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How do you discover new providers?

General Discussion by uma 3 replies 168 views
uma

Member OP

99.99% or bust

#1

Running this because my graphs don't lie: my discovery channels have shifted dramatically. Used to be 70% forum threads, 30% random search. Now:

  • Discord: 34%
  • YouTube reviews: 28%
  • Word of mouth (regional): 22%
  • Traditional forums: 12%
  • Status page stalking: 4%
Forum decline is real. But word-of-mouth in secondary markets persists stronger than expected. My own last three moves: OVHcloud via colleague, Leaseweb via YouTube stress test, Time4VPS via Discord outage thread. What's your breakdown? Particularly interested if you're outside US/EU tier-1 markets.

436 days. reboot is surrender.
pieter_rtm

Member

9 #2

As @uma said, 40% Discord referral last quarter. Numbers:

  • Direct: 31%
  • Discord/Reddit hybrid: 40%
  • YouTube: 18%
  • Forum: 8%
  • Other: 3%

Bullet list for why we stopped forum sponsorships:

  • CPM tripled since 2022
  • Demo audience aged 45+, not our target
  • YouTube conversion 2.3x higher

Dry humor: we still have one customer who found us via IRC. He pays on time. We keep the server.

Containers before it was cool
Zurich1984

Member

#3

Discovery cost too. /24 will cost you a kidney and now a Discord Nitro subscription to get insider deals.

Forum decline is market maturation. Less arbitrage, less need to share. Used to post Contabo deals here, got 50 signups. Now same deal, 3 signups, 2 chargebacks.

YouTube reviewers want free gear. Discord mods want free gear. Everyone wants free gear. Only word-of-mouth in my country still honest because shame culture prevents overselling your cousin.

/24 for sale. No lowballs.
olya

Member

Always Free

#4

Pro tip: Oracle free tier discovery is 90% YouTube, 10% desperate search. I wrote the guide everyone links.

Steps to find actually usable free tier info:

  • Search "always free" not "free tier" - marketing changed terms in 2023
  • Filter YouTube by upload date, ignore pre-2024 guides
  • Check my repo: oracle.com/free-tier-tracker

Heads up: Discord is worse for Oracle specifically. Too much "just sign up" noise, not enough "here is the 15th way they ban your account" detail.

Regional word-of-mouth works for Oracle in India and Brazil. US/EU users seem to prefer video.

licensing is a suggestion

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