3 Billion visits. A 30-year Google moat. I built the modern replacement. Now comes the hard part.
I spent the first 15 years of my career as a coder, and I was actually pretty good. But manager and director roles got offered, I took them, and I stopped building.
When agentic engineering started taking off, I knew I had to learn or I would get left behind. I also honestly wanted to see how real this "vibe coding" thing actually was. But I needed a project first. The best way to learn is to build, and the best thing to build is something you actually want to exist. I remembered worldtimebuddy.com. Used it 15 years ago. Looked it up, and people still use it, a lot. I had ideas: add a world map, a day/night shader, and let users simulate time movement across the globe. So I started building.
What I didn't expect was how fast it came together. Coding is like riding a bike. Despite 15+ years away from it, I had retained all the software engineering principles, and that turned out to be my superpower. The first couple of weeks I was genuinely shocked at how much I could ship with AI as my co-pilot. I know the term "vibe coding" has taken hold, but like Peter Steinberger, I consider it something of a slur. I prefer "Agentic Engineering" or "Agent Orchestrator". Whatever you call it, it changed everything for me.
Then I went deeper. I researched the whole time utility space: timeanddate.com, worldtimebuddy.com, time.is, savvytime.com, every major time utility site. What struck me was not just how old they were, but how old they felt. timeanddate.com was founded in 1995. time.is in 2011. worldtimebuddy.com in 2011. savvytime.com in 2013. These are not just legacy sites in name; they are legacy sites in every sense: the design, the UX, the features, the experience. They feel exactly like what they are, products of a different internet era, never truly modernized, just patched over time.
And yet they still drive insane traffic. 3 billion visits a year. Combined. Yes, that is not a typo. That is a "B". Billions. Nobody had built the modern version. That gap seemed insane to me.
So I decided to go all the way.
findtime.io is now a full modern time intelligence platform. Everything timeanddate.com does, the visual timezone comparison of worldtimebuddy.com, plus things none of them do: AI-powered meeting recommendations, city and country travel suggestions, a voice agent, and coverage across the entire world: 20,000+ cities, approximately 250 countries, and 400+ timezones. And very soon, scheduling features will be at parity with Calendly.
The platform is truly fully featured. There is a Telegram bot, a Discord bot, a Chrome extension, and a Slack bot coming soon. There is a developer API and an MCP server compatible with Codex, Cursor, and Claude. That last one is genuinely surreal. One of the most memorable moments building this was asking a Claude agent in Cursor, "What is the best meeting time between New York, London, and Sydney?" and watching it use my technology to spit out an answer. That moment made it feel like I had finally arrived as a true "Agentic Orchestrator".
One site for everything time.
Here is where I am at honestly: I am a builder, not a marketer, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. The incumbents have had 30 years to entrench themselves in every Google keyword that matters. timeanddate.com alone has been building Google domain authority since 1995. Cracking that without a real budget is brutal, and I have tried. I know the market is there. 3 billion visits a year tells me that. What I need is someone who lives and breathes growth, who knows how to build paid and organic acquisition engines against entrenched incumbents, and who can do what I cannot. That person is not me.
I am open to investment, and I will just say that plainly. But right now, I would value the right advice and the right connections just as much as capital. If you have been here before, if you have cracked a market dominated by legacy players with a 30-year Google head start, or if you know someone who has, I would genuinely love to hear from you.
The gap between 3 billion visits going to sites that feel like 2003 and nobody building the modern version is genuinely surprising until you think about why incumbents with 30 years of domain authority are almost impossible to outrank directly. The only path that actually works against that kind of SEO moat is going sideways finding distribution channels the incumbents aren’t optimizing for. The MCP server and Claude integration is interesting precisely because it bypasses Google entirely. Someone asking an AI agent what time it is in Tokyo doesn’t go through a search result. That’s a completely different acquisition funnel than anything timeanddate.com is built for. Curious whether the voice agent and Discord bot are showing meaningfully different retention than the web product those feel like the channels most likely to compound without needing to crack Google first.
The SEO path against timeanddate.com is close to unwinnable head-on. Thirty years of DA and crawl budget means Google has essentially already decided who answers timezone queries. You'd need a decade of patient backlink compounding to dent the branded keywords, and by then the space shifts anyway.
What's interesting is you've already built the better distribution path without fully framing it that way. The Telegram bot, Discord bot, Chrome extension, MCP server. Those aren't features. They're embedded distribution. Every workspace that installs your bot is a touchpoint that bypasses Google entirely. That's the moat the incumbents can't replicate quickly, not for lack of resources, but because it requires rebuilding the whole product architecture from scratch.
The honest version of your growth challenge: you need someone who can systematically seed those embedded channels. Developer communities, workspace admins, Discord server owners running async teams. It's a different motion than paid acquisition or content SEO. Closer to API-first growth, where usage compounds through integrations rather than rankings.
We've been working through the same embedded-first distribution problem from the Shopify side. The parallels are closer than they look.
What's your current install-to-active-use rate on the bots? That ratio tells you whether the embedded surface is actually sticking or just installing.
I appreciate your input, great insights.
Last 30d:
Discord | 45.5%
Chrome Extension | 25%
I am still waiting for Slack approval, they are so back logged because everyone can easily create Slack bots now.
Posts like this are why IH is the right community for indie builders — the honest retrospectives are so much more useful than the highlight reel you see elsewhere. One question: looking back, is there anything you would have validated differently before building? The pre-build validation question is one I keep wrestling with.
In my case, the numbers in terms of site visits to the legacy sites were very compelling, but more than that, its a utility that has been around for decades, and will never go away. Like barber shops - they will always exist because people will always need haircuts :). In this case, people around the world will always ask for time in some form. Whether it be as simple as asking for time in Cairo, to wanting to know, "If it is 9am in London, what time is it in Tokyo?"
The thesis was and is still very simple; disrupt a proven and existing market by modernizing it, and give the users a better product.
I knew this phase was going to be a challenge, and just a bridge I would have to cross when I arrived, so here I am.
At some point, paralysis by analysis will prevent you from building; and you just have to dive in. In this age of Agentic Engineering, at least you can prototype fast, but more importantly, since the space is moving so fast, you will be current, won't be left behind, and will always be learning.
Good luck, and go for it!
The "builder not a marketer" part resonates. I just launched a Chrome extension and the distribution side is genuinely harder than the months of building. Your integrations approach is smart though - letting Slack, Discord, and Telegram bring users to you instead of fighting SEO directly. That's something I'm thinking about for my own product too. Good luck cracking it.
Building and Growing are two unique skillsets, but in this day and age, one person is expected to build a Unicorn :)
Thanks for reading and replying. Best of luck to you, too!
The gap you spotted is real - legacy sites with billions of visits but UX frozen in 2011 is exactly the kind of opportunity that's easy to overlook because the traffic makes them look healthy.Respect for going all the way instead of building a partial clone.
Curious what's worked even slightly on the SEO front against those incumbents - long tail city-specific queries maybe? That seems like the only crack worth exploiting before paid kicks in.
It's tough, because timanddate.com and the others have really secured city specific queries, but I am trying. However, I have made some progress in other areas, for example, I am on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Time_Zone
as footnote 1 and 2. This is significant, since EST, EDT, Eastern Time are some of the most queried time related words.
Chipping away....
The "coding is like riding a bike" part hit home. I'm
on the opposite end, 18 and building my first real
project, but the principle is the same. The engineering
fundamentals matter more than the tools. AI helps you
ship faster but it doesn't help you make the right
architecture decisions.
Your honesty about being a builder not a marketer is
something I relate to. I launched my open source
project today and the distribution side is genuinely
harder than writing 65,000 lines of Rust. Building the
thing is the easy part. Getting people to care about it
is a completely different skill.
The gap you found is interesting too. Legacy products
with massive traffic but terrible UX is probably one of
the best spaces to build in. The demand is already
proven, you just have to be better. The SEO moat is
real though. Curious how you plan to get around it
without paid acquisition.
Good luck with it. The product looks solid.
I intend to update my story with learning as I make progress, or encounter setbacks :).
Thanks for the reply, and best of luck to you.
Looking forward to the updates. The SEO challenge
against 30-year incumbents is a really interesting
problem to follow. Good luck with it.
This is a great build + clear gap — the “modern layer on top of legacy traffic” angle is real 👍
Your problem isn’t product anymore, it’s distribution vs incumbents.
A few practical directions that could actually move the needle:
Don’t fight Google head-on (yet)
You won’t outrank 30-year domains quickly.
Instead:
→ go after specific use cases
(“best meeting time NY–London–Sydney”, “remote team timezone planner”)
→ long-tail + intent > generic keywords
Lean into your unfair advantage: interactivity
Legacy sites are static. You’re dynamic.
→ share short demos (GIFs/videos) of time simulation, AI scheduling
→ this works way better on X/LinkedIn/Reddit than SEO early on
Distribution via integrations (big one)
You already have:
→ Telegram, Discord, Chrome, API
Double down here:
→ Slack bot for teams
→ Notion / Zapier / Google Calendar integrations
Let other platforms bring you users.
“Use it once → come back forever” hook
Time tools are often one-off.
You need:
→ saved setups (teams, clients, recurring meetings)
→ make it sticky, not just useful
Positioning tweak
Not “another time tool”
→ “time intelligence for global teams”
That’s a higher-value narrative.
Growth shortcut (underrated)
Target:
→ remote teams
→ agencies
→ async-first companies
Offer:
→ free team setups / onboarding
→ turn a few into case studies
Your instinct is right — market is huge, but generic distribution won’t work.
Curious — where are your current users coming from right now?
Also, I’m running a small project (Tokyo Lore) where we highlight builders tackling markets like this and help them get in front of early adopters.
Since you’ve built something genuinely differentiated, this could be a strong fit — happy to share more 👍
Hi Tokyolore - thank you for responding, I've run a couple Soft Launch campaigns:
and added backlinks in various locations
KPI's were strong, and I actually did receive positive organic traffic from Japan, so I ran a very small campaign there.
These campaigns proved out the viability. I got what I needed with respect to data and KPI's, so I stopped those formal campaigns and I am now trying to focus on raising and growth marketing.
Happy to chat further, since Japan produced positive signals.
Feel free to reach out to me on X! : @findtime_
That’s solid — running Tier 3 → Tier 1 tests and then narrowing based on signals is the right approach 👍
Japan showing organic pull is especially interesting — that usually means the use case is naturally resonating, not just pushed traffic.
One thing you might want to double down on there:
→ remote teams + cross-timezone coordination
Japan-heavy workflows tend to be very schedule-sensitive, so your “time intelligence” angle could land really well.
Also feels like your next unlock is:
→ turning those early users into repeat usage (saved setups / recurring meetings)
That’s where this becomes sticky, not just a one-time tool.
Happy to continue on X — will reach out there 👍
Yeah, I already have saved setups, and I'll have full calendar integration soon, maybe even today - just waiting for Google to make the final approval on my OAuth scopes.
I am glad you called out saved setups. In my day job, I am a professional, so I know what it is like to work with remote teams, so had that feature from the beginning:
Talk soon!
Ah, that’s perfect — you’ve already solved the hardest part then.
Saved setups + upcoming calendar integration = this stops being a tool and starts becoming part of someone’s workflow. That’s where the real retention comes from.
And your team examples (NY–JP, IN–UK, etc.) are actually great positioning assets — that’s way more concrete than “time tool.” You could even turn those into quick demos or use-case pages.
Japan signal + real workflow use + integrations coming together… this is exactly the stage where things either stay a utility or become infrastructure.
On Tokyo Lore — this is actually the kind of product that’s interesting to test, because it’s easy to get initial use but harder to make it stick.
We usually put tools in front of a focused builder group and look at:
→ do they come back
→ what workflows they actually use
→ what makes it stick vs drop off
Since you’re right at that “early signal → growth” transition, it could be a really useful fit.
Happy to share details when we connect 👍”
Hi Tokyolore - I appreciate the continued engagement. Let's chat on X, or whatever is your chat protocol of choice.
I just did some analysis on the data, and the conclusion was:
"While the volume of organic traffic from Japan is low, the high engagement rate and, most importantly, the high number of key events relative to the number of users, suggest that the audience you are attracting is highly engaged and finds your content valuable. This indicates that Japan could indeed be a promising market for findtime.io, with clear signs of "stickiness" among the users who have found your site organically."
I found what you are doing with Tokyo Lore interesting, and based on the data and conclusion, I think findtime.io might be a good fit - would love to get it in front of users!
Looking forward to connecting.
Respect for the honesty. A lot of builders underestimate that replacing an old product and replacing an old distribution moat are two completely different jobs. Product gaps can be closed quickly now, but trust, habits, backlinks, and search authority are much slower moats to break. The opportunity is real if you find channels incumbents built weakly for.
Strong build. Weak name ceiling.
findtime.io sounds like a utility.
What you’ve actually built is infrastructure.
That gap matters more than it looks.
Utilities get used.
Infrastructure gets embedded.
And once you’re trying to become the time layer behind scheduling, bots, APIs, and AI agents, a generic utility name starts pricing you like a feature instead of a platform.
That becomes a real constraint once you move from traffic capture to distribution, integrations, and API adoption.
The product is much bigger than “find time.”
The name should be too.
Beryxa.com fits that transition a lot better if you’re serious about turning this into a category-level platform instead of just a smarter utility.
Thanks, agreed, great points.
Appreciate that.
That’s exactly the ceiling I was pointing at.
“findtime” works when the job is availability.
It gets expensive once the product becomes the scheduling layer other systems depend on.
That’s usually where utility names start compressing both perception and pricing.
Happy to send over 2–3 tighter directions if you’re actively thinking about repositioning this beyond the current wrapper.
Easier over DM / LinkedIn than inside the thread.