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Baltimore Startup: BetaPunch A Great Beta Testing Solution For Startups INTERVIEW

Last month we brought you this story about BetaPunch, a startup in Baltimore Maryland that is a beta testing platform for other startups. They pride themselves on how easy it is for new startups to set up and recruit beta testers.

Typically a startup goes to friends and family for beta testing. This can be ineffective for several reasons. One of the reasons friends and family make bad beta testers is because they aren’t going to give you real honest feedback. Even if you have the dumbest idea in the world they’re going to tell you it’s great. That’s not good for testing your product.

The other problem with friends and family testing is that you’re going to run out of testers. Now there are some services out there that offer hundreds and hundreds of testers, but it may cost you hundreds and hundreds of dollars. That’s a lot of Ramen noodles you’re going to give up to get your Beta Test done.

LaunchRock is great for startups to start a mailing list, but most of the startups using LaunchRock never say when their beta test is going to happen, and when it does, the people who signed up have moved on to other things. I can’t tell you how many times I get an email back from a Launch Rock I signed up for months ago.

With BetaPunch though, it’s as easy as signing up. Installing their cool new widget and letting it rip.

We got a chance to talk with BetaPunch founder Ross Nochumowitz about BetaPunch, Baltimore’s startup scene, other startups he’s done, and being a bail bondsman during the day. The interview is below the break

Baltimore Startup: Need Beta Testers? Beta Punch Has You Covered

Ross Nochumowitz, is a bail bondsman by day and a startup founder by night. His startup called Beta Punch seeks to make the beta testing process more productive for startup founders and software launchers.

Beta Punch is a community of beta testers, almost a social network of beta testers if you will. There are other companies out there that promise and deliver beta testers for startups but with Nochumowitz’ Beta Punch, the beta testers themselves are ranked by startups and have their own competitive network within the community.

The other day I heard someone say if you show your startup off to everyone and they love it you’re doing something wrong. Nochumowitz echoes that philosophy telling tehccoktail.com:

“The biggest mistake that startups make while beta testing is asking the wrong people for feedback for their startup. Often times startup founders want to show their family or friends their next big idea, and no matter what it is ,they are going to tell you they like it.”

The other popular course for the beta test is LaunchRock. If you’re a startup or into the startup scene then you’ve probably seen one too many Launch Rock pages. While it’s a great concept and does work for some, many startups wait months and months to accumulate email addresses and then when it’s time for the beta people have forgotten about the startup or even worse, they’ve already tested a competing product.

Beta Punch has over 500 testers and has already worked with over 150 startups.

One thing about Beta Punch though is that the testers will give real feedback. I overheard someone at a startup event in New Orleans talking about “I don’t want to get bad feedback” whoa those guys need to go back to the workforce. Beta Punch is definitely worth checking out if you’ve got a startup product ready to be tested.

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