How Fathom Analytics got its users

Post the one screen before the code exists, and be honest about who saw it. Fathom began as a 2018 screenshot of a single analytics dashboard, posted by Paul Jarvis, who already had the Sunday Dispatches newsletter and the Company of One book behind him. The audience did the work, not the image. With zero followers, take that same screenshot into the threads where people already complain about Google Analytics and reply with it, instead of posting it to your own empty timeline.

done whenCount how many replies to your mockup come from accounts that had never heard of you, and how many ask when they can pay. Likes from people you already know do not count.

Give away the stripped version as code, not as a free plan. Fathom Lite is the original Go and Preact build on GitHub: self-hostable, downloaded millions of times, still bug-fixed but frozen on features. Its README carries a Lite versus hosted comparison table and a trial offer. GitHub and package registries do the distributing, which is why it works with no audience. Ship a version a stranger can run alone, with one honest line pointing at the hosted one.

done whenHand your repo to a stranger with no instructions from you. If they cannot get it running without emailing you, it is a demo, not a channel. Then check the README shows exactly one link to the paid version without scrolling.

Teach the stack your buyer already runs, under your own name. Jack Ellis publishes Fathom's real infrastructure on the company blog: migrating 6.5 billion rows off MongoDB, the move to Laravel Vapor, a standing Laravel tips category, plus Serverless Laravel and SingleStore courses on jackellis.me. The numbers are the hook, not the byline, so this starts from zero followers. Pick the one framework community your customers live in and publish your own migration with real figures.

done whenList three numbers from your own infrastructure, migrations or bills that you have never published. If you cannot find three, you have no material yet and the posts will read as filler.

Be first to explain the ruling that makes the incumbent illegal. The Austrian DPA decision landed 13 January 2022; Jack Ellis published 'Your website analytics are breaking the law' on 17 January, then a CNIL follow-up, an Above Board episode called 'EU Ruling: Google Analytics is now illegal', and a free Illegal Analytics Scanner. It landed because EU Isolation had already shipped. Rulings have no gatekeeper, so someone unknown can publish the plain-language version the same week.

done whenName the regulator, standards body or platform policy that could make your competitor non-compliant, and the feed you would watch for it. If you cannot name one in a minute, skip this step rather than inventing a news hook.

Credit word of mouth that leaves no link. Fathom's affiliate program pays 25% lifetime, is open only to people already paying for Fathom, and lets you register source keywords: your name, podcast or newsletter title. A signup that types that phrase into 'how did you hear about us' counts as yours with no click involved. Build the free-text field and the phrase mapping on day one. It costs nothing and catches the mentions a cookie loses.

done whenRead last month's 'how did you hear about us' answers. Count how many name a person, a podcast or a newsletter rather than a search engine. That number is the founder-led surface you already have.