Hecto

Been an indie hacker lurker for the longest time. (Like, 2 years).

For any current Indiehacker lurkers, this update is certainly for you.

On Tuesday, I released Hecto v1.0 onto Product Hunt.

Prior to the day, my motivations for releasing were:

• Validate the raw concept
• Get upvotes, sign ups and feedback
• 'Fail Forward': get the critical learnings/validation needed early.
• Build the site to spec of being 'launchable'.

How it Went:

• v1.0 well received.
  Got alot of positive feedback on the idea, the site and that people are keen to see it grow.

• Got 85 up votes
  85 was way more than anticipated. Got 9 newsletter signups - way less than anticipated. All comments from the contact me page were positive.

• Newsletter Creators Feedback
  Had a number of conversations which helped identify points for improvement and my next steps, which was super helpful. Any other feedback - let me know

• Site was built very quickly
  I built this site faster any I've built before. Which was challenging. But gives me the confidence that I can build and iterate on any feedback, very quickly.

Post Launch Thoughts

• Don't get hung up on upvotes.
  PH upvotes aren't the currency you think it is. Get the validation, the feedback and consolidate what you learn.

• Launching isn't the destination, it's a step on the journey.
  It's easy to get hung up on "launching", when really it's not the end goal. In this case actually, it's the beginning.

• Adding a name and a story helps stand out from other faceless websites (good point @harrydry)

• The Newsletter Community is awesome and an exciting space. Which I'm an advocate for. And I will do a better job of showing that via engagement and supporting.

So, if you're a lurker, like I was - here's my final tip about building and launching:

Just f*cking do it.

Every other day, I have another business idea. And every time - for some reason - I am convinced that this new idea would be amazing. And that idea is in fact the one to pursue.

It used to be a struggle to not hop between projects in the past and 'stay faithful' to the idea i was building.

Ever felt like that?

Well, it used to happen a lot. So much in fact, that I have a 'little black book' of all the ideas I've had over the past 2 years. I would write them down and not look at them again. To ease the distraction.

However, after my last venture - I decided, for the first time, to look back on old ideas and see if I could - with my experiences, refine them, choose one, and stick to one.

So, I did just that and now I'm back to building. Only, this time going to try doing things a little different.

You ever felt like the re's too many ideas and not enough time?
http://hecto.io/