Show & Tell: Share with others what are you working on and one lesson you learned from it. GO π
Sharath Kuruganty
63 replies
Replies
Joshua Dance@joshdance
Summer Bod 2020
Working on an app that will give you the actual numbers and scientific facts behind getting in shape.
https://thisappwillgiveyouabs.co...
Learned a lot. Biggest thing is using objects. Putting the details a user enters into an object makes it easier to refactor and improve.
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Working on a lifestyle weightloss program for founders and entrepreneurs. Personally lost 57lbs so far this year. A1c from 7.3 to 5.0. BMI from 32.50 to 24.5. All based on food and nutrition changes. Built many startups in the past, trying to figure out exactly what this product/service might be for maximum impact for founders/entrepreneurs.
Integromat
I'm building https://dataled.academy as a place to learn how to work with data via a thorough understanding of data tools and technologies, as well as expert, unbiased answers to related questions.
The biggest lesson so far is to not be afraid to do something different and take the road less-taken!
Customer Engagement OS
I am building a basic CRUD app with No-code in my current project The Lean Side Project. I am building in the open and sharing on my twitter how exactly I am doing that and what I am learning. you can follow along here: https://twitter.com/MichaelJNovo...
Please ask me any questions and I will help you build your app in no-code. Thank you!
TimeToCoda
I'm working on π± GreenHabit (upcoming) for Makers Festival. A conversational π€ that acts as your personal accountability coach to make your new green habits stick.
πLesson learned: Read the docs! π© The API for FB messenger was acting pretty odd for a while, I thought I knew the issue and then kept trying different experiments... but turned out the bot was working perfectly, I just needed a permission approved by FB. Wasted a LOT of time.
Typedream
Hey @5harath, I built Typedream (https://typedream.com/), a Notion-like website builder, and learned how to solve a problem with the least amount of technology and features.
After numerous other projects, my team and I spent the least amount of engineering time on Typedream. Instead, we spent most of our time with our users and they not only love that we're listening to them but they're also simping for us.
@5harath @kevinchandra Learnt something new Kevin. Simp for us is super cool. I was looking at your site and then only it struck me. Nice reach, for sure it got my attention and it is sure to get more as well. Good for you. I am sure going to make use of this in future. Thanks again.
WhatsNew.co
Hey @5harath π
I'm working on HIGHSCORE.domains and the biggest thing I learned after the PH launch is - we never really know what user wants unless we launch or start accepting beta users.
I thought my customers would be interested in tools like website monitor (get alert when website down), Coming soon landing pages for the unused domains.
Looks like most PRO customers are interested ins selling their unused domains
So yes - launch early get feedback.
Btw, listening to your racket audio where you mentioned about not worrying too much about PH motivated me to launch early (just launched without any plan) and it turned out well :) thanks π
I'm working on www.logology.co and the number one thing I've learned is to stop over-engineering everything, and focus on getting sales instead.
I'm a software engineer initially so it took a while for me to understand. But now I basically stopped doing tests or building features to the maximum, and instead just try to make progress on what can increase sales.
AnythingLLM
Im working on a mental health/community mobile app right now called Good Word Club where you can send out a short voice snippet and get randomly paired with someone else who is supporting you on your goals & affirmations. Think Snapchat + Clubhouse.
I am building the app in React Native for cross platform and have always thought mobile apps from scratch could be daunting but wow was I wrong when i started using Firebase. I usually roll my own stuff but Firebase really is "backend as a service". It is so much easier to use I can imagine ill be using it for most my projects going forward as opposed to custom build backend on AWS.
Also fastlane to manage the absolute kafka-esque workflow of AppStore certificate management has been a blessing. I worked on a client mobile app once the didnt use fastlane and it was an honest nightmare.
If you want to build a mobile app quick: React Native, Firebase, Fastlane π₯
AnythingLLM
@cathleen_turner That means a lot, I really appreciate you saying that!
Guess the Growth
Building GrowSurf 2.0 to $1M ARR, we're a referral marketing SaaS that makes it easy for tech startups to launch their own rewards program.
After my 1st month as CMO, I've found that going after your target market isn't just about defining your ideal customer, but also excluding non-ideal customers from your marketing.
We had a bit over 9% churn last month, which is too high for comfort. Lots of our churn came from non-ideal customers so it's not less of a worry and more of a wakeup call to laser focus our content.
Working on app.ginger.win with friends to make eco-friendly habit building into a fun, collaborative game. I am in the growth stage where we have an MVP, it's up, but people are not joining challenges. The only people doing challenges are the ones who built it, which we enjoy, but it would be great to loop in others.
https://app.ginger.win
Getting people to give you a shot is harder than I thought it would be. Today's challenge is BYOB - bring your own bottle. I am starting to think that maybe our challenges aren't fun enough? we aren't getting feedback either.
Working on tl;dv (https://tldv.io/) since 2020 to empower people to feel emotionally safe when declining meetings and to quickly catch up with the most important bits async.
The biggest learning: don't confuse (even overwhelmingly) positive reactions with product validation. As founders we are naturally excited about our products and can quickly spark excitement while talking to people in customer calls.
My takeaway: in product discovery, I always ask for a form of "currency"
Tier 1: Time - are they willing to test my product?
Tier 2: Reputation - are they willing to recommend it to colleagues?
Tier 3: Money - are they willing to pay for it?
As hard as it is: always be brutally honest with yourself - false validation is a real threat & time killer.
I'm working on a Twitter thread scheduling application (threadstart.io) and the single biggest learning was to quickly release new things and iterate.
I've previously tried to launch a SaaS but spent a year overengineering a solution that never made it to production. This time I'm shipping quickly, trying to get feedback as soon as possible and then improve the product based on the feedback.
5 months in and I'm way further than I would have imagined back when I first started.
Undefeated Underdogs Podcast
LaraNx
Mockey AI
I am working on https://letterflix.com (send letters online anywhere in the world). And I've learned SEO and first-hand saw the organic traffic lead growth on my product. I've learned how to use free SEO tools, how to effectively track growth, and how to slowly gain quality backlinks.
Hey @5harath π
We're building Sideby, an 1-click way to guide your users through any issue on your app. Made for startups focused on SaaS.
Biggest lesson so far: planning is important, but understanding your users is a matter of hard work. You can't plan being nice and gathering feedback π
We'll be launching on PH soon after closed beta is over :)
Would love to have your feedback!
https://www.sideby.io/
We are working on a language learning app, and the biggest lesson so far is that we needed to focus on our main USP instead of throwing in as many benefits as possible. Part of it is being afraid to focus on a specific niche and "lose" the rest of the market. I would strongly suggest to have a mentor look at your landing page so that a fresh and experienced pair of eyes could spot things like that.
We were trying to attract both "busy" and "lazy" people, not realizing that these categories need different things, and even the design can probably be different.
Zipcan
We are working on Zipcan. Beta customers that signed up through Product Hunt have now gotten access to the full product π₯
I agree with @5harath and @fscholz that shipping early and often is the right approach. Going deeper on that, we have built in stages ALPHA (people we already knew) > BETA (Public release on Product Hunt) > FULL RELEASE INVITE (All beta customers + targeted marketing for invite only) > PUBLIC RELEASE (This is where we are now). The whole process has taken about 7 months.
Company 360
My product: Company 360 for investment research.
The app is dedicated to to Value Investment methodology and uses formulas and valuation models from current academic research.
I also expose calculations and provide detailed info on how the formulas work, where input comes from and terminology.
Benefits new investors that use bare-bones trading platforms that donβt offer research functionalities.
Currently on AppStore (iOS) and I'm planning to create Android version.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/co...
Iβm an engineer, so marketing is a mystery to me. I have tried multiple channels so far including Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram only to find out that 70% of my customers come from direct AppStore searches. Lesson learned - customers know what product they are looking for. Proper search keywords are must to be discovered.
Our team is currently working with https://lessandra.com.ph/loan-ca.... Biggest lesson is that to continue work on innovations like this :) It will help a lot of home buyers to compare and decide which type of home they are qualified to avail.
I've been curating a weekly newsletter called Workspaces (https://www.workspaces.xyz/) that brings you inside the workspace of a creative, founder, artist, etc each week!
The main lesson I've learned is that consistency is key! Growth has been steady and open rates have remained >50% per newsletter and I think a key reason for this is that subscribers know to expect the newsletter every Sunday morning.
WhatsNew.co
@ryangilbert That's a good idea. I should start sending the weekly emails which I'm supposed to do π
@ryangilbert Congratulations on having such high open rates. I think there is sure a lesson to learn and use it as a model. Consistency is the magic word here. Kudos.