What I Did Wrong — And Why That Matters More Than What I Did Right
These days, I keep asking myself one question:
"What am I doing wrong?"
I collaborate daily with someone who’s incredibly sharp — and I drive him insane. Not because I am not trying, but because I am. I am hungry, I push hard, and sometimes, yeah… I overanalyze.
Sure, I might be doing a lot of things right as I dive into this tech venture — but honestly, that is not what I focus on. What matters to me is:
• What am I doing wrong?
• How do I fix it?
• How can I do it better?
That is the real driver!
Example? I have caught myself getting too lost in analytics. Deep in the data, the models, the logic. But I’m an executor at heart. And when I snap out of that spiral and just move — it is freaking amazing!
So let me turn the question to you:
IndieHackers — when you first started in tech, what did you do wrong?
And more importantly, how did you make it right?
Will - It's hard for me to talk in specifics when I don't know all the details about what you're working on and what the details are of your interaction with your partners.
But I too have driven some very smart people on my team "insane" and pushed them away. Here's my advice:
Don't mistake motion for progress
Early on I built features no one had asked for because I felt “busy” equaled “productive.” Revenue was flat. Fix: I forced a weekly “shipping cadence”—one small, user‑visible improvement every Friday. The constraint kept me shipping instead of tinkering.
Don't behind dashboards
I loved burying myself in GA charts and SQL queries. The data felt reassuring—but it also let me avoid the scarier task of talking to customers. Fix: I made it a KPI to have five real conversations with power users every week. Insights from those calls gave me clearer direction than any funnel analysis ever did.
Don't spread yourself too thin
I chased shiny ideas: a WordPress plugin here, a Chrome extension there. Each sounded like the next breakout. None were. Fix: I instituted a “90‑day focus rule.” For one quarter, we pick a single growth bet. Everything else waits in the parking lot. We called them Big Rocks, and everything that ended up in the parking lot was "Sand".
Remember: in tech, almost every “wrong” you’re fretting over is reversible. It's a two-way door as Bezos would say. Except the months spent not shipping. So ship, listen, adjust, repeat. That cycle will keep your sharp collaborator sane and your venture moving forward.
Also — just to clarify tone: I’m not stuck in analysis paralysis. I’m just constantly trying to refine. Appreciate the tough love — I feed off it!
🔥 This is exactly what I needed — thank you!
You nailed it with “don’t mistake motion for progress.” I’ve definitely caught myself building or diving into analytics just to feel productive — not necessarily move the needle. The “weekly shipping cadence” and “Big Rocks vs. Sand” are killer — I might steal both, straight up.
That KPI of 5 convos with power users per week? I actually want that! I live for real talk and live feedback — that’s where the real traction comes from. Funnels give me direction; people give me momentum!
Appreciate you taking the time to drop this. If you’re ever down to connect or swap ideas, I’m always game to learn and trade scars.
– Will