You, indie hackers, made this possible!
Hi all,
So after many years of struggling, trying and failing, I finally launched a real product (well, it's MVP, but it can be called a product ;). Although I published it just a few days ago and the project doesn't make any money yet, I already have a feeling of a great accomplishment. That is because I've never reached this point before. As far as I can remember, I worked on several small side-hustles, but I started two serious projects (which were meant to be a profitable business one day). Both of them failed, even before reaching MVP:
The first one was looking promising because another person in another country got precisely the same idea and we both were working on it from the ground up. He was a little bit further than me, but I believed, at the time, that it's manageable. I stopped working on this project shortly after I found that my competitor was able to raise a 1 million-dollar angel investment. That scared me. A lot. It scared me so much that I stopped working on the project, cause I thought that I could never catch up. Today I know that it was a mistake. You cannot stop working on your project just because there is someone else in the market and they are (maybe) in a better position! You have to push forward and focus just on yourself. If I knew IndieHackers back then, I know that you would tell me to continue and keep pushing...
I started my second project together with a co-founder. We had an idea of a handy data-processing tool, so useful that we believed that people would even pay for it. I think that the project failed because we were actually too naive. The core value of the product was based on processing data which we didn't own. The data were coming from a different service (company). We spent several months working on this thing, and only after that, the other company expressed to us, that they wouldn't allow us to use their data for such a commercial purpose. This experience taught me a lot (at minimum to sign vital contracts BEFORE you start doing anything else :).
These two projects took a considerable portion of my life. Yet, they didn't reach MVP. Extremely frustrating. I tried to work on several other smaller ideas, but again none of it reached a point of being a product. So I said to myself that maybe I'm not fit for this whole entrepreneurship thing and started to do some freelance work instead.
I don't know when exactly, but I found Indie Hackers, which kind of changed my life. After reading several articles and posts over here, I found out that there are thousands of people out there, struggling with the same obstacles, trying to move forward in a strong headwind, just to find their own freedom... So I decided that I will return to my attempts to create something useful...
So here I am. I launched @SpinTrace a few days ago. I know it's not rocket science, I know it's nothing dramatic, new or sexy or something which would save the planet. But what the hell... I made it, it's fun to work on it, and I'm proud of it. I use it myself, so there is a good chance that other people will use it too and that is enough for me now.
I was able to reach this point just because of you, IndieHackers, your support, opinions and advice in articles, posts and milestones...
Thank you, guys
Thank you so much for sharing your learning here, Breta.
This is so central to the indie and bootstrapper community. We all walk on our own paths, but through the same landscape. Listening to the stories of our peers is vital to being able to survive in the wild.
The first learning of not looking too closely at the competition is very important. It's great to know what's going on around you. However, no amount of money can make people more driven or excited to build something - as long as you have a burning desire to build a similar thing. If they were already driven before they raised, nothing changed. If they were not driven but still raised money, then all that money will be wasted.
The second learning about making sure that all vital documents are signed before you begin, now that is a very sad thing to happen to you. Getting everything in writing as early as possible definitely helps to make sure your efforts are not in vain. It boils down to trust and being clear in your communication.
Now about your product.
I really like the website, it's clear, the UI is professional, and your tool is solving one problem well.
I have one big problem. Your product is free. This is a really dangerous thing to do at this point. You will not receive any meaningful validation for your product if you don't charge money for it. If you want to see if a business thinks your tool is worth money, put a price tag on it. Maybe with a free 2-week trial, sure. But never free. I see that you have this covered in the FAQ on the bottom. I still think that from the moment your product can provide value, people should pay you.
If I was you, I would put a $25 or $50 monthly subscription into your application with a 2 to 3-week trial (long enough to show value, short enough to not get a full month worth). And then see what happens. At worst, you will have exactly the same $0 that you have now. At best, you have a few paying customers who you can talk to about their most important needs and requirements.
Thanks for your reply. Trust me that the payment processing platform integration is the next item in my todo list :).
You surprised me with the $25 or $50 monthly price tag. It's a way more than I believed I could charge for the service... which only means that I'll have to experiment with the price tag much more than I thought ;)
Btw I would appreciate any feedback (positive or negative) on @SpinTrace which you can give me:
Much appreciated
Congrats on the launch! Site looks nice. Best wishes with it.
Congrats on the launch! While ups and downs can be tough, it's good to see that in your case it pays off to be persistent.
On a related note about launches, I just made an IH product page for my product (https://www.indiehackers.com/product/closetpilot). I'll also persist and work to make periodic updates :)
Thank you. Keep going! :)