3
6 Comments

New Founder - Soft launch, FAILED! AMA 😂

Well that didn't go well 🚀💣

We got our English Premier league football match recommendation app (PWA), https://www.matchoracle.com, functioning enough to share with a few friends and coworkers. More than Mom and Dad, but less than the general public.

It went poorly.

What didn't go well:

  1. I made the mistake of last minute changes to the app and forgot to update the login settings so no one could actually login for a bit.
  2. The API connection ended up being less stable than we thought and the data was reliably unavailable through the afternoon.
  3. Lastly, when the data was unavailable the app reported incorrect results to users rather than an error message. It's one thing to say "we had an error, try again later", but I said "the game was a 0-0 draw, don't watch it!" when it was in fact a very good game that you should definitely watch.

This is the purpose of a soft launch. We learned a lot and it really helped us focus on the needs rather than the wants.

I know this is not your typical AMA, but I figured I'd give it a try. We're basically beginners at this, very open for questions!

  1. 2

    This doesn't sound like failure as you learned exactly what you needed to make it better, and within the context of the soft launch rather than fully live!

    1. 1

      Exactly what we were looking for. We needed the reality of publicity to make some of this really hit home.

      Good learning experience!

  2. 2

    I did the same with a project of mine a few years ago, where there was an obvious XSS breach that got exploited and f**** up everything ; launching "too" fast as it seems you did isn't always the solution

    1. 1

      Ooof, yeah we definitely rushed it a little bit. Thankfully no major ramifications.

      We're pleased with the outcome nonetheless. There is a balance, but for us, getting on the dance floor was an important first step.

  3. 2

    Been in the same place before. Great you tried it out. Onwards and upwards from here!

    I understand that focusing on QA was a big takeaway. Aside from that, did you learn anything about potential product-market fit?

    1. 1

      Yeah, QA for sure!

      Unfortunately not about product market fit at this point. I don't think there's a lot to learn from people who basically already like you (The Mom Test Lesson). But, some of them do have people in their sphere who are in the market, so that'll be helpful over time.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 49 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 28 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 15 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments