Reached the Top 50 on Pioneer

I've been submitting progress updates on https://pioneer.app for a while now. I did it back in the summer, then took some time off. I've been doing updates for five weeks now and am in the Global Top 50 on the leaderboard. This means I'm now eligible to be selected as a Pioneer. Based on the other people that became Pioneers, I think it will take me a few more weeks to be chosen just because of where my product is.

Pioneer is great for forcing you to continually make structured status updates and get good feedback. Getting feedback from other players is part of the platform. If you don't know who to ask to get feedback on your project every week, I highly recommend trying Pioneer.

If you do try it, it's pretty simple to climb the leaderboard. This is how I did it:

1. Check off all "side quests" that give you points. Fill out your project description, take a quiz, etc. Low-hanging fruit that gets you started
2. Have an ambitious plan every week, even if you won't achieve it.
3. Be honest in updates. If you don't finish something, that's okay. Don't lie about it.
4. Have links from your updates to your site showing specific points of progress. Showing your progress is better than just saying it. It also gets people to visit your website and give feedback about the latest updates.
5. Don't take it too seriously. There are some serious benefits to winning Pioneer, but the results are really up to peers voting on you. Don't stress about it, have fun with it and make progress on your work.