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38 Comments

What are good ways to make a profitable product on the internet? Wrong answers only.

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  1. 18

    Spend most of your time reading advice from experts and less time actually building something.

    1. 2

      I'd go even further:

      Spend most of your time reading advice and less time actually building something.

  2. 14

    Build a great product but then feel bad about charging money, so make it free.

  3. 13

    Do marketing by driving around, shouting your url at strangers.

    1. 2

      haha this one is gold

    2. 1

      This one made me laugh out loud :)

  4. 13

    Never tell anyone about it! If you build it, they will come!

    1. 3

      That one hurts deep.

  5. 9

    Start by designing and building a product first. Only then, after you've already built something, should you start looking for customers who might have the problem your product solves.

  6. 8

    If people are already paying money to solve a problem, avoid solving that problem yourself. Instead, only solve problems where there's no evidence anyone will pay for a solution. That way you can be unique and avoid the competition.

    1. 1

      Then I kind of understood that, if I'm just better than the worst competitor, I will be successful.

    2. 1

      I'm not sure whether this is a wrong answer, or some brilliant way to get rich over the course of a lifetime!

  7. 6

    Fill your site with lots of ads. More ads = more money💸

  8. 3

    Build a copy of something else using no-code tools. Proudly advertise "no-code" as the differentiating feature of your clone.

  9. 3

    Solve a problem that people don't care about, then charge a tiny amount of money. You're an indie hacker with few resources, so you couldn't possibly solve an important problem and charge lots of money. It's better to just charge $5/mo for something trivial and then just grind it out for 3 years trying to reach profitability.

  10. 3

    Always copy what you see bigger, more successful companies doing. The things they're doing now are probably exactly what they did to get started. Besides, nobody will buy from you if you aren't conforming to what everyone else is doing, building the features they're building, and looking how they look, and talking how they talk. Standing out and being unique is the wrong way to get noticed.

  11. 3

    Sell beanie baby reviews

  12. 3

    Take everyone's advice about what your product SHOULD DO because they definitely know more about your vision than you, especially if they say that advice with lots of authority and a patronizing tone.

  13. 3

    Make sure you have at least 3 popups that appear within 10 seconds of someone landing on your site. Clicking on them to make them go away shows engagement and makes them more likely to buy your products and services.

  14. 2

    Never read anything or learn from others' mistakes. Learn everything by spending years making those mistakes on your own.

  15. 2

    Spread yourself thin, do everything for everyone, and be great at everything. Serve every type of customer in your market, build every feature anyone could want, tackle every social media channel that exists, start a blog and a podcast and a TikTok and hold webinars, charge very little, promise best-in-class customer support, and say yes to every idea. It's better to be mediocre at everything than to be great at a few things.

  16. 2

    Don’t take advice. Your own way is the best.

  17. 1

    Only ever post it on Product Hunt and IndieHackers. 😁

  18. 1

    Get an email list, sign them all up, then keep pestering them every day with reminders to come back

  19. 1

    Try to develop the perfect product event if it means never shipping.

  20. 1

    When another IH offers their product up for free, copy all the data, then charge money as if it were your own...

  21. 1

    Charging a cheap price for excellent high-quality custom work.

  22. 1

    Build it and they will come.

  23. 1

    Charge very little to maximize the number of people that buy or subscribe.

  24. 1

    Don’t tell anyone about it.
    Then when forced to, ask them to sign an NDA.
    Explain in vague terms what it’s about.
    Keep adding features to your plan.
    Keep planning.

  25. 1

    @rosiesherry - you should edit the title now ;)

  26. 1

    Never, under any circumstance, get advice from an experienced professional in the field you are building your profitable product.

    Specially from a site called: https://getapy.com/

  27. 1

    Wait years before launching, just keep iterating in private.

  28. 1

    Copy an existing product with minor tweaks and call it the Uber/Facebook of _____.

    I'm not so sure if its right or wrong? 😬 What do you think?

  29. 1

    Wrong answers only:

    Build a product, do your best to get customer feedback, and implement that feedback exactly

    Best if done with all the feedback you get.

    1. 2

      This hits too close to home lol. The product I'm currently employed to work on is a victim of this approach. It's way too hard to undo some of the damage.

  30. 1

    For most indiehackers this is will be wrong answer. start indentify who your target customer, build list of prospect and start direct sales :)

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