting real users.

Watch the episode 47 min · YouTube

The gist

  1. Farza says to launch small demos constantly; his one-take GPT Realtime demo controlling Spotify got 3.8 million views on Twitter and 4.6 million on Instagram.
  2. He judges videos by retention: the first Clicky video got about 3 million views, 7,000 downloads, and roughly 100 people using it daily for 5 days.

What they recommend · 6 picks

Screen Studio Strong yes Software & apps

"For demos on my computer, which is just like what I'm hacking on that day, I always use this thing called Screen Studio. I think it's made by some indie hacker. It's just really..."

DJI Mic Strong yes Gear & hardware

"The most important thing in any video you make, doesn't matter if it's a shitty Loom or your iPhone, is audio quality. If your audio is bad, I'm bouncing... I think if every fou..."

Farza Majeed ·3 creators recommend it·Farza's gear & hardware →
TikTok Software & apps

"We started making TikToks that were just targeting design agencies. I would literally say, 'Hey, are you the founder of a design agency? Stop right there.' And that's how we fou..."

Farza Majeed ·24 creators recommend it·Farza's software & apps →

Y, Riley, Greg and Alex agree on 20 things

See what they all use, in their own words. Paid ads are left out.

See what they all swear by Or pick your own people

Made by someone on this episode

Freewrite · Farza Majeed's — A free, open-source minimalist writing app built by Farza Majeed.

Also mentioned

0:57 Y Combinator · "Built an online school for kids, which I did with YC in 2020 with you."
1:01 Buildspace · "That turned into a company called Buildspace, which became one of the largest schools for people who wanted..."
2:04 Hacker News · "Back then, you had to do stuff like post on Hacker News, post on Product Hunt, go to Reddit, find the right..."
2:04 Product Hunt · "Back then, you had to do stuff like post on Hacker News, post on Product Hunt, go to Reddit, find the right..."
6:05 Clicky · "This is Clicky. Clicky is this little blue guy that follows your cursor on the user's computer. And it's..."
9:12 Xcode · "Also, look at the first frame of the video. It's very purposely Xcode. Why? Because I know that initially..."

What do Y and experts like them all swear by?

20 things in common

See