**Sunday Edition: Retro!**

Lots of great stuff to unpack...

re Reusable platform. I separated the app from the API as I saw the API as, long-term, being able to serve up content for those who prefer to be voyeurs and would enjoy being consumers, rather than players. Lots of challenges with that approach in terms of privacy, permissions, etc. But I figured I'd come to that bridge when it exists, meaning I had content.

re Audience. Folks that are single. I read hundreds (thousands?) of negative reviews for a range of dating apps. Folks who wanted something more meaningful than just swiping. Folks who wanted a more novel way to find matches online. Folks who wanted to make their intention crystal clear... so forth and so on. I need 1000 paid users. I've no question that I could get there within 2 years. But at what cost?

re Let it ride. I could definitely let it ride.

And thanks for the shout out re strengths. It's important to remember those suckers when facing a whole bucket of fails!

(Laughing!) "The other site is absolute garbage." Yeah. It hurts so good.

And that's the million dollar question. Do I think I could earn a certain amount of cheddar by February 2020, if I started from scratch today. The truth is... I don't know. But I could certainly pick a place to add value that doesn't involve building a social network. And I've definitely learned some hard lessons about SEO, that I'm now equipped to put into play...

Thanks for feeding me all this food for thought!

phew! big post, I'd taken a deliberate week long break from the stand-up posts to reset my own internal expectations...and this is what I came back to.

I'm conflicted on this. While it's always discouraging to find yourself realizing perhaps a project can't go forward for financial reasons, I also find it extremely freeing to acknowledge that you have a collection of learnings to apply to the next thing. What you seem to have landed on re profitability of your business is that in order for it to become the thing that frees you is that it needs to be essentially a loss leader for a time. At least in it's current form.

It's a tough decision to drop something like you've clearly worked hard on. For me it generally boils down to 3 things when I decide to drop a project.

1.) is the experiment over and do I see reason to continue?
2.) if it is over and I can see it being profitable enough, can my current runway get me there without driving me crazy?
3.) if yes, skip 3, else can I leverage something I learned into a billable skillset, a well targeted partnership, or profitable alternate product?

I think of all startup projects as experiments in some sense. The hypothesis is always "I believe that I can get this running in my budget (I always try to bootstrap), and that if it gets finished I can generate enough traffic to achieve profitability (product market fit on a timeline)." There are two parts to that. The first has always been the easiest part for makers, getting something cool built is the fun part for most people, but where I fall down, and you seem to be similar in this respect, is in generating traffic for growth. I shuttered 3 ventures last year, but learned something valuable in each. None of them were nearly as focused or well executed as Happy Endings but recognizing the learning has value as well. So despite your hesitation I do think you've come out on top in this project no matter which direction you take with this.

For number 2 I do think you've given yourself a reason to continue since the 'experiment' confirms that it can be built and it can be profitable (I'd call it a qualified pass with the caveat that the timeline didn't meet expectations). You seem to be struggling with the idea that feeding your intended lifestyle at this point appears that it will take far longer than you originally anticipated. Your runway is the question I'd answer.

My number 3 suggests it's time to explore. Which can be it's own exciting prospect. You've clearly got some chops here, so it may well be you can leverage this as a showcase piece to chase some contract work while it grows. Or you could reach out to big names in the space (I'm thinking podcast hosts or bigger content channels) who might be willing to let you leverage some of their reach in a partnership. That's tricky though, because it's often the hardest to talk yourself into if you're oriented toward solopreneurship. You also have a collection of things you could now share with the world and leverage toward building your email list which you could then leverage for your next project.

You're in a tough spot. My advice, guess I might as well be specific, is to reach out for partnerships and start leveraging the product to build your personal brand while you re-evaluate. Half of 1000 paying users beats all of 5 any day of the week, and lack of growth seems to be what is sapping your motivation. If you're still convinced that it can be profitable, motivation is key if you're going to continue, and I think inviting someone else to help build audience while you do some low grade pseudo self promotion with blogs or social posts and whatnot would buy you some mental space and clear some of your overhead. It could be just the thing to disconnect yourself a bit from your product and allow you some breathing room until you come to a clear decision to shut down or a renewed motivation to push it through.

Good luck with this, and if it comes down to you needing a new project, no worries...there are more than enough ideas to go around.

Ah.. the "it isn't working out as I had hoped" feeling. It is the feeling I have all the time about Vimalin. There is a market, but the market doesn't know it yet and that can be frustrating.

It is so hard to grow something if it isn't an immediate hit and it just needs time for that organic growth. How many things take off immediately?
Yes I know that it happens, but it is not that common and you have to be lucky to win that particular jackpot. For all of the others, it's just a matter of "keep on going" and count your winnings.

Personally I would not consider terminating happy endings unless it:
a) costs too much to keep it going
b) takes a lot of time to maintain
If one of those two really are an issue, see if you can find a way to make it less of a problem.

I think you have a great idea there, it is a pretty unique concept and will take time to grow organically.
Make sure you have the SEO parts covered which you can do that do not cost a lot of money.

A project does not have to be a constant draw on your attention. If you need a bit of breathing time then take that time. It is well deserved!

re. moving abroad. That was one of my best decisions ever. When I met my -now- wife in person, I knew what to do. Within weeks after meeting her I moved abroad to go live together with her. Before that we had been writing with each other for over a year.
Sounds familiar? ;)

Hey @Harlem, that's absolutely a tough position.

I imagine the formula to decide whether or not to keep going is influenced mostly by how viable the biz is looking and how passionate you are to keep going. If you don't have a shitload of one, or sufficient of both, then not a strong case to keep going.

If going on will be both an arduous slog AND antithetical to your goal of wanderlust, then I'd worry you'd grow more and more frustrated. If traction is slow, and your gut isn't telling you to keep trucking, then that's a sign to put it aside.

You're way more experienced and skilled now than you were before, and you always have the work you've done waiting for potential opportunities, so it's by no means a bad outcome.

Good luck!

Tough one. I think you got a lot of great replies. Forgive me for my brevity, been super pressed for time. Maybe the best thing I can do is tell a story:

It's 2016. I'm working on my app, Taskforce, which I'd been on-and-off with since 2011. Revenue was around $500-$1k/mo and slowly decreasing. No clue how to market and grow it. No real passion to do so either. Had a feature list a mile long that I was convinced I needed to finish before the app was no longer embarrassing. It would've taken 6 months. But I didn't want to just give up, bc I'd spent so much time on it.

Then I saw a few people start businesses and surpass my revenue in their first month. That was an eye opener. Finally gave me the boost I needed to ignore the sunk costs and move on to a new idea. Best decision I could've made. I was super disciplined with the requirements for my next idea, so I cycled through many ideas that didn't pass this checklist until I got to Indie Hackers, which did.

Can you make Happy Endings work? It's possible. But is it more likely than making some new business work? Doubtful. There are many, many, many, many new business ideas that will begin working instantly, because there's just a painfully obvious demand for what those businesses are producing.

My personal business idea checklist has "must work fast" on it, exactly so I can avoid the dilemma of not knowing when to quit.

Hey @Harlem I'm super late here, but I understand the feeling all too well.

I think before even considering quitting, you need a checklist - and be ultimately honest with yourself.

The problem to me sounds like a user acquisition one. Are the expensive costs of acquisition a property of Happy Endings, or are they a property of the marketing method you've chosen?

I've been facing a similiar issue with WeSit. Ads have been a serious dent, and the CAC is way too high for it to be worth is. We cancelled ads a few weeks ago, and implemented a "Share Profile" button for sitters - we've gotten way more interest due to that functionality than we had for both Facebook and AdWords combined.

I've been reading Traction; particularly the accountability section. Every business (startup to large) needs an Operations function, a Sales & Marketing one, and a Financial one. One person needs to be responsible per function...and you're in good company if every functional seat has a person who Wants the seat (passionate about it), Gets the seat (understands the function and knows its importance) and has the capacity to fulfil it (has the skill and time)

I recently came to accept that oh crap, while I want the Sales & Marketing seat...I don't really Get it, nor do I have the capacity - and we're therefore not running at our optimal rate.

I think you should at least spend some time going back to your vision and asking yourself why you started Happy Endings, and then looking at your goals you've set for yourself, uncover the issues that are hindering them...and really dig deep into them - most of the times, the real issue is a few levels deeper. Hope this helps in some way.

Sorry for the late response. Real talk - I was in my own similar funk also. You have to listen to your customers/users by way of what they're saying/doing or not saying/doing. Remember when people tell you who they are believe them. This is extremely difficult because if we truly listen we're learn what we don't want to hear but need to know. Dating sites are hard, I should know because I've tried to launch a marketplace several times. DAMN I'm hardheaded!

Anyways look at what your customers/users behavior are telling you that generally will predict what they'll do in the future. Remember we're creatures of habit. Is there another demographic that would value Happy Endings? Or is there another problem out there that a few tweaks or a certain feature of Happy Endings would greatly help another segment, niche or industry?

If you remove dating from your vocabulary what problem pops up that crosses paths on what you've been working on?

Another thing, what/how are your competitors' business models indirectly/directly influencing/training consumers perception/value of online dating? Are they feeling entitled that certain experiences should be free? I know I'm coming across that myself regarding data. What is Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid, or Match.com doing to get people hot & bothered to open up their wallets?

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Hmmmm. What's the specificity you're seeking? The question is based upon my challenges to date, what would be your criteria for distinguishing between continuing the good fight and just cause for pivoting?

Great feedback, @Davey!

I love this feedback. I'll be taking it into account :)

It's a really awesome feeling when you use a tool that just fits exactly what you need. Trello never did it for me. Those Clubhouse features sound awesome, and they also sound like a pain to implement in Brisa haha.

I think of 2 main differentiators to Brisa: (1) Getting smaller notes down (* haha) that don't belong in a kanban, and (2) building on ideas over time (eg adding boards to a card later, and nesting boards occasionally). It's a huge IF whether that solves problems for anyone other than myself. I think of it as a tool for people where Evernote + Trello (mix and match a note/project app) meant they never used either. I have other ideas, but I think it likely makes Brisa fall into a features trap, or a "can do everything, good at nothing" trap. Also, the lucrative part of the market is in teams and projects, not so much notes.

I love the whiteboard haha. It helps me a lot.

And you're right about Kanbans. The problem with not picking a market is wanting to sound professional to the people who know what it means, and trying to simplify terms for another group. I like task board :)

Back to "Get it down" - I'll probably phase out that text based on your feedback. It's the simplest way I could express "take down notes/ideas/goals/etc easily as soon as you think of them, so you won't lose it."

Using it on a phone is really damn hard haha. I'll have to give it a try on a tablet or ipad. The dashboard is pretty ugly no matter where you use it :-P

This feedback is incredible, I really appreciate it! I'm saving it for later, I'll be pouring over the details!

Brisa has to notify users when stuff changes in the app. Right now, I have notifications in-app. But I really, really want push notifications, and maybe an e-mail option as well. Both seem pretty easy, although I'd need to make it PWA-capable or build a small phone app to support push.

Here ya go (2 images, top is still in progress, has placeholders, etc):
https://imgur.com/a/zPlwGNm

I'll love any feedback in the coming week before the month ends, on content, and hopefully on a video as well :)

Yeah, it's tricky.

I've got a half dozen blog posts on the burners right now, should be pumping those out in the next several weeks.

One series I'm particularly looking forward to is essentially building the AdventureWorks database and most of the needed webapis from scratch using nothing more than an OpenAPI spec (reverse engineered from the original adventureworks database). Basically a demonstration that the bulk of the backend can be generated without a huge time commitment, allowing the devs to focus on more complex APIs in the business and UI layers.

Great points ! thanks

uninstalls in absolute terms are remaining relatively the same. Installs have decreased.
re: why the intermediary -- more of en experiment for a couple reasons. a) to see if providing a landing page would be beneficial b) to see if my ads help since conversion tracking on an extension doesn't seem to work very well, c) see if there is value in trying to get people to sign up for other purposes.
Overall, doesn't seem worth it.

@AndrewV has already been invaluable in testing an early Android version quickly and helping me sort out some bugs I couldn’t reproduce on my end with an older device. This allowed me to start my Android beta like 5 weeks ahead of schedule and reducing some of the risks there.