Disclaimer: this posting was published on April 1st, 2022.
As a founder of a social media scheduling SaaS, I often get asked by customers how our service works. Today, I'm going to take you through a typical day in the life of ThreadStart.
First, let me start by saying that everything on ThreadStart is done by hand. We don't use any computers or algorithms to schedule our posts. It's all done by me, using a calendar and plenty of post-its!
Wait, what?
Yes, indeed! Many people are shocked to discover that everything on ThreadStart is actually posted by me, with a little assistance from post its, my calendar and lots of reminders.
It all starts when a user picks a scheduling date for their tweet. The moment they hit 'Schedule' I get an email notification. I'll print out the email, and then I'll grab a post-it for that day. I'll write out the tweet on the post-it, and then I'll stick it to my desk calendar. On top of that, I'll set up an alarm on my phone to remind me to post the tweet at the scheduled time.
As you can imagine, this process can take a lot of time and effort. But I believe that it's worth it in order to give our customers the best possible experience. Hand-posted, artisanal tweets.
But isn't that way too much work?
I have a pretty strict routine that I follow each day:
I wake up at 4:30 am, I open my email and look at all the new scheduling notifications.
Then, I start writing the post-its. I usually schedule around 1000 tweets per day. You can imagine the cramps after the first 500.
Parallel to the post-its, I will create a new alarm on my phone for each tweet. It's important to be organized!
These first step usually takes me about 4-12 hours to complete. Just in time for breakfast (or dinner).
If I hear an alarm, I will quickly log into ThreadStart, copy the text from the post-it and send it off into the feeds of their followers.
Once I'm done scheduling for the day, I fall into my bed, ready to be woken when the next alarm rings.
Business is booming, so there are a lot of them. A lot.
I can't even remember what silence sounds like.
I realize that this process might not be for everyone. Some people might find it "too time-consuming" or "too much work". But for me, it's worth it. I'm a firm believer in the saying 'if it's not broken, don't fix it'. And that's why I continue to hand-post all of our tweets.
Why wouldn't you automate this ?!
Startups require a lot of trade-offs, sticking to best practices and listening to advice of those before you is crucial. And as they say 'do things that don't scale'. It can't scale less than this!
Do your users know?
My users appreciate the process, listen to what they have to say:
"Wow, it really is all done by hand! As a customer of ThreadStart, I appreciate the extra effort that goes into each and every post. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes look, founder!"
"Wait, are you serious? Everything is posted by hand? I don't know what to think about that..."
"Hand-posted tweets? Really? I'm not sure if I can get on board with that, but I appreciate the effort... I guess... You're actually serious about that?!"
I'm out...
So, there you have it! A day in the life of a Twitter scheduling SaaS. As you can see, it's a lot of work, but it's worth it! Thanks for reading!
Wait, I gotta go... another alarm keeps ringing...
