I got let go, spent 18 months building a productivity app, and now I'm taking it to Kickstarter
Most productivity apps ask: Did you finish your tasks?
Focuser asks: Do your actions support how you define success?
Nearly two years ago I unwillingly found myself back in the job market, ill-prepared. I was managing the search through Apple Reminders and Notes. I had a checklist for each weekday, one for the week, and various notes and folders. I spent more time manually updating the system than using it. Information got lost, lists fell out of sync, momentum stalled.
So I started building a web app that contained reminders, notes, and these checklists in one place, where the system handled the management, not me. Items automatically migrate between checklists as time passes, moving closer to the present, carrying over if left unfinished. From there the idea expanded, adding Focuses, secondary checklists, effort items, a searchable timeline of events. Focuses are user-defined areas of life that matter most to you: work, health, family, finances, whatever you decide. Every checklist belongs to a Focus, and every item you complete is tracked. Over time, Focuser builds a picture of where your effort actually goes, giving you insight no other productivity app affords. Did the way you spent your time reflect what actually matters to you? Was your life successful — today, last week, over time?
The core app is built and working. Focus Metrics, the analytics layer that shows effort distribution and balance over time, exists in an early form but has a long way to go. The bigger challenge ahead is the mobile experience: getting the app to feel truly native and engaging across every orientation on both phone and tablet, so it doesn't require you to sit at a computer. That alongside third-party integrations is where most of the remaining work lives. I've been building this full time for over a year and a half, funding it myself. Now I'm preparing a Kickstarter campaign to fund me through the remaining development work. That will be the moment of truth.
I'm building this in public from here on out: the Kickstarter campaign, the development of each roadmap feature, and the design decisions behind them — all documented in the Building Focuser blog.
Follow the journey at lifefocuser.com/building-focuser, or join the waitlist at lifefocuser.com while you're there.
What are the areas of life that matter most to you, and how would you structure your timeline around them?
The “alignment over completion” framing is strong.
As a developer who recently launched my own app while navigating career decisions, I’ve been thinking about a similar tension — it’s easy to optimize for visible output (features shipped, tasks done), but much harder to measure whether those actions actually move you toward the life or direction you care about.
Especially in an AI-accelerated world where building is getting faster, the differentiator feels less like productivity and more like intentionality.
The Focus Metrics layer seems like it could make that gap visible in a way most tools avoid.
I really like the concept of Focuses — most productivity apps optimize for task completion, not alignment.
One thought: the real differentiator might be quantifying how effort distribution changes over time and correlates with outcomes.
For example, if someone consistently completes more tasks under “Family” than “Work,” that’s interesting — but what’s more powerful is showing whether that distribution aligns with how they define success.
Have you considered layering in insight like:
“Your time allocation this month matches your stated priorities 72%.”
Or showing behavioral drift between intended focus and actual execution?
That could move this from being an improved task manager to something closer to a self-alignment / life analytics tool.
Curious how you’re thinking about the long-term defensibility here — is it the data layer, the behavioral model, or something else?
Thanks, me too! That's precisely the sort of metrics I'm trying to illustrate. I want to be shown how I'm doing not just on each focus in isolation, but relative to the other focuses I've defined. That way I can adjust my effort. The current architecture has toggle-able pills for Today, This Week, Last Week, This Month, Last Month, This Year, Last Year, & All Time so you can see how these sorts of datasets are trending & panning out given a selected timeframe.
There's always going to be some level of deviation, which itself is measured. "Clean the garage" is probably not going to be an item many people attribute to a specific focus, but it's real effort nonetheless.
I'm toying with the idea of gamifying recurring commitments to encourage active participation, but not developing any sort of warning or negative reinforcement toasts or similar. But if I do decide on something like either, they will be controlled by account settings & one must opt-in for that increased level of oversight, so to speak.
Indeed, I set the default time interval in checklists like Daily & Today for 30 minutes, but the user has the option to make it 15 minutes, or as loose as 3 hours if they don't want the pressure 30 minute slots brings. I think giving users the flexibility to control how their system is setup is pretty important. I know I'd appreciate it, as I appreciate your feedback.
The Focus Metrics angle is brilliant. Most productivity apps track completion but miss the bigger picture of whether you're working on what actually matters. I've been building apps for a while and noticed the same gap with my habit tracker, Tiny Steps. People would religiously check off daily tasks but still feel unfulfilled because they weren't aligned with deeper goals. Your approach of connecting daily actions to life areas could be game-changing. How are you planning to present the effort distribution insights without overwhelming users? The balance between actionable data and analysis paralysis seems tricky to nail down.
Thanks! I've architected how I think Focus Metrics will play out and effort distribution will certainly be a part of it. Right now I'm trying to live in the numbers as I have them & see what makes sense & what's not working.
I've tried to create a visually interesting & immediately clear analysis though. & for actionable items you don't have time for, you can always drag it to a further away checklist & let it come back to you in due time.
The insight about effort distribution vs stated priorities is brilliant. Most productivity apps just track completion, but you're asking the deeper question: "Is this actually what matters to you?"
I've been building apps solo too, and that alignment problem is real. I built Tiny Steps (habit tracker) with a similar philosophy - instead of streak pressure, it focuses on sustainable progress that fits your actual life patterns. Turns out people need systems that work with their reality, not against it.
The automatic migration between time-based checklists sounds like it could solve the "manual maintenance hell" problem perfectly. Curious about the Focus Metrics analytics layer - are you thinking more dashboards or something more integrated into the daily workflow?
Sustainable over streaky is a smart philosophy. Streak pressure is real — I haven't missed more than three days in 396 on Duolingo because that mascot gets increasingly judgy as the day goes by. I've actually taken lessons from it in thinking through how Focus Metrics handles streaks.
Focus Metrics lives in the Chronicle rather than the main dashboard, which is intentional. The dashboard is where you work, the Chronicle is where you reflect. The analytics cover all Focuses with a balance score, trend lines per Focus across different timeframes, recurring streaks that silently reset without fanfare or shame, and effort distribution per Focus. The Focuses page has much the same but scoped to each individual Focus.
Keeping it separate from the daily workflow was important. Reflective on demand, not competing for attention when you're just trying to get things done. That said, I'm toying with a setting to bring some gamification into the daily workflow for those who want it — streaks visible as you go, that sort of thing. There if you want it, invisible if you don't.
This resonates a lot. I'm building something in a similar space -- an AI-powered personal growth platform with goal tracking and accountability (growthcoach4u.com). My origin story is almost the same: I used physical planners and journals for years, and eventually got frustrated enough to build the digital version I wished existed.
Your point about the system handling the management instead of you is spot on. That's the core problem most productivity tools miss -- they create more work instead of removing it.
Curious about your Kickstarter approach. What made you choose crowdfunding over just launching directly with a waitlist and early pricing? I've been debating that myself.
Goal tracking is a tricky thing to data-model I'm finding out, since everybody is so different. Having AI power the platform is bound to help I'm sure. And I probably would have been right there with you with physical planners but my handwriting's illegible even to me, making it an even worse system!
The way the system handles a lot of the tedium is a valuable differentiator. I know I'm spending very little time working the system and more time developing and taking care of other areas long-neglected.
I chose Kickstarter because it was a platform I was already familiar with, and have seen enough stories about funding goals being reached early and overwhelmingly that it seemed like a good avenue. Plus it's another way to reach an audience of people who might genuinely benefit from the app. I have a very small online presence myself, having gotten rid of social media a while ago and never really posting when I had it, so the reach the platform can provide is going to be key.
The 'built it for myself first' path is underrated as a validation method — you're your own most honest daily user. I'm in a similar spot with a car maintenance app: built out of personal frustration, now figuring out how to translate that into broader traction.
One thing that helped me think about the Kickstarter angle: the campaigns that convert best tend to lead with a very specific, uncomfortable insight rather than features. You already have it — 'you think you spend 30% of your time on family. Focuser shows it's 9%.' That one number is the whole pitch.
The 'build it for myself first' path is valuable, true, and if that's ultimately not enough, at least I'll have made a tool I like using!
Can't imagine car maintenance being anything less than a consistent source of frustration, so rooting for your app to solve some real pain — traction with a car maintenance app feels pretty on point.
The numbers angle has come up a few times in this thread and keeps landing harder than anything else. Going to make sure it leads the story rather than gets buried in it. Appreciate the nudge.
The shift from "did you finish your tasks" to "do your actions match what you say matters" is a much harder question to answer honestly. Most productivity tools avoid it because the answer is usually uncomfortable.
I'm curious about the Kickstarter angle specifically. Software campaigns on Kickstarter have a mixed track record. The ones that work tend to have a very tight demo video showing the before/after in under 90 seconds. Have you mapped out what that looks like yet?
The Focus Metrics layer sounds like the real differentiator here. If you can nail the visualization of "where you think your time goes vs where it actually goes," that's the kind of insight that sells itself. Everything else in productivity is just task management with different paint.
Thanks for the feedback.
There are essentially two layers to how Focuser answers the honest question.
The first is the framework: you create Focuses with your own colors and assign items to them. That creates a visible, immediately recognizable picture of what matters to you throughout the app.
The second is Focus Metrics. It looks at everything and gives you the answer of how well you're actually doing, honestly and without judgment. There's already a working version in the Chronicle: an overall balance score, sparklines showing satisfaction per Focus over time, effort distribution bars including unassigned items, and a recurring ledger that counts wins without calling out breaks.
Sometimes the answer is uncomfortable. I clearly need to hit my ten squats per hour goal more often because it's dragging my whole score down. Knowing how poorly I'm hitting that target relative to other focuses is uncomfortable, but it's also the clarity I needed. It's on me why the numbers are low, and that's an opportunity for growth rather than something to wallow in. The system doesn't judge me, so why should I?
I could see how a tight before/after demo video would be ideal for a lot of software campaigns. But a demo covering my old system and transitioning to the new one isn't really feasible. Focuser goes well beyond what I was doing before that it wouldn't be a fair 1:1, and any aspect captured of how Focuser works is already covered in other videos available on the site and in the campaign.
I do plan on creating a great, well scripted, and practiced personal video for the pre-launch page, where I can talk directly about why I built it and show the app doing what it does. Less infomercial, more founder story.
Love the framing "did your actions reflect what matters to you"
One thing I'd flag: the lack of integrations with tools like Notion, Linear, or Google Calendar could be a real barrier. Worth running a quick survey to see how much that matters to your audience.
The honest concern though is timing. 18 months of solo development before public validation is a big bet. The Kickstarter will tell you what earlier user conversations might have. Rooting for a strong launch either way.
Really appreciate the feedback.
Google Calendar and Apple Reminders sync are actually part of what the Kickstarter funds, so those are coming. Notion and Linear are outside the scope for now, but worth tracking.
The timing point is fair, though the context is a little different than it might look. I built Focuser for myself first. I've been my own user the entire time, which means the validation has been happening daily, just privately. The 18 months wasn't building blind; it was building something I actually needed and kept reaching for.
I'll also be honest: it wasn't a straight 18 months. I took a significant break to focus on woodworking during a period of discouragement. Coming back to it with fresh eyes actually made the product better.
The Kickstarter isn't asking people to validate the idea. The idea works. It's funding the final layer of something that already does what it's supposed to do. That's a different bet than most campaigns.
The "Focus Metrics" concept is interesting — showing where effort actually goes vs. where you think it goes. That gap is usually eye-opening.
One thing I'd push back on gently: 18 months of full-time solo development before any paying users is a risky path, especially heading into Kickstarter. The productivity space is brutally competitive and the biggest risk isn't whether you can build it — it's whether people will pay for it over the dozen free/cheap alternatives they already half-use.
Have you tested the core insight (effort distribution tracking) with real users yet? Even a spreadsheet version? The reason I ask is that I build tools for small business owners and the features I was most excited about building were almost never the ones users actually cared about. The thing that got traction was always simpler than I expected.
For Kickstarter specifically, the campaigns that work for software tend to have a very clear before/after story. Not "here's all the features" but "here's your life without this, here's your life with it." The Focus Metrics angle could be that story if you frame it right — "you think you're spending 40% of your time on health, but you're actually spending 8%." That kind of concrete, slightly uncomfortable insight is what makes people pull out their wallet.
Rooting for you — building in public from here is the right call.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping building in public would surface.
The app isn't public yet, so it's less "built without validation" and more "built for myself first." I needed a better system and built one. Over time I started to think it might be useful for other people too. If it changes my life and makes me feel like I'm living more successfully because of it, that felt worth building regardless.
Real user testing has been limited. A handful of people through TestFlight, with little to no feedback. Family isn't keen on working for free. It's a gap I'm aware of. I'm hoping to get more feedback from people visiting the site, as well as from users joining post-launch and using the 30-day free trial to determine what's working for them and what isn't.
The before/after point is the one that lands hardest. The truth is I've only been able to use the app properly myself for a few months. There was simply too much left to build before my own backlog was low enough to feel the benefit. But I have noticed a difference. I'm attending to the things I think I should be doing more often than I was before. That's the story. I just haven't told it that way yet, and you're right that I should.
The "you think you're spending 40% on health but you're actually spending 8%" framing is exactly what Focus Metrics is designed to surface. It's about showing which areas of your life are getting too much attention and which are being neglected. That's the insight I need to lead with.