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Beta program

961tech's M2 → public-launch gate requires ≥ 50 active users for ≥ 14 days (per launch-criteria.md). The beta program is how we get there.

Recruitment (target: 50 testers in 14 days)

Tier 1 — direct outreach (target: 10 testers)

MASTER emails / DMs 10 people directly: - 3 friends who build PCs - 3 active commenters in Lebanese r/lebanon PC threads - 2 university CS contacts - 2 random — someone who once asked MASTER "where to buy X"

Pitch: "Free tool, I built it, I want your honest reaction in 14 days, your name on a credits page if you want."

Tier 2 — soft channel announcement (target: 30 testers)

After Tier 1 confirms the tool works on a real-user device, post in 2 Lebanese tech channels (Telegram or Discord) with a "beta testers wanted" framing. Cap at 30 for these.

Tier 3 — wait list (target: 10 testers)

Open a public wait list at /beta (lightweight Tally form or Google form). First 10 from the list get in.

What testers get

  • Free access (everything is free anyway)
  • Credit on the public credits page (opt-in, displayed name only)
  • Direct line to MASTER for bugs / feature requests
  • A heads-up before public launch

What testers do

  • Use the tool naturally — at least one build attempt, at least one retailer comparison
  • File anything weird as a GitHub issue or DM
  • Optional: one short feedback form at day-7 and day-14

Feedback collection

GitHub Issues (default)

Most-honest path. Testers file issues directly; MASTER triages.

Tally form for non-GitHub testers

Most testers won't have a GitHub account. Use a Tally form (free) at /beta/feedback. Three questions:

  1. What did you try to do?
  2. What surprised you (good or bad)?
  3. Would you tell a friend? Why or why not?

Pipe submissions to feedback@961tech.dev and a public-but-anonymized markdown file.

Discord / WhatsApp (informal)

Set up a small dedicated Discord channel or WhatsApp group for testers. ~10 people max for signal-to-noise. Daily-active testers will use it for fast iteration.

SLA

Bugs filed during beta: - Acknowledge within 24h (one-line email or comment) - Triage within 72h — confirm severity, assign milestone - Critical / blocking → fix in current beta cycle - Non-blocking → next milestone, mention in release notes

What we measure

Per launch-criteria.md we need ≥ 50 active users for ≥ 14 days. "Active" = at least one session per week.

Track via: - Distinct hashed-IP sessions per day (Click table aggregate) - Feedback responses - Retention week-over-week

If retention < 30% W2/W1, abort the launch and figure out why.

Common beta-program failures we want to avoid

  • Recruit too many → can't reply to all the feedback. Cap at 50.
  • Recruit only friends → biased feedback. Tier 2 + Tier 3 are non-friends.
  • Not closing the loop on filed feedback. Reply to everything, even if just "thank you, won't fix because X."
  • Public launch before beta sign-off. Don't.

After beta

Write a postmortem at docs/postmortems/YYYY-MM-DD-beta-program.md. What worked, what didn't, what would change next time.

See also