12 days later: GuideMe jumped from 257 → 3,900 users (still zero ad spend)

Update on my last post (the doctor-with-a-travel-app one).

12 days ago I shared GuideMe at 257 users. As of right now: 3,900.

That's roughly 15x growth in less than 2 weeks. Still zero ad spend.

Still solo. Still operating on patients during the day.

📊 The numbers (Day 28):

→ 3,900 active users (up from 257)

→ 3,900 new users — essentially 100% organic

→ 28 active right now as I write this

→ 343 clicks on Travelpayouts affiliate links

→ $0 revenue (more on this below)

🤔 What I think is working:

1. The "doctor builds travel app" angle resonates more than I expected.

Multiple users mentioned it in feedback — there's something about

the unusual combination that makes people curious enough to try.

2. Real-time AI search (vs static training data). Travelers ask

"what's open right now in Lisbon?" and get an actual answer, not

a stale cached response.

3. PWA was the right call. Zero app store friction = zero install

barrier. Users land on guideme7.netlify.app and they're using

it within seconds.

🐛 What's not working:

1. Zero affiliate conversions despite 343 clicks on travel partner

links. Theory: users come for inspiration, then book elsewhere

because they don't trust a .netlify.app domain with their credit card.

2. The .netlify.app subdomain is blocking commercial credibility.

This is my priority for next week.

3. Drop-off at the API key entry step is higher than I'd like.

🎯 What I'm trying next:

- Custom domain (this week)

- Onboarding rework — defer the API key request until users have

actually felt the value

- Move affiliate links to post-decision stage instead of during

exploration

💭 Open questions for the IH community:

1. For those who've shipped consumer travel/AI tools — what was

your trick to converting "explorers" into "bookers"?

2. Has anyone tested "BYOK" (bring your own API key) vs "we host it"

models? Curious about retention differences.

3. At what point did you start charging? Torn between a Lifetime Pass

model now vs. growing the base for another 3 months.

Next update at the 60-day mark. Try it: guideme7.netlify.app