Whatâs the biggest roadblock holding you back right now?
Hey Indie Hackers đ
I know that building a startup is never a straight path itâs full of experiments, pivots, wins, and sometimes frustrating roadblocks. Iâm really curious to understand what challenges founders and entrepreneurs here are currently facing on their journey.
So Iâd love to hear from you
đ Whatâs the biggest roadblock youâre dealing with right now thatâs keeping you from moving forward?
đ What do you feel is preventing you from breaking through it?
Feel free to be specific whether itâs struggling with product market fit, battling through marketing and growth, running out of focus or motivation, or something more personal like time management or self-doubt.
Your detailed insights and examples could really help others in the community who are facing similar struggles. And who knows sharing your roadblock might even spark someone else to share a solution or perspective that helps you push past it.
Letâs make this an open, supportive space to learn from each otherâs challenges. đĄ
Looking forward to reading your thoughts!
I have the same issue like almost everyone. Validate if the product is good is hard. I know I could send my website the producthunt and similar platform, but I don't think it's good enough and I afraid I got no feedback (I know no feedback also is a feedbackđ€Ł) . I just need to push myself a bit.
I can totally relate putting your product out there feels scary, but honestly, itâs the only way to know for sure. Even if you feel itâs ânot good enough,â sharing early often gives you the exact insights you need to improve. And youâre right, no feedback is still feedback. Maybe think of it less as a launch and more as an experiment that mindset makes it easier to push through. Youâve got this and if I may ask what products are you planning to launch?
Thank you for the nice words. Mine is just a small tool to extract URL from text đ, I need it at work. I still learning how to use AI to code and hope to find something that really has value.
Thatâs a really cool tool! I actually know someone whoâs an expert with URLs and could help you refine it. Want me to connect you?
Biggest roadblock is drumming up more demand in the pipeline although we have 2 large enterprise (payments and retail) and 2 middle market (design and software) clients. We have successfully launched AI workflows for our clients with fantastic feedback from the firms.
We are completely bootstrapped even without a website or marketing (clients were referrals). We are testing out going broader but need to learn how to do it better here to keep the pipeline hot.
Congrats on landing those enterprise and mid-market clients and doing it without a website or marketing is seriously impressive đ. Referrals show the value is there, now itâs just about building a repeatable engine for demand. Since youâve already proven the product with strong feedback, even a lightweight website or case studies could amplify trust outside referrals. Pair that with sharing insights or mini use-cases publicly on LinkedIn, communities, etc. and youâll start warming up that broader pipeline. Curious are you leaning more toward inbound content/brand or outbound targeted outreach for your next step?
Mine is marketing. I made a really cool app and i have to iron out a lot of kinks but first and foremost I'm not too certain how to leverage X how others do to get some traction.
That's a very concern, what does your app entails? Do you mind if I help you with the marketing aspect?
My biggest roadblock is currently in my head. Being a "tech person", I find myself overwhelmed by the thought of the whole sales and marketing dance that is required for any product. So I keep going through the loop of build an mvp, and abandon it for sth else, instead of getting to work on customer acquisition. I know if I want to be successful as an entrepreneur I will need to get over this. Just not sure how.
What about you Josh? What's your biggest roadblock?
I have the same thing. I just started to learn building websites a month ago. I successfully launched two websites, and that was it.
I hear you, a lot of tech founders run into that exact loop. Building feels natural, but the sales/marketing side feels like this big scary wall. Honestly, the fact that youâre aware of it already puts you ahead of many. For me, my biggest roadblock has been balancing multiple ideas. Iâm working on it the same way you are by leaning into the uncomfortable stuff instead of avoiding it. Curious, have you ever tried testing something super simple like just having 5 quick conversations with potential users before writing a single line of code?
I've had one or 2 conversations,;but , mostly I usually build from a personal problem perspective. Although, realistically that may not be enough.
What's one of the ideas you are currently working on?
That makes sense solving your own problem can be a great starting point, but I get what you mean about needing outside perspectives too. Right now Iâm working on helping small businesses automate parts of their marketing so they can scale without hiring big teams. What about you out of the ideas youâve been exploring, which one are you most excited about right now?
How did you get to that idea? And what are some examples of some things you automate?
Currently working on a tool for light HR functions such as PTO, time tracking, etc
Honestly, the idea came from seeing how simple problems like extracting URLs can save tons of time when automated. Iâve got an expert who helps me with things like that, theyâre great at finding ways to streamline repetitive tasks. For example, weâve automated URL extraction from bulk text and similar workflow hacks. I think your HR tool could really benefit from that same approach.
Ever feel stuck creatively? I do! How do I break free? Usually, I step away, do something completely unrelated, like laundry or a walk. It clears my head and lets new ideas bubble up organically. Anyone else find mundane tasks surprisingly helpful? It's weird, right? Speaking of random, have you played Basket Random?
Totally get that đ stepping away works wonders I usually get my best ideas while doing listen to music or on a walk. Itâs like the brain finally relaxes and makes connections in the background. Havenât tried Basket Random yet though sounds fun, is it as chaotic as the name suggests?
What business do you run currently?
Really like this question. For me the biggest roadblock has been early validation â making sure Iâm not building in a vacuum. Iâve been working on two projects: a SOC2 compliance automation tool, and a platform where founders can showcase their idea/prototype/MVP for visibility. Both are forcing me to cut scope and test faster, but honestly, staying consistent with getting feedback is still the toughest part.
Totally get that early validation is such a tricky stage. Cutting scope and testing faster is the right approach though. I like the contrast between your two projects one solving a very specific compliance pain point, and the other helping founders gain visibility. Out of curiosity, how have you been approaching feedback so far more from peers/founders, or trying to get in front of potential paying users?
Appreciate that đ. So far Iâve been leaning more on peer/founder feedback in communities like Reddit, Slack, Indie hackers â mostly to make sure the pain points resonate before investing too much. With Komplora (compliance automation), my next step is to get feedback directly from CISOs/security folks since theyâd be the actual decision-makers. Curious from your experience â did you find it more useful to keep iterating with peers at this stage, or was it better to start testing with potential buyers early?
That makes a ton of sense peer/founder feedback is great for clarity and spotting blind spots, but at some point it can also keep you in the âbuilder bubble.â From my experience, the real breakthroughs came when I started talking to the actual buyers early, even if the product was still rough. Buyers tend to frame the problem in very different language than peers do, which helped me shape both messaging and features. That said, I still like mixing in peer feedback along the way, just to sanity check assumptions before taking them to prospects. With Komplora, even a couple of quick chats with CISOs might give you way sharper signals than weeks of founder feedback đ.