Coding is easy, marketing is hard: lessons from a dev trying to build products
Hey IH đź‘‹
I’m a full-stack dev trying to figure out the entrepreneur side of things. My first project didn’t work out, but it taught me a lot.
That project was a tiny feature flag service. The idea came from a client who was using ConfigCat. He only needed a few flags to turn features on/off, but once he scaled past their free tier (I think 10 flags), he was forced into a paid plan that felt way too expensive for what he actually used. He asked me to build an in-house alternative, which worked fine for him — and gave me the idea to turn it into a product.
So I built a lightweight version in 2 weeks: free to register and create flags, pay only when reading them through APIs (1 backend + 1 client API). My thinking was: if I build fast, I don’t need to overthink market research. The price point was way below competitors, and it felt fair.
But reality check:
- The market was already saturated.
- Subscriptions are a hard sell compared to one-time payments (something I’ve noticed over and over).
- And “fast build” doesn’t mean people will come.
Still, I don’t regret it. I shipped quickly, learned a ton, and when it failed, it didn’t sting too much because of how little time I sunk in.
My second attempt came from another client project. They wanted real feedback from their visitors, so we hacked together a popup asking targeted questions (about design, pricing, usability). To my surprise, ~20% of people answered. That feedback turned into concrete product and design decisions. It was such a simple system, but it worked.
That’s what inspired me to build my next project. This time, I focused on making it a small, embeddable script that works anywhere, optimized to load fast.
On the tech side:
- Next.js + Vercel for speed
- Neon for Postgres
- Stripe for payments
- ForwardMail for replies
- TypeScript (I’ve been using it for years)
Fast workflow: pushing straight to main, shipping SaaS templates, iterating quickly
The harder part has been marketing. I tried Product Hunt, Reddit, TinyLaunch, AlternativeTo — each gave me a trickle of visitors. The only real spike came from Hacker News. That taught me distribution isn’t about “launch everywhere,” but about finding the right channel and moment. Still learning, still experimenting.
All of this eventually turned into my new project: https://letzask.co/
I feel like I’m building faster now, but learning the marketing side much slower. If you’ve been in the same spot — solid on dev, struggling on distribution — I’d love to hear how you approached it.
Thanks for reading 🙌
Super relatable post, Piatra. Your realization that finding the right channel is more important than being 'everywhere' is a huge marketing lesson in itself.
​It seems the key is figuring out why Hacker News worked so well. It’s a massive clue about who your ideal customer is and where they spend their time.
​If any marketing questions come up as you continue to build, feel free to reach out. I'd be happy to help.
Thanks for the offer! I do have two question. You mentioned I should figure out why HN worked have you ever had a similar experience where one channel outperformed everything else? How did you double down on it? For me, HN feels like a one-time (maybe two-time) boost, so I’m curious how to turn that kind of traction into something more sustainable.
Hey Piatra, fantastic questions. Turning a one-time traffic "spike" into a repeatable system for acquiring users is one of the hardest parts of the founder journey.
​The key is hidden in the data you already have. The comments on your Hacker News thread are a goldmine for building a very specific profile of your ideal first customer, not just "developers."
​I have a framework for how to deconstruct that data, but it's probably too much for a comment thread. What's the best way to connect off-platform to share some more thoughts? Maybe over email?
Interested to know more about your framework. Email sounds great,but for both our privacy lets not drop personal emails here, you can send me an email at [email protected] and I will get that.
This is so relatable. "Building faster now, but learning the marketing side much slower" perfectly describes my journey too. Thanks for sharing this.
Really appreciate how openly you shared this. The ' if you build it , they will come part is such a common trap. Thanks for reminding that validation and market research are just as important as speed .
good
Really resonate with your point, Piatra — building is quick, but getting traction is the long game. Funny thing is, the 20% response rate on your popup proves that when the message is clear and low-friction, users engage. From my side (UX/copy angle), I’ve noticed that distribution isn’t always about more channels, it’s often about refining the way the product speaks: the wording on the signup flow, the pricing explanation, even the microcopy in CTAs. Tiny shifts in how the value is framed can change conversion more than another launch post. Curious — have you tried tweaking copy in your flows as much as the tech itself?
I have tried and you are correct, most important thing I found is design / wording in the first screen they see on landing page. That will make or break the page. People will drop off if that content is not perfect. Usually I found it good to start with stating the problem and how you fix it if you check LetzAsk I write there "Why guess what your customers think, let's ask them" so problem first, fix after.
You’re spot on. The first screen makes or breaks conversion. In my UX and copy audits, I’ve seen even a single headline or microcopy tweak lift engagement dramatically. It’s not just about stating the problem but framing it in the user’s words and pairing it with clear next steps. Have you explored testing different headline angles or layout flows to see which resonates most with your audience?
Good points! For an app I built, I originally posted in a reddit thread which really gave me a boost in traffic, but felt a little lost after there figuring out the best channel to market in.
Do you have any advice about finding the right 'channel' for the niche solution you are offering?
To be honest, I struggle with that also but I found something that works to get organic traffic. Try finding other people who have the problem you are trying to solve and help them. For example for LetzAsk I went on reddit and instead of posting an ad like post there on some thread, I found problems / questions ppl had like how to get feedback from visitors, why ppl are not filling up in-app surveys and shared my experience and how I solved them, while briefly mentioning I made a tool to solve just that.
Hope it helps. Glad to answer any other questions.
I appreciate the insights! Currently planning my launch and determining how to market my platform most effectively. I'm curious, what made you decide to move on to the next projects, rather than pivoting?
I didn’t completely abandon them. I still make small improvements and try to get some traction, but since they haven’t found paying users yet, I just treat them as experiments that didn’t hit. My mindset is to build fast and keep the time investment low. If one starts to get real usage, then I’ll put more energy into it. Until then I’d rather not over-invest before people show they actually want it.
This is just my approach because my strength is building not marketing or market research, still learning both.
What are you actively trying in terms of marketing for your project, I would be really interested if you want to share?
Good luck on your launch!
The harder part is marketing because you have defined the development very narrowly. If you wanted to head on compete with https://www.asknicely.com then suddenly the development would seem like the bigger ask.
True and I would never want to compete with asknicely their "Learn" plan is $400+ a month, they are more enterprise oriented. I find marketing hard because I never did it before starting few projects myself, but I am slowly learning.
Thx for the comment.
How are you getting on with your advice? If you want to chat about your approach I'd be happy to set up a call.
Thanks for the advice. Gonna make use of it
Totally relatable! How are you going about getting users for testing and interviews on your newest project?
I build fast and most my products are SaaS so I usually build a product to solve one of my issues and use it in another product to test it. Example is LetzAsk which I built to find out why ppl are not converting on one of my projects, and I use it there to answer questions. This way I also test it, use it myself and quickly be able to iterate.
But if you only have 1 product it is different, you can either start a community Discord, Reddit, X but these require some time to build an audience. Depends on what you are building.
This comment was deleted 7 months ago.