Build a product, not a feature.
I initially started working on building a SAAS boiler template for me to quickly iterate and launch products. To showcase the boiler plate, I started building tracktok io. Here's a sample dashboard, https://app.tracktok.io/sample/lorengray
Learnt quite a lot, frontend, backend, data scraping, product management, sales. Today, I choose to stop working on this with the release of Tiktok's own tool
called creator market place.
What did I learn from months of 18 hours work?
Don't write a single line of code before you get 10 customers.
Solve a problem
I am solving a problem, just that the problem is more effectively solved by tiktok since they have first party data access.
I have been in the same boat many times haha.
My problem is that before doing much market research I already just find myself coding.
And the reason is that I like coding much more than marketing. Perhaps I should invest more towards marketing and promotion.
Can you relate to this?
Yep!. We should move out from a developer mindset to a business mindset. Users don't care about what tech stack we use, they care about the output.
Even if the code is extremely shitty, if it works, it works.
Well Ashwin, i am not getting you right here... You mean before developing any app you should run a feasibility analysis and stuff? We have to propose to consumers first about the product we want to develop, then code after you see any success in the project?
Yep. Just build a very basic web page. Have a UI mockup. Start talking to customers first and then start coding.
It's such great guidance, but getting prospective users to chat about something brand new and not even invented yet is so tough. So many don't want to be bothered besides. I really tip my hat to those who have a client pain point fall in their laps.
make something people will pay for
Yep.