Oups, I did it again 🤦♂️ I built Recurrr before validating it.
Hey indie hackers,
Long time lurker here. I've been an indie hacker for 10+ years now, but I've spent the last 7+ years growing and maintaining Backpack for Laravel, my product that picked up (and pays the bills). So I'm a little rusty. I haven't really built and launched a new product for myself since 2017. I was excited to end 2023 as a builder, not maintainer. Long story short, I built it, it's out... and few people except for me are using it.
I want to share it with you, ask for feedback, ideas - maybe you guys can help me figure out how the hell I can find users for this 😄
Plus, it's a tool that might just be the little helper you didn't know you needed.
What Does Recurrr Do?
Simply put, Recurrr sends emails on a schedule. It helps free up time in your calendar and in your todo list, by having emails being sent out automatically, on a schedule, from your email address.
I've discovered that quite a few of the admin/management tasks I do are repetitive and monotonous. So I turned them from a Calendar entry or Todo... to an automatic email:
- a quarterly nudge to do a CEO-CTO meeting;
- a monthly email to freelancers I work with, to request an invoice;
- a weekly check-in with my team about their most important tasks;
- every six months, touch base with past clients to keep the relationship warm and potentially drum up new business;
All of the above are tasks that I should be doing, but regularly forget or postpone. Make them automatic and... boom, I stick to them. To get a visual, think of it as your outbox... on a calendar. Emails going out, on a schedule, without you lifting a finger:
The Journey to Recurrr
I took a first stab at this idea with ScheduleThatEmail back in 2017. I stopped working on it because the GMail API required a $20k audit, and the small userbase it gathered organically didn't justify that cost. But here's the thing... I kept using it 👀 In fact, I've used it constantly for 7 years! It was a producivity hack that I used and loved. I expected someone to come in and do it better, but... no. Recurring emails are still not supported by Gmail, Outlook or any other email provider. And all the apps that help with this... are as old as ScheduleThatEmail is or older. So I always thought... maybe it's time to try again. Learn from my mistakes and do better.
Fast forward to Nov 2023, I've rebuilt it from the ground up using the latest tech, added AI, made it compatible with any email provider and changed the name (so I can also add Discord/Slack messages later on). I figured... if it scratches my itch... it's just a matter of finding other people with the same itch! That's the point where it's at now - working, new codebase, eager to built out more of it, but... without a userbase.
Why I Think You’ll Love It
As indie hackers, we juggle a bunch of tasks daily. How helpful would be for some of your tasks to be done automatically? Well that's what Recurrr tries to do. It can also
- move tasks from "sync" to "async" (turn meetings into email threads);
- ensure that no communication slips through the cracks;
- be a forcing function, for you and others, to actually keep good "business habits";
I Need Your Help!
I believe Recurrr has a lot to offer already, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I need your help with:
(1) Feedback: I’d love to hear how it could be better tailored to your needs. Why you like the idea, don't care about it or hate it.
(2) Finding Our Niche: Who do you think would find this tool indispensable? I’m on the hunt for a "beachhead segment" — a group of users whose need for this tool is urgent and vital. Struggling to actually find one.
Join Me On This Journey
I'm reaching out to you, fellow indie hackers, not just as potential users but to tap into your experience and wisdom. If you have ideas on how we could market this better, or know a group who desperately needs this solution, let’s chat!
Check out Recurrr and let me know your thoughts. Your feedback super-appreciated and who knows? This might just be the tool you didn't know you needed.
Thanks a lot for the help. Cheers!
