# Post-launch user motive interviews with anti-goals map

> Right after a launch, ask new users how they heard about you, why they signed up, and why they were referred, then turn the answers into a goals and anti-goals map.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/post-launch-user-motive-interviews-with-anti-goals-map/
- Source: [newsletter.posthog.com](https://newsletter.posthog.com/p/how-we-got-our-first-1000-users)
- GrowthDex source hub: [PostHog Newsletter](/sources/posthog-newsletter-newsletter-posthog-com/)
- Last checked: 2026-05-26
- Rarity: epic
- Budget: free
- Channels: Research, Founder-led, Product Marketing
- Stages: post-launch, user research, positioning, retention
- Key metric: PostHog reached 1,000 users in May 2020 after using post-launch interviews to guide feature and positioning choices

## Why this can grow

Launch traffic is noisy unless somebody turns it into product judgment. These interviews do that. They separate curiosity from repeat demand, show which promise actually pulled the user in, and expose what kind of company the market does not want you to become. The anti-goals part matters because it helps the team protect the thing early users already trust.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. For retention, I would watch the second and third use, not just the first click. A tactic is real when it changes a habit. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where post-launch user motive interviews with anti-goals map can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Research and Founder-led channel.
3. Use the evidence from newsletter.posthog.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

After its Hacker News launch, PostHog asked users how they heard about the product, why they signed up, and why they had been recommended it, then mapped what users loved and the anti-goals the company should avoid.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Deadline-backed pivot sprint for first-user validation](/growth-ideas/deadline-backed-pivot-sprint-for-first-user-validation/) - same source, 2 shared channels, 1 shared stage
- [Concierge onboarding with direct messages before self-serve](/growth-ideas/concierge-onboarding-with-direct-messages-before-self-serve/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 1 shared stage
- [Two-sentence founder ask for user interviews](/growth-ideas/two-sentence-founder-ask-for-user-interviews/) - same source, 1 shared channel
- [Founder 30-second reply SLA for early users](/growth-ideas/founder-30-second-reply-sla-for-early-users/) - same source, 1 shared stage

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Related GrowthDex essays

- [The first growth system usually looks manual](/blog/the-first-growth-system-usually-looks-manual/) - founder-led growth, brand trust, early-stage growth

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.