Forget uniqueness. Do marketing first.

Thanks for the comment! Glad you agree — it’s easy to get stuck in the idea of a “unique” product, but validating the market first really saves time. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Totally agree — marketing is the key skill for modern indie founders. I come from a dev background too, and it took me way too long to realize just how much it matters. You can build a great product, but without knowing how to get it in front of people, it’ll just sit there. The more I learn about marketing, the more I respect how deep and complex it really is. Definitely not something you can “just figure out later.”

That's awesome, glad to hear it's working for you! I’ll definitely try outreach later too — right now I’m focused on testing inbound first.

Absolutely — building in public can work really well, especially when your target audience is developers or indie founders who hang out on the same platforms. But if your product is for a different kind of user, it might not convert to sales directly. In that case, it’s still worth doing to grow an audience for future launches. Having people who follow your work makes every launch easier — even if just a small percentage turn into users, it compounds over time.

Thanks! Good luck with the beta — what's the product about?

For me, I wouldn’t build the product first. The key is to find clients who are willing to pay. I’d aim to get at least 10 paying customers before moving forward with development. There are different ways to go about it — a landing page is just one way to get the message out, but you can also do outreach, calls, or even create a presentation. It depends on the niche and your starting point.

If it were me, I’d probably start with a landing page that clearly shows what the product is about (which is necessary anyway). From there, I’d use lead forms or outreach to gather leads and sell to them. Once I had at least 10 people who were ready to pay, that’s when I’d focus on building the product.

Thanks! Glad you liked the approach. Execution and distribution really are the key. Appreciate the feedback!

Yes, in my case, the landing page includes a registration button as if the product is already available, followed by a form to request a trial. I mention that a checkout with a card is required and that I'll send a link to start the trial via email. I also make it clear that no charges will be made before the trial ends.

This is important because it helps attract leads who aren’t scared off by having to enter card details — I’m confirming upfront that they’re ready to pay. Otherwise, you could end up with hundreds of leads who aren't actually willing to pay and just wanted to "check it out."

I agree with you on the uniqueness point. A lot of people try to solve unique problems, which often leads to solving problems that don’t really exist. But uniqueness doesn’t always have to be about the product itself — it can be in your marketing (selling on Instagram when everyone else is focused on SEO), design, or even something subtle that makes you stand out.

A good example would be bottled water — the market is huge, there are thousands of producers, and the product is essentially the same: drinking water. Yet, these businesses thrive because their uniqueness lies in the bottle design, the taste (everyone has their own audience), where it’s sold, and even the exclusivity of it in certain stores. It’s still just water, solving the same problem, but there’s always a way to create differentiation.

So, I totally agree — marketing and positioning can create a unique angle that matters, even in a crowded space.

I think it’s less about being solo or not — if you can’t sell your product, then there’s no point in building it. Otherwise, what’s the purpose? I can understand that some people might feel more comfortable selling a ready product, but if it doesn’t work out, you’ve just wasted time. I’ve been down the road of building the product first, and then struggling for a long time to make my first sales. I got lucky in the end, but it could’ve gone the other way.

Thanks! Appreciate it 💯

Right now, I’m testing my first channel — Google Ads. I’ve actually written a post about it here: Why I'm Testing Paid Ads Before Building My SaaS Product.

The ads are still in the learning phase, so I’ll share the results once I have more data. If this channel doesn’t work out, I’ll move on to others, like cold outreach or getting listed in classified directories.

I’ve just started using X myself, so the results are still limited and I’m not an expert in this area either. But I’m giving it a try. Once I gather more experience and insights, I might share what I’ve learned.

The ad campaign is still in the learning phase. It looks like the search ads need a lot more time to optimize, while the social media ads learned in about a day. The search campaign has been in the learning phase for a few days now, so we're still waiting on results.

On the organic side, I've gotten about 200 visits from content on IndieHackers and X, and so far there are 4 leads. One of those has an invalid email, and 3 others haven't responded yet.

To draw any meaningful conclusions, I need to fill the funnel with at least 100 leads. Based on my experience, about 10% of them should convert to sales, so anything less than that means the data isn't complete yet.

Once the ad campaigns start showing results, I’ll write a post sharing the insights and the next steps.

Of course, if you’re focused on a niche and differentiate yourself from others — that's great. But even that’s not always necessary. In large markets, there’s often room for multiple similar products. It's a misconception that all users know every product on the market and compare them. Some people might discover your product first and buy it without ever having compared it to others.

So, standing out doesn't always require a completely unique product. Even identical products can be sold and promoted differently, and that in itself can be a form of uniqueness. For example, you could market in a different way, use different channels, or target a different audience, which can make your offering stand out, even if the core product is the same.

Yes, I’ve got some organic traffic from X and Indie Hackers. So far, I’ve had 4 leads from there — one with an invalid email and three that didn’t respond. The ad campaign is still learning, so no leads from that yet, but I’ll share results once I start seeing them.

To really make conclusions, I need at least 100 leads in the funnel. From my experience, the conversion rate from lead to sale is around 10%, so it’s still too early to draw any conclusions. There have been very few leads, and I haven’t had contact with anyone yet.