I almost quit my app last month. Now I’m launching on Product Hunt next Wednesday. 🚀
Hey everyone 👋
Just wanted to share a very real indie hacker moment with you all. For the past couple months, I was stuck in the infamous "API approval waiting room." The timeline was opaque, I lost my momentum, went into full cruise mode, and honestly... I was seriously thinking about throwing in the towel and moving on from the project.
But literally right when I was about to give up, I got the email: My Amadeus API production key was finally approved!
That was the exact spark I needed. I am officially back in the game and sprinting toward a launch. For context, I’m building Triply, a travel planning app, and getting this key changes everything for the product:
Day-by-day Itineraries: The core engine is now fully functional, generating daily activities tailored to the user's profile.
Massive Precision Boost: Thanks to Amadeus being live, the accuracy of flights and stopovers is finally where it needs to be.
Dynamic Destination Backgrounds (Unsplash API): I wanted to make the UI feel inspiring. So, I integrated the Unsplash API. Now, the moment a user searches for a destination, a beautiful, high-res photo of that exact place dynamically loads as the background of their itinerary page. It completely changes the vibe of the trip planning.
It’s crazy how fast things can change from "I'm shutting this down" to "I'm launching!" 😅
I'm finally launching Triply on Product Hunt next Wednesday. I’m feeling incredibly confident and hoping it's only up from here.
To anyone else stuck waiting on third-party approvals or feeling the friction: hang in there. Sometimes the breakthrough happens the exact moment you feel like quitting.
I’d love to connect with anyone launching soon or who has advice for a first-time PH launch! Cheers! 🍻
A one-week feature took two months, mostly spent keeping three systems in sync
Love this. The "API approval waiting room" is a special kind of founder pain because there's often nothing you can do except wait, and it's so easy to lose momentum during that period.
Congrats on getting the Amadeus production key approved! It sounds like that unlocks some of the most important parts of Triply, especially the flight accuracy and itinerary generation. The dynamic destination backgrounds are a nice touch too, those small UX details can make a travel product feel much more inspiring and memorable.
Also appreciate you sharing the part about almost quitting. A lot of founders talk about launches and wins, but not enough talk about those weeks where you're questioning whether to keep going.
Wishing you a successful Product Hunt launch next Wednesday. Make sure you're collecting testimonials, preparing your launch-day comments, and reaching out to your network early. Looking forward to seeing Triply go live
Thank you so much for this comment. You're so right—we absolutely need to talk more about what happens behind the scenes. Honestly, seeing all those stories here on IH, on PH and social media about people making exorbitant amounts of money in just 2 or 3 months used to leave me so demotivated. I kept asking myself: 'How did they do it? What am I doing wrong?' It made me question the value of Triply so many times.
I think we are dealing with an 'Instagrammed' version of the startup world. What would actually inspire people is the raw truth behind the 'sudden success,' showing the 'before' and 'during' to encourage those just starting out.
And to be completely honest, what scares me the most about the upcoming Product Hunt launch is the time constraint. Triply hasn't generated any revenue yet, so I still have to work my warehouse job to sustain myself. Balancing work while trying to reply to everyone in real-time is going to be a massive challenge. Thank you for listening and for the support—it means a lot!
I think you're spot on about the "Instagrammed" version of startups. People usually see the launch and success stories, but not the months of waiting, uncertainty, and grinding behind the scenes.
Honestly, the fact that you're building Triply while working a warehouse job makes the story even more impressive. A lot more founders are in that position than people realize.
As for Product Hunt, don't feel like you need to do everything yourself. And if you run into any technical issues before launch, feel free to reach out. I work with a professional developer and we'd be happy to help if needed.
Good luck with the launch, I'll be cheering for you!
Thank you so much. It really means a lot to hear that, especially coming from someone who gets it. Balancing the warehouse job with building Triply is exhausting, but it’s the reality for so many of us who don't have deep pockets or VC funding.
Honestly, I'm feeling incredibly proud of myself today. Not only am I building Triply, but I also built Onfoot—an exclusive location app for pedestrians. And literally just now, I got the email from the Play Store saying it has been approved for production! It’s a huge win and a massive boost for my confidence right before the launch.
Your offer to help with Triply means the world to me. Tech glitches right before a launch are my absolute nightmare, so knowing I have someone to reach out to takes a huge weight off my shoulders. Please extend my thanks to your developer as well!
Thank you for cheering me on—this extra boost of energy came at the perfect time!
Congrats
Getting Onfoot approved and preparing Triply for launch at the same time is a massive win. You should definitely be proud of yourself.
And no worries at all, happy to help. If you hit any technical roadblocks before launch, just give me a shout. My developer and I are always happy to help fellow founders.
Good luck with both launches!
What stood out to me wasn't the API approval.
It was how quickly it seems to have changed your confidence in the project.
I'm always curious in situations like that whether the approval changed the product itself, or whether it mostly changed what became possible to believe about the product.
Those can lead to surprisingly different decisions after launch.
Hi Aryan, You really made me stop and think.
To be honest, it was a mix of both, but it mostly changed what became possible to believe about the product.
Before the approval, Triply felt like a beautiful car without an engine. I believed in the vision, but knowing that the core value proposition (the flight accuracy and real-time itineraries) was blocked by a bureaucratic waiting room made the project feel 'fake' or stuck in limbo. It’s hard to project confidence when you are selling a promise that you physically cannot deliver yet.
Once the key was approved, the product technically changed because it became fully functional, but the psychological shift was much bigger. It validated that this is a real, viable product, not just a side project waiting on permission to exist.
I am completely right about how this affects decisions after launch. Now, instead of worrying if I can build it, I can focus entirely on how to scale it and make it better. Thank you for such a profound perspective!
The psychological shift makes complete sense.
What caught my attention is that a change in confidence and a change in understanding aren't always the same thing.
Those can end up producing very different decisions after launch.
I've got a few thoughts on that, but it's probably more than I'd try to unpack properly in a thread.
What's the best email to reach you on?
You've given me so much food for thought! And by the way, I haven't forgotten that we spoke before about 'Laura'—your insights back then helped me immensely, so I always value your perspective.
I'd absolutely love to hear your thoughts on this difference between confidence and understanding. You're completely right, it’s definitely a deeper conversation than a comment thread allows.
You can reach me at [email protected] (just in case you don't have it saved from our previous chats!). Looking forward to your email!