Build it. Will they come? (journey to 100 customers)

Chaos, a bookmarking app (https://makechaos.app/) I released three weeks ago, now has 130+ users, and its first ever paying customers. It seems like a modest statistic, but in this post I contend that modest != failure.

We are constantly fed this vision by Silicon Valley, venture capitalists and incubators that successful founders work 24/7, must constantly pivot to find elusive product-market fit, raise tons of money, and go big or go home. I have seen "successful" YCombinator teams constantly jump from one idea to another without any firm commitment, chipping away at their funding until an idea "fits" (or rather, fits the expectations of VCs or cherry-picked users).

On the other hand, I have also encountered builders so committed to their craft or esoteric niche that they lose sight of all but a handful of users. A perfectly good product gathers dust while the founder tries to build something that no one wants. Alternatively, founders are swayed so heavily by user feedback that the final product becomes an undesirable concoction of ideas.

So, should one seek product market fit before building in the hopes of striking it big OR steadily grow an idea with firm conviction?

With Chaos, I tried to tread a middle ground. From the very beginning, I told myself that I was creating something first and foremost for myself. Frustrated by Pocket, Raindrop and other bookmarking tools, I endeavored to make something different. I did not expect anyone to use my creation except for me. By tempering my ambition in this way, I was able to work on Chaos without worrying about funding, scaling and all the other problems that come with the "go big or go home" mentality. My full-time job, learning, sleep, and relaxation (Netflix!) were priorities for me, not fallen by the wayside.

I spent about a year building Chaos, constantly adding features for myself and a few other close colleagues that supported my work. They convinced me to be more ambitious, and to change some features to make Chaos accessible to more users. Only then did I think about broadening my niche, and establishing Chaos as a polished product. A few weeks later, I launched on ProductHunt, and here we are!

I was surprised/pleased by the positive response, even if I didn't have an explosive launch. I didn't pay a single dollar for promotion or advertising. I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time growth hacking, but I did spend an inordinate amount of time building something that could be useful for myself and others. That paid off when I could give my very first users a product that is more complete than half-baked.

We are taught not to trust our own instincts as builders, but sometimes that is our most valuable asset. If you have something you are excited about, why not build it? They will come.

If you're interested in trying out Chaos, you can find it here: https://makechaos.app/. Feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading :)