I built something I wouldn't use myself
I spent some free time building an online menu + QR code generator, and it's ready to go.
But when the time to bring it to market came, I didn't feel like working on it anymore.
Let me explain.
The solution is validated, there are businesses using competitors and there is space in the market for another player, or so I believe.
So I jumped on the idea and started building it. It was great to polish some UI design skills, learn more about copy and even work with localization for the first time. I had a good time.
Now I need to find the first customers. I could go in person and talk to restaurant and bar owners. Or send cold emails. Or paid marketing.
Guess what? The motivation is gone.
Marketing and sales aren't my jam, but I'm happy to learn them and give them a try. But it's hard to do it when you're not excited about what you're working on.
And this feeling makes the joy of being an indie hacker go away. The journey becomes harder. I've got to fix it. And for that, I want to work on things I'm excited about.
I don't want to shelve the product. It's ready to be used and improved. But I'm neglecting it now.
Should I try to sell it? Maybe find a sales co-founder?
What would you do?
IMO, motivation sometimes comes from the feedback loop. Always try something new and see how it works.
You might wanna give out some free stickers of the QR code to the owner to display at the store front, then start monitoring the traffics. You may find it rewarding when you see numbers grow.
I really like the multi-language support and I believe you can find your niche. I would suggest to print multiple QR codes on a single page, with each QR code having a national flag logo in the middle. Find a tourist-y spot in your city and give out to those restaurants with tripadvisor stickers. See which language is scanned the most.
If it's too complicated, maybe start speaking to your favorite local restaurants and show the owners what you've made and see their reactions.
After all, your design looks gorgeous! Hope you can find your first customer soon and come back share your story with us!
That's solid advice, the feedback loop can definitely give a new perspective to it.
The suggestions you have are great, and I have something similar written down in my notes. Maybe I should go outside and talk to some customers to see how this experiment goes.
Thanks!
Back in November, I started my first-ever startup project. I created a landing page, made some mockups, and started inviting people online to check it out. I ended up with a good number of people on the waiting list.
However, after a while, my interest in the project died off. I had outgrown the initial concept and didn't need it anymore. It wasn't solving any real pain points for me. So, I pivoted and focused on solving real pain points within the same space. Now, I'm almost done completing my first-ever app.
I may have missed out on an opportunity, but honestly, who cares? In my opinion, being excited about your project every day is a priority.
Also, it's possible that the idea of going to restaurants and talking to people is the reason why you don't want to continue with your current project. If that's the case, you could consider partnering with someone who enjoys that sort of activity.
Yeah, the thought of having to go outside and do it from door to door isn't quite my thing, I have to say.
It could be an opportunity to learn something new, but the friction already exists.
But yeah, the excitement of working on a project is what I envisioned when going indie, and even though we need to get out of our comfort zone from time to time, it's also important to know what we're looking for.
Thanks for the input!
Hey Marcel,
I've been creating, marketing and selling products for nearly 20 years.
I enjoy marketing and selling.
Do I feel like doing it most days?
Nope.
I'd rather be playing with my children, fishing, playing guitar and a whole host of activities that don't involve "working".
But I still do them.
I think we've fallen for this idea that we're supposed to love every second of our work - but nobody loves every second of work. Every single job/business has aspects of it we don't like. That's life.
The problem you have is common for developers - you love building. But building isn't enough for a successful business, it's 90% marketing and selling.
If you want to keep building things - stick with the day job and just build projects on the side for fun.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, you've got to push through.
That being said, there's ways to make marketing more fun (and more effective) - I talk my approach of selling a belief system all the time on here and on my website (www.thebluntmethod.com). This makes marketing more interesting for you (as you're sharing opinions - something you do for fun anyway) and more effective.
But even then, it's still going to feel like a chore for you. So, you've got a choice to make - be an entrepreneur and suck up the boredom, or stick with building things for fun.
Good luck!
Best
Chris
You're completely right Chris, we tend to want to do only what we love, especially programmers, we love our craft, but there's a lot more involved in the process.
In all honesty, I always push through the difficult parts, always have, and that brought me far enough. But I guess sometimes it's fine to accept "this is not for me" and find an alternative. And that's what I'm considering now.
The moment this situation started taking the joy away from me, not only regarding this project but also from the others I have, that's when I had to re-evaluate it.
I accept there'll be boring parts, but I gotta love what I'm building, that's a requirement that I'm learning the hard way.
Thanks for the honest opinion!
No problem. You're welcome.
We only live once (as far as we can tell!). If something is making you miserable then yep it's definitely not worth it. Good luck whatever decision you make :-)
Yes, you must do it. There are many tool bases sites that will be your prime customers.
Hi Marcel Cruz,
It's understandable that you're feeling demotivated, but it's important to figure out why. Is it because you're not excited about the product anymore or is it because you're not excited about the marketing and sales aspect?
If it's the former, then maybe it's time to move on and work on something that excites you more. However, if it's the latter, then finding a sales co-founder or someone who can handle that aspect of the business may be a good option.
Another option could be to try and outsource the marketing and sales tasks to a freelancer or agency. That way, you can focus on the parts of the business that you enjoy and leave the marketing and sales to someone else.
Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what's best for your situation. But it's important to address the root cause of your demotivation and find a solution that works for you.
https://modlonely.com
[BEST REGARDS]
Olividevid
I guess it's a mix of both, you know.
The marketing and sales part isn't quite my jam, but also the excitement for the project is gone, especially because it isn't something I'd use myself.
I'll consider onboarding someone to help me with this part, maybe.
Thank for the perspective!
I would like to know, if this is an open source. I prefer to white label the same with appropriate credits to the original developer.
That's a closed-source project, at least for the moment.
I know the feeling. Its hard to market if you aren't excited coze the learning curve is already huge there when you get into it.
I don't have much saas experience but I'm already gaining some marketing experience while growing my first saas product and its really difficult even when its something you love. So i can totally understand how you must be feeling right now.
Knowing the efforts you may've put into this, I would say If you know theres a market there and people are willing to pay for this then have a shot at it for a while and see your results for a month/two unless you really can't work on this due to other factors.
If you do get a chance to sell it, would recommend doing so as you can then work on stuff you like.
Yeah, I thought about selling it to get a longer runway and not have the feeling of time wasted on the app.
Not sure if it's easy to sell a project that never tried going to market, though.
I'll say try to find that first customer. If it works out, then you might stumble onto something that will grow it from there.
Else, if its in good production ready condition then have it listed on micro-acquire or somewhere and see if you can at least sell it for something based on how ready-to-use the product is.
I'vent tried this before, surely it would be hard to sell pre-revenue but you never know.
Hey there. Former product manager at a F&B tech startup here.
Maybe you would want to ask yourself why you are building this product.
There are dozens of digital menu and online ordering saas out there. What would differentiate you from some of the big guys out there. Design? Price? Feature?
Knowing WHY you are building something can go a long way in keeping you motivated in rolling out solutions and marketing it to the users. I think this is a reason why side projects gets abandoned; founders built something but don't see know why they built it.
Solid point.
I started it because I thought there was space in the market, which I think still exists, but there's more than that to keep the motivation alive.
Maybe getting some initial traction could help bring me back to where I was before and get on track again.
Thank you for your perspective!
Man, I'm in the same situation as you. Have something ready to go but finding the motivation to put it in front of the people that will use it is difficult.
I think some of that is a lack of confidence in the final product, especially if it's something that you yourself won't find value in.
Personally, this is my first time building a saas so the skills and experience learned to this point was fully worth it regardless.
Now it's time to set aside a couple hours a day to grind out that marketing, validate or invalidate the project, then move on to the next thing with that experience in hand.
All the best!
Definitely, just learning during the process is already worth it, there's always something that can be transferred to a future project.
I wish you the best of luck on your journey too!
Hi,
I would like to know, if this is an open source. I prefer to white label the same with appropriate credits to the original developer.
Let me know if that can be done.
Thanks!
If I were in your place... i will definitely do something.... First you try your self at different places.. but all in vain.. now you have to do some thing... you have to make website of your product. and make it rank in your location.. with this you will get a good customers. also you can do a facebook advertisement with this you will get good customer.
Yeah, I have a few ideas of what to do next, but the motivation to do them is the problem.
Maybe I'll just have to get started, then things might go from there.
Thanks for sharing your experience Marcel. What I've learned from this is that sales and marketing channels should be well considered before building. Do you rely on a marketplace, socials, Tik Tok, foot-work, Google? And check if it fits your style. I think Devresourc.es -> Public APIs was a great spin off. Reusing the work to tackle different niches is beneficial. Good luck with your current and future projects
You nailed it, Lucian!
The more I'm building, the more I can foresee when starting a new project again, it's a matter of living through these experiences.
It seems this time around I learnt about being excited about the product I'm building. You know some of my projects, and they're all towards the dev community, and that's what keeps me going.
Cardapium was the first for a different market, hence why I'm just now figuring this feeling out.
The important thing is to learn.
Thank you for the support!
I think some of that is a lack of confidence in the final product, especially if it's something that you yourself won't find value in.
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