Noah Kagan. Success Not Because Of Facebook...But Because Of Facebook?

I have been following Noah Kagan for a while now and we have seen the same process as someone who wants to create a "brand" around themselves. Mark Rober does the same.

We have seen the promos and ad copy wherever he is mentioned:

X employee of Facebook
X employee of Mint
Creator of Appsumo

etc.

He has shown his business and marketing side multiple times but...

Appsumo wasn't the company that made Noah Kagan successful

Appsumo (the software deal website) is not the first company that Noah Kagan created. But even then, those are still not the success magic that occurred.

You get glimpses of it in posts and when readers comment (poorly) on a challenge that Noah has done.

The fact is that Noah had a friend network.

That is it.

Everything can be traced from that to everything else.

It is something we can all do

This is the realisation paradox.

Most people, when told of the reason- friends, they can not get behind it. So they look for something else. Something else has to be the magic key. But when you read about Noah you find that one factor is the key to all of the success that he has.

He even calls it "tending to your own garden". And it comes down to a piece of advice that all people who are selling something should follow:

Would you sell the same item to your family or friends?

When we opened our Medical Company, who do you think were our first customers? Family and friends. It is one of the most scary things to do. But if you believe in your product then you are doing them a service. You are providing value in something that they need. Dude Perfect, who do you think they sent their first video to on Facebook? Yep, friends and family.

So when Noah created Appsumo he found the first product Imgur because he knew the owner. Asked for a discount if he could send people to the product. Then contacted Reddit (because he was a constant Redditor) and knew the system. They agreed to advertise. That was the start of Appsumo. Now you have a product system that works and you can promote that it works.

Next product, who do you think Noah contacted to promote the product? Tim Ferris.

Would Imgur selling work if they didn't know you?

Highly likely no, unless you are a good sales person. But even then you need experience to show that you can do it. So how did Noah Kagan know the Imgur people?

Because they were his friend or he knew them.

Due to his time in Mint and Facebook Noah has been growing his friend list. He helped Tim promote his 4HWW book. So Tim reciprocated

The well known KopyWriting course? A friend from Mint.

People have complained that Noah uses his contacts to get far or to beat the system and launch products.

But this is completely unrealistic and not real world. No-one knows no one. We all have friends of some sort. But what happens is that:

we are not keeping in contact with them regularly
sometimes we "sell to them" so some posts can be insincere
we don't add friends to our business world
we don't mention our side hustles out of fear. Most of the time people are very much interested
we are concerned about offering products to our friends and family

The 4 step million dollar ebook sales and 24 hour challenges

Most of the challenges where people have gained tons of money quickly or done a quick time challenge is because they have:

pre-warned their subscribers/ list/ friends that something is going to happen
pre-sold in advance by usually months- building up to sale day
been in constant discussion and keeping the "list" warm
been adding to the list over time.

There is not much else.

But if you don't have any friends then you need to start joining in conversations online, adding valuable insight and comments. Over time you build up a reputation and audience.

Noah started this process early and built up his friend list. When the 24 hour challenge to make $1000 came up. It didnt matter what the product would be. I think it was Jerky he settled on. But the frame of the product was a snack for work or when you want something nutritious. And guess where he sent the link to?

His friends.

Highly likely some of his friends would buy. But then he asked his friends to recommend people who would also like the product. So now you have friends recommending a product.

People were outraged.

How dare you use your friends! Do it by yourself without your name and without your friends!

This was the main theme of the comments.

But again, thats just silly. No-one does that if they can help it. Business is hard enough without crippling yourself with a disadvantage that you don't need.

But again, people just didn't see the simplicity of it all.

Contact your friends and family with a product that you believe in and make a sale. Because, if you think about it. If those people- who you know and trust, buys a product from you then that is cool. If they don't? Well you know you have to do better. Because if you can not convince someone you know, how can you convince someone who has no clue who you are?

As always, we wish Noah Kagan all the best. Check out more digital product selling articles on the Jasonera blog.