I Built Faster Than Ever, but Getting Users Became My Biggest Challenge

Initially, when I decided to work on yet another project of mine, I believed the challenge would be developing an application in practice rather than theoretically. The problem is that building software used to require significant technical skills or a whole team, at least several months, or maybe even a few years. Thanks to AI development tools, now the process has greatly been simplified, which enabled me to create and develop a working product very quickly.

However, after some time, I came to realize that although this fact was initially considered my advantage, now it appeared to be a barrier to product success. This is because the number of products being created thanks to such resources is constantly increasing, and now thousands of independent makers create their solutions to various problems. As a result, the internet is becoming overcrowded with AI-powered apps, tools, software, and other innovations that attract the same audience.

Somehow, I remember launching my product and expecting some immediate effect. The product functioned properly, early customers' reviews had been positive, almost all technical issues were sorted out. However, looking through the results and numbers of users, I understood that getting the product launched is not enough. One should invest efforts into promotion, as gaining early attention among potential users became a much bigger challenge than I initially expected.

Now I have learned to perceive launching a product as merely the beginning of yet another stage. I understand now that the process includes attracting potential customers' attention and learning their habits; moreover, now I focus on how new AI-powered software and tools gain visibility in an overpopulated online environment and how people discover and use various applications.

It seems to me that another conclusion I have reached concerns underestimation of distribution efforts among the founders of new startups. While building something worthwhile and developing a new tool become easier and easier due to AI-powered development platforms, distribution remains an issue requiring considerable time, effort, and certain knowledge.

It should be mentioned that I see the problem not as a difficulty in itself. Actually, it becomes more interesting when we see that now, the skills needed for launching AI products have somehow changed: nowadays, it is possible to create great things in a small team or even individually, and the internet allows doing it.
Overall, I am pleased that I met this challenge so early: it motivated me to move beyond the sphere of development and focus on how AI apps can be successfully distributed. Nowadays, building something new and valuable is not enough. It is equally important to distribute this product and attract enough users to make it flourish.