How I built and launched my first project in 7 days
Why
- to finally ship something. I had a problem with this. I was always building side projects but never launching.
- to have a clear deadline. It boosted my focus and kept me motivated.
- to get something that you can show to your audience. Building something fast is a great way to validate a project idea.
- to learn all aspects of building a product. It's nice to read how others build projects, but there are things you won't learn until you try.
How
- Decide what you build and for whom. I spent a lot of time finding my audience and discovering problems that people complain about.
- Prepare. I wrote down a plan for what I will do each day.
- Free your time. Be ready to work full-time on it. I left my job a few months ago, so I am now on a self-paid sabbatical.
- Shrink the scope as much as possible. I planned 3 days for development, 2 days for publishing, and 2 days for extra features in case I have time (I didn't).
- Embrace social accountability. I created a daily thread on Twitter with a #buildinpublic. There I posted daily goals, problems, and outcomes.
- Be ready to promote it. I prepared a list of major communities where potential users hang out before starting this week.
Takeaways
- Build something fast and show it to your audience. It works.
Trending on Indie Hackers
Keen to hear what's the project!)
It's a tool for planning long-distance bicycle trips. The idea is to help discover the best places to visit. I put the monthly average weather on a map in the first iteration.
I didn't want to post it here, because the audience is different. But if you are interested, you can check it out here touringstories.com
Im not a pro cyclist, but for me knowing where it's gonna be raining and where it wouldn't - is a much bigger factor than 1-2 degree difference.
Agree. The probability of rain is the next thing I'm adding to this tool.
So instead of putting monthly averages on the map, why not connect the forecast API so people can find the real weather forecast, not 100 year average
I think you'd rather put "plan route now" as a key feature, and put such averages into "plan a trip 1 month from now" section.
It's super low chance cyclists will want to google your site when they want to do a trip 6 months from now. You'll have way higher traffic from guys who wanna cycle this weekend (potentially me).
First of all, thank you for the feedback.
I've got what you are talking about, but it looks like you are proposing a tool for a different audience. I'm trying to focus on people who go on multi-day cycling trips in unfamiliar places. They usually prepare months before the trip. They book plane tickets, make a list of key places to visit, explore different routes, and research weather conditions in different seasons.
For example, I target someone who wants to go on a 10-day cycling tour in a completely different country. People don't usually do such decisions a couple of days before starting the trip.
I know that the size of this audience is significantly smaller than the size of the weekend cycling audience, but that's how I niche down.
If you want to go on a weekend trip you need a different kind of planning. You need to route from point A to point B. There are a lot of tools that do the job like Komoot, Strava, Ride with GPS, and even Google Maps. I don't want to compete with them. At least not in this phase. And since your trip is short in time and in distance it should be enough to check the weather in your favorite weather forecast provider.
Interesting strategy!