Cold Start User Acquisition

A breakdown of how Dharmesh Shah grew Wordplay.com from zero to millions of users by leveraging existing platforms and viral mechanics.

Initial User Acquisition Strategy

• Leveraged existing social media following
  • 1 million LinkedIn followers
  • 300,000 Twitter followers
• Used multiple distribution channels
  • Personal blog
  • Email list
  • Social media posts
• First week results: 50,000-100,000 users

Viral Growth Mechanics

• Added key features missing from original Wordle
  • Unlimited play (vs. once per day)
  • Challenge friends feature
    • Share links to specific games
    • Invite others to beat your score
    • Easy sharing to WhatsApp groups and social platforms

Growth Metrics & Monetization

• Current stats
  • 45 million games played
  • 9.5 million total users
  • 2-3,000 concurrent players at any time
  • Average session time increased from 4 to 14 minutes
• Monetization potential
  • $90,000/month through Google AdSense
  • Estimated value: $2-3 million (5x yearly revenue)
  • Main costs: Just hosting and time

Key Learning

• Cold start is the hardest part
  • Focus on getting first 100-1,000 users
  • Use existing platforms/audience
• Track key metrics
  • User retention
  • Time spent
  • Share button usage
• Enable viral loops
  • Make sharing easy
  • Create competition mechanics
  • Allow for group engagement