How Framer got its users

The artifact is a remix link, not a video. Framer's creator deliverable is a working project, and publishing a template requires a 'remix URL' field that clones that project into the viewer's own workspace, so the demo and the signup are the same click. Before recruiting anyone, ship your version: one URL that drops a finished, populated example into a stranger's account with no setup.

done whenTime yourself: from clicking your own example link while logged out to holding an editable copy in your account. More than one click plus a signup and creators have nothing to hand their audience.

Set the cut so it costs you nothing upfront. Framer takes 0% of Marketplace sales and does not process template payments at all, the creator wires their own checkout, and framer.com/creators offers 50% of a referred subscription for 12 months, tracked through Dub with Stripe payouts. Copy the shape: the creator keeps 100% of whatever they sell on top of your product, and you pay only out of subscription revenue that already landed. No brief, no flat fee.

done whenWrite down what one referred customer is worth to you over twelve months, then the share you could hand over and still profit. If you cannot name that number, you are not ready to open a referral program.

Every submission becomes a page you did not write. A Framer listing forces name, byline, description, images, categories, styles, features, preview URL and remix URL, then lands on framer.com/marketplace/templates where filters like portfolio or ecommerce match what people already type into search. Build that directory before you have creators, with the same required fields, so their work compounds into indexed pages instead of vanishing into a feed.

done whenSearch your own site for the phrase a buyer would type. If no page exists, and none would exist after a creator submits, your submission form is missing the fields that would create one.

Kill the approval queue. Framer's own help says templates publish without manual review and makes the creator responsible for quality, which is how the shelf filled up. Seed it yourself first: build five to ten listings under your own name so nobody lands on an empty marketplace, publish the checklist Framer publishes (consistent styling across pages, mobile and tablet breakpoints, no lorem ipsum, licensed assets), then let submissions go live instantly.

done whenCount the days between a creator hitting submit and their work being publicly live on your site. Anything above zero is a queue where you are the bottleneck.

Recruit with status, not cash. Framer names its surfaces (For You, Hype, Search, Marketplace) and tells creators to post in the Community the day they publish, and runs a separate Framer Expert tier that requires one real client project and original work, not template edits, paying out in a directory profile and a badge on Contra. Find the ten people already posting work made with your product and hand each one a listing, a tracked link and a named tier.

done whenList everyone who posted something made with your product in the last 30 days. If that list is empty, you have a product problem, not a creator problem, and no payout rate fixes it.