I launched an MVP for a wiki style CMS. Need feedback on it's viability and growth potential.
I recently launched my first production web application, https://www.wikiengine.org. The concept is similar to wikipedia except anyone can create their own wikis. I haven't promoted it yet and would like some experienced people to take a look at it and advise if I should put more time and effort into it or move onto something else. Also, would it be worth it to repurpose it into something like a team documentation app similar to Atlassian's Conluence? Thanks!
I think the first thing you should do is put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. I think you should come up with your own ideal customer but I can give you an example to get you started.
I've been working on software development teams for about 20 years. In that time I've seen the need for decent wiki software and to be honest, most it falls short.
For example, the wiki at my current workplace solves 2 core problems:
It's a place to write down notes about how to do things. Particularly things that we don't do very often, and have a lot of steps that need to be remembered.
We also use it to write things down that needs to be remembered when on boarding new staff. Like how to setup a their new machine and get connected to all of our SaaS software :)
Some other points:
Our current solution is to use an Azure Devops wiki which is essentially a bunch of Markdown files in a git repository. It works, but it could be better.
I can't tell you if you should put more time and effort into this project or start something new but my feeling is that it doesn't currently solve a real world problem. If you enjoy working on it, spend some time really thinking about what problems your trying to solve and keep going. If not, pick a new problem and solve that instead.
Thanks for the detailed reply. The use case you are describing sounds like a realistic goal I could set. Just curious, how are images handled in your works wiki setup? In the docs at my work they more often than not have images in the page. At my work they use Atlassian's Confluence which is a dream to work with. It has drag and drop image embeds, powerful page editor, easy navigation, first class support for multiple teams, just an overall pleasant experience.
In our use case, we sometimes put screenshots in the wiki pages. The setup is not sophisticated though, we just throw the image file into the same directory as the Markdown file and use Markdown syntax to place the image in the page.
The general advice when comparing your product to another is to niche down and focus on part of the market that they don't serve particularly well.
The reality is, there's lots of wiki tools out there and there's going to be lots of overlap in features between all of them. It won't be easy to make something better but you can usually make something different. The goal is to carve out your own slice of the market.
Unlimited wikis for everyone may have been a little too ambitious. I'll probably take a break from development for a while and try and get a feel for the market before continuing. Thanks again!
Congrats on launching your first web app! Some quick feedback:
Thanks for the feedback! Being able to view some example wikis is a great idea! I will probably have to look at a subscription model if I remove the ads.
I merely typed the letter "e" into the search box on your homepage and, truthfully, didn't love the results...
Oops! I removed the offending user's account and content. I don't have a good way to police content yet other than manual deletion in the DB.
No worries. Glad it wasn't you!