HACKER Q&A
📣 robbiejs

Should I use “we” or “I” in product communication?


Hi HN,

I'm Robbert, creator of fast JavaScript data table library DataGridXL. You might have seen the Hacker News post a few days ago where I introduced v2 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30919257).

The product is a solo effort (and ideally it should stay that way).

My question is: should I write as "I" on my website or "we"?

I chose to communicate using "we" on my website. The main reason for this is that I am afraid that (larger) companies would not take my product seriously when they find out that it's a one man project. I would miss out on sales.

However, it would be nice to not have to pretend. I know other creators (Pieter Levels of Nomadlist comes to mind) that do not pretend to be a company of people.

Are there any people on this forum that have dealt with this for their own product? Or perhaps have a strong opinion on this topic? I am very much open to suggestions.


  👤 robbiejs Accepted Answer ✓
Hi HN, I'm Robbert, creator of fast JavaScript data table library DataGridXL. You might have seen the Hacker News post a few days ago where I introduced v2 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30919257).

The product is a solo effort (and ideally it should stay that way).

My question is: should I write as "I" on my website or "we"?

I chose to communicate using "we" on my website. The main reason for this is that I am afraid that (larger) companies would not take my product seriously when they find out that it's a one man project. I would miss out on sales.

However, it would be nice to not have to pretend. I know other creators (Pieter Levels of Nomadlist comes to mind) that do not pretend to be a company of people.

Are there any people on this forum that have dealt with this for their own product? Or perhaps have a strong opinion on this topic? I am very much open to suggestions.


👤 georgia_peach
Illeism. georgia_peach thinks the power move is to go full Elmo.

👤 bitxbitxbitcoin
The Royal we. Every we is “you and I” the reader and the writer (you) so you can comfortably use we even though you mean I and potential clients will see what they want.

👤 uberman
Are you an LLC or sole proprietor perhaps DBA Vanilla Components?