SignalsHunt one month later — the features you asked for, and the bug that humbled me
A 4 days ago I posted here about SignalsHunt and honestly didn't expect much. 200+ comments and 100+ likes later, 55 of you signed up. Thank you — genuinely. This post is what happened next: what I built because of you, what broke, and where things actually stand.
What your comments turned into
I read every comment. A bunch of you asked variations of the same thing: "how do you know WHICH business actually needs help, not just any business?" That question alone reshaped the product. Here's what shipped because of it:
Profession-specific playbooks — pick "photographer" and you now see exactly which niches to search and what to look for, instead of staring at an empty box wondering where to start
Actual problem detection — the tool now checks each lead's site for things that matter to your profession specifically: no mobile viewport for web designers, no booking widget for developers, stock photos for photographers, no social links for social media managers. It's not guessing anymore, it's pointing at something real
Call scripts — a few of you said you prefer calling over emailing for local businesses. So now every lead with a phone number gets a 20-second call script too
Tone control — direct vs. curious-question opener, because not everyone wants to sound the same, and neither do your prospects
None of this was on my roadmap a 4 days ago. It's on the product now because you asked.
Where things stand, numbers included
55 signups, 30 have run at least one search
20 of those came back and ran it 3+ times — that's the number I actually care about, because a tool people use once and forget isn't solving anything
I kept using it myself for my agency (dricomm.com): since my last post I sent 21 more messages and I'm currently mid-conversation with another potential client — nothing signed yet, but a real back-and-forth happening right now
Still no dramatic revenue story. But a tool people keep opening is worth more to me right now than one big number.
Now, the part I almost didn't write
Here's something that happened and made me feel genuinely dumb for a few days: the dashboard started randomly showing raw server code instead of the actual page. Like, literally text like :HL["/_next/static/chunks/... where a working page should be.
I "fixed" it four times. Cleared Cloudflare cache — didn't work. Reconnected the domain — worked for two minutes, then came back. Added cache headers — still came back. Each time I thought it was solved, and each time it wasn't.
Turns out the actual bug was one line, in the wrong place, the whole time: I'd added force-dynamic (a setting that tells the page "always render fresh, never cache me") to files marked 'use client' — and Next.js just silently ignores that setting in client components. Every fix I made was patching symptoms around a config flag that was never actually doing anything.
I'm not sharing this for sympathy — I'm sharing it because "building in public" usually gets shown as clean wins, and the real version is more like this: four wrong turns before the actual cause. If you're building something and something should be working but isn't — check the boring, obvious thing twice before assuming it's something complicated.
What's next
No giveaway this time — just an honest update, and the door's open if you want to try it: signalshunt.com. Free plan gets you 5 real leads, no card needed.
If you tried it last month and it didn't click, genuinely curious why — always happy to hear it, good or bad.
Serghei, honestly, I felt way more camaraderie reading about your Next.js bug struggle than any flashy feature update.
I recently burned a few days wrestling with a Google Search Console 5xx error on my own hybrid server setup (Vitabase). The most critical bugs always hide in that one line of code you assume is "obviously fine." I can 100% relate to the frustration of endlessly toggling Cloudflare settings thinking it was just a caching issue.
Also, massive respect for focusing on the "20 people who came back 3+ times" instead of just the 55 signups. Ignoring vanity metrics and obsessing over actual retention is the real survival secret for solo builders.
Thanks for sharing a raw, messy "build-in-public" story instead of a heavily polished success narrative. Rooting for the next chapter of SignalsHunt!
Thank you for your comment! I'd be happy if we could find you some clients at SignalsHunt too )
Really appreciate the transparent update, Serghei! The way you turned raw comments into concrete features (especially those profession-specific playbooks and actual problem detection) is excellent product development. Going from vague "find businesses" to "here's exactly why this photographer needs your help" is a huge leap.
The retention numbers are the real story here — 20 people coming back 3+ times shows you're solving something meaningful, not just getting vanity signups. And that force-dynamic bug story? Painfully relatable. Next.js can be deceptively quiet when you put the wrong flag in the wrong place. Love that you shared the messy version instead of just the highlight reel.
Quick question: of the repeat users, are you seeing any particular profession or niche standing out in terms of usage or conversion so far?
Keep shipping — rooting for you!
Thank you! Based on the data I have so far, most web designers!
Appreciate the honest postmortem tone. Shipping the features people ask for is easy to over-index on; the bug that humbles you is usually the real product lesson.
Thanks for the message! The product has really improved!
The retention metric is the real signal here — 20 people coming back 3+ times means you solved something, not just launched something. The force-dynamic debugging story is also painfully relatable. Quick question: are those 20 repeat users mostly agency folks like you, or solo operators? That might help you narrow which playbook to double down on next.
Mostly agencies and freelancers!
Really solid update — the “what you asked for → what shipped” loop is clear, and the retention number (20 people running it 3+ times) is a much better signal than signup vanity.
Also appreciate the bug write-up. The force-dynamic on a client component gotcha is painfully familiar — the “I fixed it four times” path is more honest than most build-in-public posts.
One question: of the 20 returning users, do you know if they’re mostly agency folks like you, or solo operators? Trying to learn how early “who keeps coming back” differs from “who just signed up once.”
Congrats on the mid-conversation client lead too — that quiet progress matters.
Mostly agencies and freelancers!
This is a strong update. The most useful part for me is that you focused on repeat usage rather than just signups — 20 users coming back 3+ times is a much better signal than a one-day spike.
The Next.js bug is also painfully relatable. Silent configuration mismatches are often harder to diagnose than visible errors because they send you toward caching, CDN, and infrastructure fixes first.
One question: which profession-specific playbook currently has the highest repeat usage or best response rate? That might be a useful clue for where to narrow the product next.
High score among web designers
The debugging arc is gold - force-dynamic silently ignored in client components, four wrong fixes before the obvious answer. That "check the boring thing twice" advice is hard-earned and worth sharing. Interesting that your feature prioritization is entirely driven by comment feedback - seems to be working way better than most roadmaps.
Ha, appreciate that — writing the debugging part felt a bit exposing tbh, my first instinct was to cut it and just show the polished features. Glad it landed as useful instead of just embarrassing 😄
And yeah, the comment-driven roadmap thing wasn't really a strategy at first — I just genuinely didn't know what freelancers actually needed better than the freelancers telling me. Turns out that's... just a good way to build things? Feels obvious in hindsight but I definitely didn't plan it that way from day one.
If you end up trying it and hit something that's annoying or missing — that's exactly the kind of comment that becomes next month's feature, so don't hold back.
I'm already using it, 2 clients have responded to me!
Thank you! I'm glad for your success!