June 2024 at UXHack - 10k Users, AI & more

I generally don't keep resolutions but deep down I thought this year, I want to be consistent at sharing yearly and monthly updates.

The year started on a good note with UXHack recap of 2023 but then I couldn't keep up with it.

So here I am again. Restarting the updates piece with all we learned, accomplished, and failed at UXHack in June 2024.

Key highlight(s) of the month

10000+ users

This was a number that was there in our heads for some time. Glad that we crossed this milestone. Though it's not easy to provide value to everyone still we will strive hard to bring in better learning, career, earning, and networking interventions for our members.

Leveraging AI

In fact, I would rank this higher than the 10k number. Basis what we have been able to accomplish so far, we are in a big shift!

The day everyone realizes the power of Generative AI, it will lead to a mass disruption. 

Just for perspective: Earlier we estimated getting 2-3 designers and 2-3 Frontend devs for this project. However, after our AI pocs and client reviews, we can now accomplish the same with 1 designer and 1 frontend developer.

Cold reachouts with almost 100% open rates

Just to be sure, this is relevant if you are still an Early stage startup or SMB and 10-20 cold reachouts/day is good enough for your business 

So cold reachouts, I see it as 3 step process: Creating your prospect list, Finding emails, and Sending a mail campaign (including follow-ups)

For the first two steps, there are plenty of options: Buy your prospect database, Subscribe to tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, FindthatLead, ContactOut and more.

However, where my struggle has always been is the last step. From all the tools I have used so far, the open rates hover around 40-50%. This setup works if you are sending reachouts in bulk. However, that is not the case with us. We always want to keep it personal and contextual.

However, that means too much operational overhead. Finally, we have now implemented a mail merge solution called Streak in our workflow. And so far with the 15-20 odd contacts we have seen pretty high open rates. Now to the next battle, of experimenting with email copies to get them to engage :)