I finally released my first app. Need advice
After some months of learning iOS app development, I finally released my first app. However, I'm having second thoughts on wherever I should even try to market it.
You see, the app started as the typical "Todo App" tutorial. However, I decided to keep adding features to just one app, rather than doing multiple toy apps.
This kept going, and I started getting positive feedback on Twitter that I released a beta.
Long story short, I learned a lot from the full experience of building an app from start to finish, but it's an app I don't believe can earn a lot of money.
I'll leave the link if you want to see the screenshots and tell me what you think!
I'm not sure if I should even make a ProductHunt launch because I'm afraid it will be a big disaster and not get many likes.
Should I just focus on my next idea, or should I give ProductHunt a try?
The link: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/divergent-todo-app-for-adhd/id6443977467
Hey Paco,
The problem you have right now is your mindset - you're so scared of failure that you'd rather just give up without even trying.
If you want to succeed at anything in life you need to embrace failure - accept it as a part of the process.
Jumping from one app idea to the next is not going to fix this - you're going to have the same psychological barrier with the next idea that you have with this one.
Stick with it.
Best
Chris
I guess deep down I know what you are saying is true, but I was quite scared for some reason.
Today I woke up and already 7 users have signed up for the trial in one day. So that gave me confidence and strength to face my fear and start marketing the shit out of this app.
It's a decent app, but not super bro by any standards (also my first app), so I want to see how much marketing can help me monetize even this simple todo app.
Good to hear :-)
With the right marketing strategy you can be very successful with even a terrible product. HubSpot (who I case study on my website) are a prime example of this - got to $29 million ARR with a product that the founder and CTO himself admitted sucked. Funny thing is - their customers LOVED them thanks to the marketing strategy they sued.
Maybe you can try launching on PH, as @upenv said you will at least get a backlink and of course you might even get some valuable feedback. It might help you with work better on the next app.
True! A backlink might help a bit, and I will be less scared when I launch again (or another product).
Will definitely launch in PH soon.
All the best!!!
I have done multiple PH launches for products like Micro SaaS HQ, Siteoly and other products.
It's getting tougher to launch on PH these days. See my latest post here
This mostly may not go well with PH launch if you have no prior audience but you have nothing to lose. Set to zero expectations and launch on PH, you can atleast get a backlink. Nothing to lose. The best part is PH allows relaunching after 6months again from the date of the launch if you add more features.
Count me in for the PH support. Just tag me on this post and will upvote.
With my last PH Launch i had no audience and did quite well, but i started to build audience now. For the next launch, it is not overly great but it is my best launch so far check it out: https://www.producthunt.com/products/memoiri#memoiri
I have been building in public for some months so I have a small audience (500 followers).
I think if I delay the launch and just get all my marketing assets done, I will be able to produce some decent results.
Anyway, I won't delay it by much or I'll procrastinate but we'll see what happens.
Thanks for the advice
Let's do!!
Congratulations on your new app launch. I must say a powerful app it is used in daily life. As your app is new you must list your app for free on a platform called AppsHive. Where you can list your app on basis of apps by location, profession, and category. Along with that, you can increase your app downloads by 43%. Have a look at the platform: https://www.appshive.co/
Hey Paco! Congrats on creating your first app. I would say you should give it some time and do a PH launch, but do it. That's the only way to know if this is working or not.
I can relate to how you're feeling but I would recommend just launching on PH and going all in any way. You may not get a lot of traction but there's really no downside here. Good luck!
Hey Paco,
Well done on your first app! Product designer here and I think you should just launch it on ProductHunt. Product is iterative and it doesn't mean that what you've done here is set in stone and that it's bound to fail because it's "not profitable".
The mantra we have in product design is to launch fast and fail fast. You can always pivot anytime you like. You are in control here. Also, negative feedback is great feedback! You now have something to respond to and that's great!
Finally, just the tiniest tip - for your next app-for-profit, be mindful of "feature creep". Too many features can overwhelm users! :)
Yes, I started getting feature creep but decided I was never going to launch this way so I just left it like it is.
As I was adding more stuff I stopped using my own app, so that make me start with a fresh perspective.
Still show it to the world I say! Things might go full circle and it could also open up other opportunities for you! All part of building in public.
I did the same, stuck on the same app. I first started with React Native, over the years I got fed up with RN issues and rewrote it in Swift UI.
Finally started earning $400 MRR. But if I could turn back time, I would spend a lot more time on marketing. At the very least, I would do the marketing website, landing page, some blogs before producing the application.
This is my app if you would like to check btw,
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-budget-planner/id1370056290?ls=1
Hey, the app looks great! You are right, and I started building in public while making this app so that is helping a lot with visibility. Thankfully I just woke up to 6 trials started. Hopefully, they won't all cancel.
What did you use for screenshots, I really need to fix mine up.
Congrats on the MMR, I wish I can get there one day
I bought rotato app for screenshots. It is great, I highly recommend it.
Just downloaded it. It's pretty good!
If marketing is too painful you might not believe in the product enough to want to spend time marketing. I've felt that way before.. but really enjoyed building the product. Use it as a stepping stone for your next idea. You already have a working app, tools installed and accounts setup.
Yes, I think I will treat is as a small little marketing "job". Just slowly improve in my off time and work on other things in the meantime!
Thanks!
Congratulations on releasing your first iOS app! It's a great achievement, and it's understandable that you may have some doubts and uncertainties about how to proceed with marketing it.
It's important to remember that not every app needs to be a huge financial success to be valuable. Sometimes, the experience of building and releasing an app can be a valuable learning opportunity, as well as a chance to gain exposure and build your reputation as a developer.
That being said, if you're interested in marketing your app and seeing how it performs, there's no harm in giving ProductHunt a try. It's a platform that's specifically designed for promoting and showcasing new products, and it can be a great way to get feedback from a community of tech-savvy users and potential customers.
When you do launch on ProductHunt, it's important to have a clear and compelling pitch that explains what makes your app unique and why people should be interested in using it. You should also be prepared to engage with users and respond to any feedback or questions that come up.
Ultimately, the decision of whether to focus on marketing your existing app or move on to a new idea is up to you. Both options have their pros and cons, and it's important to consider your goals and priorities as a developer.
Regardless of what you decide, I wish you the best of luck with your future app development endeavors!
One More Request Can You Please Review our New Use Case that we Added in our Tool for Business to Generate a Brand Name .You can Access via following given link :
https://writeme.ai/brand-name/
Is that you chatgpt?
I am testing your app
So far looks very nice
Thanks, let me know if you have any issues (apart from the paywall blank slot. That's apple's fault.
I don't think PH is the end all be all, guess the question is how much does it cost you to maintain? Even a little money is better than none, and you could always just do marketing every now and then while you focus on your next idea.
Yeah, I need to get my marketing hat on. I think I was just afraid, but after I fix a couple of things with the current version I will launch on product hunt. Probably in the next 3 weeks.
best of luck!