Flowist

Finally finished my MVP (kind of my second MVP, after feedback). Right on schedule too! Started working on this in December and have since seen it evolve quiet a bit after lots of user input!

Next step is to give it to my users and iterate on their feedback.

Some lessons I learned from before about my product:

1. Simple, simple, simple - they don't need another application that does everything. They don't want another JIRA. Keeping it to the minimum (what are their teammates doing, and where are they) is all they wanted right now.

2. Listen to your users, but also, ask the right questions. User feedback is excellent, but it's even better if it answers questions you have about your own product (i.e. "would this feature help you?")

3. Do what it takes to let you move fast. Whether this is cutting features, or taking the hacky route - getting the product deployed is better than having a better product sitting in your repo.

Excited for what's to come, and no matter what, I've learned a lot in this process!

https://flowist.io

Previously, I had written out a list of what I considered to be features that must exist before I had a Minimum Viable Product.

This list was wrong.

How do I know?

My wife and I are getting a puppy, which we bring home in two weeks (AH!). So I realized that I have a deadline, because in two weeks, the amount of time that I can dedicate to Flowist is going to drop drastically.

With that deadline in mind, I took another look at the list of features that I deemed essential for my product. That list dropped almost by a third because the deadline forced me to be honest about what was really required for the MVP.

I think deadlines can be incredibly powerful - they are the refiner of schedules, and priorities. So I challenge the rest of you Indie Hackers to give yourself a deadline for something! And if you already have one, please share it and we can hold each other accountable!

I did it! This is my first product I've ever openly shared my development of, so here is the first landing page to go along with it!

I realized many things, one of which is that I am bad at copy - but I figured I could only get better...and iteration is a good thing (right?). I attempted to put myself in the shoes of the people who's problem I'm trying to solve. Then imagine stumbling on this site - the words they'd want to see are the words I'd want to put on my landing page. So this is my first attempt at capturing that!

It's a weird feeling sharing a "first" of something so public. But I like it, and I hope to share many more!

You can see it here: https://flowist.io

Came up with a set of minimum features and began writing the MVP. My goal is to have a friend test it out in their daily work flow within the next 2 weeks.

I'll keep everyone updated on how that goes...

I struggle with finding people in my market, who i also trust to understand that it's a work in progress.

I kept feeling like note taking just didn't do what I needed it to do. My daily routine consisted of sticky-notes, emails to myself, attempting to track down previous articles and Stack Overflow questions, and rebuilding context each morning.

I also had an insatiable desire to create, to develop something I cared about on the side (outside of working full-time). I didn't feel that I had the solution to my problem above (in fact, I still don't) but I decided I'd start building.

In an attempt to "scratch my own itch" I started creating Flowist.

I did checkout all competitors, I still didn't know what it was or who it was for besides myself...So yeah I didn't follow all the lessons of people who'd gone before me. But I wanted to learn, and build. So I started!