We got our first paid user. And we're still stuck in Google's audit process.
We got our first paid subscriber. Still can't believe it.
I've been building InboxClean quietly for a few weeks — a tool that scans your Gmail and automatically unsubscribes you from spam every Monday. No launch. No Product Hunt. Just kept building and sharing it in a few places.
Then yesterday, someone signed up for Pro. $5/month. Small number. Huge feeling.
It means someone trusted us enough to pay for something I built. That hits different than any upvote or comment ever could.
But honestly? The behind-the-scenes has been messier than it looks.
Getting the OAuth verification right, fixing the payment webhook, making sure the weekly cron job actually runs for paying users — a lot of invisible work that nobody sees. And right now we're stuck in Google's CASA verification process, which is required for apps that access Gmail. The audit alone costs thousands of dollars. For a $5/month tool. It's a real wall for indie builders and we're figuring out how to get through it without burning everything on fees before we even have 10 users.
But that first payment made it real. Someone has the same problem I had — manually cleaning their inbox every week, still paying for it in time — and they trusted us to fix it.
That's the whole reason to build in public.
Next goal: 10 paying users. Building through the walls, not around them.
