Celebrating “unsuccessful launch stories” is cool, too.
Getting bumped for an unsuccessful launch is NOT a healthy way for builders to live. Specially if you build a LOT of things… you’d be bumped all the time!
Instead I say: be gracious about it. Be thankful. Appreciate the feeling of shipping something you’ve been wrestling with for a while.
If that isn’t (at least part of) the beauty of this life, then what is? 😅
Uh, what? What do you mean I’m saying this because of another “unsuccessful” PH launch? I don’t know what you mean by unsuccessful. Progress is progress.
If I built it, and I shipped it, then that looks like a win to me.
Growing some thick skin is part of the process.
And that ends my intervention.
Good night.
—
P.S. Product Hunt buried our launch today in Nowhere, NY but, if you still want to check it out, we built a Meeting Navigator that helps you plan ahead meetings using AI - appreciate any support and feedback ✨
P.S.S. the pain wasn't enough, so we cranked it up a notch and launched ANOTHER product today lol. This one did get feature hehe. At the very least it's doing better than the Navigator. It's called AI Agents.
Thank you for the positivity! Yeah whenever I'm feeling down at how my product isn't doing well, I say well I did accomplish the initial launch.
You absolutely did! If more people felt it IS okay to "fail," they'd try more and we'd have a LOT more founders.
Easy to go crazy when you're in the valley, but when potential founders are isolated and "buried in their realities," the pull to conform + avoid any losses is just too strong.
I bet something like this happens to many Indie Hackers in less fancy places.
Kudos on launching FitFuelPlanner in the stores, man! I once tried shipping a much 'easier-to-build' app and got stuck in the mud. Respect.
Great attitude. I literally just wrote this relevant thread before ending up here.
This is the thread – this is the way.
It doesn't mean we don't love success story, matter of fact we do, but highlighting the work it takes certainly makes it more impressive. Followed!
For sure. We just need to keep it real. Success (generally) doesn't just happen. But it can appear that way on the internet.
Thank you! I really needed the pep talk today. I need to just "get up and launch!" :)
Glad it helped! What are you building tho?
I'm working on building a web-based game using open and free Satellite imagery. First-time Indie Hacker here, so this is a learning project for me and also is why I needed this pep-talk article.
Sweet! Let me know when you're on PH to send your listing some love.
PH = Product Hunt? Sorry, I am new to lingo.
Noted! Yeah, I meant Product Hunt.
It's not how we fall it's how we get up and keep fighting till we reach our goals! Hang in there success will come.
I've seen so many products that didn't get early traction and were sticked with and got to huge revenue.
Yes! We gotta believe in the process, and I think we gotta show it more, too. Not just "success stories".
Thanks for the support! Are you building something yourself?
we need to keep in mind that every failure is a lesson and we need to learn from it
Agreed! Running away from failure means running away from expertise. Awful tradeoff.
What strategies or mindsets have you found most helpful in developing resilience and a positive outlook in the face of launch challenges or perceived 'failures'?
Samuel Beckett has certainly contributed to that mindset lol
As a professional fail-er, I always loved that quote. I guess "Practicing failure" (as FS puts it) also seems like a natural way to build that resilience thru repetition. A non-traumatic way to do it: fail on purpose when stakes aren't that high (which coincidentally also means: ship more!)
That's a really good point, we need to treat "unsuccessful" launches positively or it becomes easy to lose momentum. I think the most important thing is to be able to pick ourselves up and launch again; I've had some "unsuccessful" launches previously and am in the process of launching FutureNotes (hopefully "successfully"!). I've upvoted your PH launch btw :D
You're spot on! I don't remember the exact quote but it's something along the lines of:
I like the way it puts it. And I think part of my rant comes from novel founders looking "success stories" all the time here but not enough "process stories". Yeah, made 4k in 3 days (true). But yeah, he also tried "unsuccessfully" to gain momentum with 10 other tools in the previous months before that (also true). As you say, it might not be totally good for momentum if you don't see the other side. Because doubts creeps in. Haha, lots to say about this, I guess, but I'll end it here.
Appreciate the support :D and do let me know when you're launching as well to send some love your way !
Thank you in advance :)
chawal insaan
Kis begherat ne comment delete kita?
Definitely agree. Always celebrate wins, also celebrate failures.
Always! What win or "failure" have you celebrated recently?
Aha, indeed!
My recent win was launching the initial version of my new project. It's always exhilarating to get something out into the world!
As for the "failure" – well, I like to think of it as part of the process. Let's just say the MVP is unpolished. It's a bit rough, but hey, that's the beauty of iteration, right? Embracing the 'ugly' is part of the journey to something great! Always launch early.
Totally! I just don't see that as a failure per se, seems more like a natural step in your journey.
Congrats on Locales.ai! Does it localize the product as well or is it more for the distribution side of things?
Thanks, Albert!
It localizes apps/web for multilingual translation. From personal experience, I faced challenges for my last app (cost, time, and translator management). So I have done 7 localization pilots for myself, friends and in Upwork, achieving human-level accuracy at less than 5% of the typical cost, and reducing turnaround time from weeks to just minutes or hours. Now I'm productizing the capabilities.
If you're looking to translate into 20 languages and reach 80% of the global audience, it is definitely for you. Feel free to test it out, and I'm available for a demo call to assist as well. Best of luck with your project too!
Thanks! For our use case I'd say it's still too early for something like this, but I'll sure keep that in mind for that price!
One thing that I start realizing there are few important components that is necessary for a successful project.
1. understand the market
If you are new to that market you know nothing. If you think you know , no you dont. You need to be in the market for quite sometimes to understand what is the ins and out of the market and what people want.
So if you are doing project A in market A and it failed , I would suggest you to do project B but still in market A.
2. Opportunity inside the market
Every market have opportunity . To spot it usually take experience.
These 2 things is like 90 % of success . That why starting from somewhere you already familiar, usually something related to your home place get you customer easily. You have the innate understanding of what people are looking for
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If you agree with me on this I just want your feed back on my tool decentool.com. The tool analyze thousands of keywords to give you top 100 keywords for your market.
Just give it a try and you might have some new insight of your market.
I've always been interested in whether there are examples of companies having a failed launch, and then going on to have success with that product (without a major pivot).
Can't think of any particular examples (at least any sold that way), but I'd assume this is the rule and not the exception?
I mean, at least if "overnight success" does come from all-nighters, failed campaigns, lots of ups and downs, etc.
Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. I think the essence of what I'm trying to work out is;
Let's say you launch on ProductHunt and it's a complete failure - you get barely any interest or upvotes despite putting a lot of work in.
Does that mean there's nothing there and you should pivot, or is it possible to turn that into a success somehow. I suspect the former (minus exceptions like you said).
Ahhhh - nah, I wouldn't be that harsh. I'd prob compare this with 'dating for men'... 😂
Places like PH just have too much supply of new products (and not enough demand or eyeballs). There's lots at stake to make it work: chance, your current support network having your back, brand recognition, timing, community sentiment of that day, etc., some of these aspects within your control, others... not so much.
I think that's why it's important to do things that do not scale at first. People don't know you and your value yet - but if we continue grinding, they will soon!
That makes sense. Thanks for the thoughtful reply!
This is such an inspiring post and an important reminder to persevere despite set-backs. It takes resilience and strength to make something over and over, and your work is commendable. Kudos for Celebrating “unsuccessful launch stories” – it's hugely worthwhile to keep innovating, and learn from past experiences!
Absolutely agree! Celebrating the process and effort is key. Thanks for the reminder!
Absolutely! Celebrating unsuccessful launch stories is a valuable exercise that can foster resilience, encourage innovation, and promote a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators. By acknowledging and learning from setbacks, we can cultivate a culture that embraces risk-taking and recognizes the importance of failure as a stepping stone to success.
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