From $0 to Paying Customers: The Two-Page Strategy That Launched Buffer
The simple launch strategy behind Buffer
Imagine launching a product with $0, no coding team, and just a two-page website—yet landing paying customers within days. That’s how Buffer began.
Joel Gascoigne wasn’t trying to build the next big thing. He was solving a personal frustration: scheduling tweets shouldn’t take hours of manual work. When existing tools failed to deliver, Joel decided to create a solution. But before investing time or money into building anything, he tested his idea the scrappy way—with a landing page and a bold question: Would anyone pay for this?
Here’s how Joel turned that experiment into a business.
The Challenge
Joel loved sharing quotes and blog posts on Twitter. But there was one problem: tweeting consistently throughout the day felt impossible.
Existing tools let him schedule tweets, but they required him to pick specific times for each one. Joel just wanted a simple solution: schedule tweets to go out five times a day without thinking about exact times. For a while, he tracked everything in a notepad, but the process was too clunky.
That’s when the idea for Buffer was born: a tool that would make scheduling tweets as easy as tweeting in real-time.
But Joel had learned from a previous startup failure. Instead of building the product outright, he decided to test if others shared his problem—and if they’d pay for a solution.
The Launch Strategy
Joel took inspiration from Eric Ries’ Lean Startup methodology and approached the launch as an experiment:
1. The Two-Page MVP
Joel built a simple landing page that explained the concept of Buffer. It included one key call-to-action: “Sign up to be notified when we launch.”
• Page 1: Explained the product’s benefits.
• Page 2: Collected email addresses.
He tweeted the link and asked for feedback. The goal was simple: validate whether people were interested enough to leave their email.
2. Testing Willingness to Pay
To test if users would pay for the product, Joel added a pricing page between the two original pages. Visitors had to select a pricing plan (free or paid) before submitting their email.
• Pricing options: $0, $5, or $20.
• Each click showed intent and gauged whether people valued the idea enough to pay for it.
3. Building the Product
After validating interest and willingness to pay, Joel started building Buffer in his evenings and weekends. He focused only on the core functionality—scheduling tweets five times a day—and left out extras like a guided signup flow to meet his self-imposed deadline.
Buffer launched on November 30, 2010, after seven weeks of development.
The Impact
• Launch Day Success: Joel shared Buffer on Hacker News, where it resonated with the community.
• First Customers: Within three days, Buffer landed its first paying customer—a $5 payment that Joel described as “jumping-around-the-room” exciting.
• Early Growth: By the end of the first month, Buffer had 100 signups and three paying customers.
This scrappy launch proved two things: people wanted the product, and some were willing to pay for it. That early validation gave Joel the confidence to keep building.
Main Takeaways
1. Validate Before You Build
A simple landing page can reveal whether people care about your idea. Don’t spend time building a product until you’ve validated demand.
2. Test Willingness to Pay
Adding a pricing page to Joel’s MVP was critical. It showed that users not only liked the idea but were willing to pay for it.
3. Focus on Core Features
Joel launched Buffer with just one core feature: scheduling tweets. Extras can wait. Launching fast allows you to collect real feedback and improve over time.
4. Celebrate the Small Wins
That $5 payment wasn’t just revenue—it was validation. Small wins can motivate you to keep going.
Buffer’s story shows that you don’t need a big budget or a perfect product to launch. You just need a clear problem, a scrappy strategy, and the willingness to learn as you go.
Want more stories like this? Subscribe to The Launcher for weekly breakdowns of how startups turn small ideas into big wins!