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14 Comments

Ask IH: If you went back in time knowing what you know now, what would you do differently in a past project?

I once ruined a project by trying to turn a paid app into a subscription one, alienating almost all users in the process and never recovering. So I guess I'd tell myself to be more careful about pricing structure changes, and to not mess too much with a good thing. What about you?

#ask-ih

  1. 5

    Very good question. Since graduating from university I have started many projects with the intent to create a business out of them. However, my current project is the only one that I have gotten all the way to the point that I have a MVP, a sales channel and trial customers (hopefully next up: revenue). So here are my thoughts on why this time I was successful getting this far:

    1. Limited focus : As a solo founder with a day job, it took me a long time to understand what is do-able in the amount of free time that I have. That amount is much much less than I used to think I was capable of because I was not accounting for the additional burden of marketing, customer feedback and infrastructure. The complexity and time required for these things grows at the same rate as the complexity and time required for your core project.

    2. Don't keep it a secret: In the beginning I always had a tendency to keep things a secret because I was scared that other people would steal my idea. But I have learned that this isn't as common as we might tend to think it is, and that the early feedback and validation gained by just talking about your idea with people you interact with is much much more valuable.

    3. Setting aside defined time: This is a tricky one, I used to get very stressed out about engagements with family and friends because I felt that I should be working all the time. After some time I learned that setting aside time (pretty strictly) for my project, I didn't feel that stress anymore when it came time to engage in the necessary social aspects of life. This improved my relationships with people rather than damaging it as I feared.

    Anyway, just my thoughts.

  2. 3

    I wouldn't take Venture Capital.

  3. 3

    How much back in time, lol? If I went back to high school, oh boy how much I'd change everything.

    Speaking of the product though, idk, so far no big regrets. The only thing I wish I did earlier is learn that I should be making simpler products.

    Also, interesting post, because I'm just going to update my pricing and make it subscription-first. But it's not like your case — the subscription will be only for new features, and I’ll still have a one-time purchase option for everything else.

    1. 2

      In my case it was $39.95 one-time payment changed to $9.95 monthly. When it was a one-time payment it was doing somewhere around $4k / month.

      After the change it naturally went down a lot the first month, but I figured that as people would subscribe for multiple months then in a few months I would overtake the previous numbers.

      Never happened. Ended up turning the $4k / month app into something closer to $1k / month, and it only declined further over time. Changing it back to one-time about a year later didn't help. I feel like I basically burned something like $50k I could have had by doing absolutely nothing!

      Don't just do something, stand there.

      1. 1

        Thanks for the insight. Mind telling what the app was?

  4. 3

    I would have not put it on the back burner.

    Years ago, I went out on my own. I had a product idea, some light validation and a little bit of runway to build it. I built a functional prototype and started getting validation for it. Since I had gone out on my own, I also took on client service work to pay the bills.

    That client service work really picked up and I shifted focus to that, all the while telling myself I'd get back to my product.

    I never did. Later, a few products were successfully launched that were very close to my idea. I always kick myself for "shelving" it.

    1. 1

      Interesting. I'm thinking of picking some client service work in the coming months. I'd like to keep it to something like 20-30 hours a month — that should be enough to make me a sustainable living and still leave plenty of time for my IH hustle.

  5. 1

    I would have been focusing on one core idea executed weem rather than excited new features one after the other deviating me from the original idea - which I am back to right now

  6. 1

    I would never have quit a good job because I wanted more money. Sometimes you have to stay humble to stay secure in your job. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

  7. 1

    I tried to get into reskinning game apps with no tech knowledge. I learned that it’s really important to a. Hire ‘good’ people and b. To watch them closely. C. To have airtight contract/deliverables.

    Project creep happened on one of the bigger ones I did and pretty soon it was “oh we just need to do 5 more hours and it will work” ended up paying ~$2k for a game that never made it to the App Store. No regrets because it was a valuable lesson but something I wish I had paid more attention to on the front end.

  8. 1

    Honestly, I should've thought critically and actually properly researched the requirements to enter the market. I created a product based on big social media sites unfortunately though it was after the inital large PR disaster that Facebook and other social media sites experienced which caused them to tighten up access to their api. The limitation that Facebook and instagram implemented would have required that I have a llc which is harder to create in my country and thus stopped me from pursuing my product even though it was 99% finished.

  9. 1

    Two things: I would not have given up and I would have worked harder to find the "sales" side of the equation.

  10. 1

    This is a great question. And one I think about a lot.

    Hindsight is a great teacher and I often wonder how I could have done Ministry of Testing differently - my current status there is as majority owner (alongside my husband), we've grown to a team of 10 permanent staff. I'm now mostly not involved in day to day stuff, but that took me 3 years to get to.

    At this point in time Ministry of Testing mostly makes money from conferences across the globe and it's online learning/content platform. In the early days I kept to a conference in my home town. I (often) actually think I would have made more money if I had just kept to that one conference location rather than focusing on growing to other locations and growing the tech side of things.

    Easier said than done...I had so many requests to do our conference in so many different locations and I found it really hard to say no. I'm super proud we are able to support 10 permanent staff (plus other freelancers), but it has been hard to deal with as well.

    In hindsight I wish I was better at saying no. But at the same time I also know that us growing to new locations has helped change and improve many people's lives.

    So now...it employs and pays people, including myself. I take a fair wage, but at the same time I'm no longer involved on a day to day basis. Longer term, I think I will be better off, but it is a risk that I'm taking.

    Mentally I prepare myself for the worst. Every week I picture it failing and I ask myself what I'd do if that is what would happen. I honestly do think it will continue to thrive, but it helps me cope with it all, and continue to seek the things that I'd like to spend MY time doing.

  11. 0

    Obviously, everyone would buy Bitcoin in 2010 :D

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