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I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

switowski.com

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Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#361

Post by joshuaturner »

mkinsella wrote: post #113
joshuaturner wrote: post #98

Before Reddit changed API access I built an iOS app called Pager ( https://pager.app ) that allowed users to set up alerts for content posted on Reddit. It had a lot of success but the issues you highlighted here kept me from monitizing the project. Users became so demanding and I felt like if I began to take money from them it would only get worse. Looking back on it I'm not sure it was the best choice, but at least…

Pager was great! Thank you for building it.

I’m glad you found it useful! It was a really fun project to build and I was always surprised at how many users it attracted.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#362

Post by joshuaturner »

zupa-hu wrote: post #271
joshuaturner wrote: post #98

Before Reddit changed API access I built an iOS app called Pager ( https://pager.app ) that allowed users to set up alerts for content posted on Reddit. It had a lot of success but the issues you highlighted here kept me from monitizing the project. Users became so demanding and I felt like if I began to take money from them it would only get worse. Looking back on it I'm not sure it was the best choice, but at least…

Hey, thank you so much for Pager! It helped me a lot (in supporting my own free users on Reddit)! I was often wondering how long it will remain free. Well, forever. <3

That’s awesome, it’s always exciting to hear how others used the app and the kind of monitors they were able to build for their communities.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#363

Post by hermitcrab »

mavamaarten wrote: post #356

This is extremely relatable. I have a similar experience with a free (!) watchface and a paid watch app I made a good few years back when WearOS was all the hype. There's very friendly and thankful customers, there's unfortunately also a lot of needy and annoying ones. How do they not understand that I work for free, they always ask for more. Add to that Google that is behaving like a toxic god, changing the rules of…

A significant part of my time is spent jumping through hoops created by big suppliers, such as Apple, Microsoft and Google. It drives me crazy. Support can be annoying, but at least I feel I am helping people.

BTW I couldn't get a renewal on a US government database because my business address was different in 2 other databases by exactly 1 comma character. This was blocking a big order. It took over a month, several phone calls and chats, lot of emails and an 'expedited' payment to the UK government to get this sorted. Fun times.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#364

Post by hermitcrab »

hinkley wrote: post #329
hermitcrab wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Offer two price points: The $20 / month gets no support, the $100 / month is supported. Someone is paying you money and you won't help them? They are going to cancel and possibly badmouth you on social media. Also, how are you supposed to improve your product if you don't interact with most of the userbase? I try to help everyone who uses my software. Even if they are evaluating and haven't paid me a penny. Commerci…

Have you ever called your cable TV operator?

Cable TV isn't really a thing in the UK.

Also, just because some companies treat their customer's terribly, doesn't mean I have to.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#365

Post by shahzaibmushtaq »

There's a saying in the indie hacking community, never quit your full-time job until your side project(s) come close to your current salary.

I think your first successful side project got stuck somewhere in the middle and you also lost interest along the way managing it.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#366

Post by rusticpenn »

teractiveodular wrote: post #232
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how flows like that happen. Is Support just completely disconnected from Engineering? Do they not have a way to report issues and indicate that many customers are having a specific issue? Does the company believe that giving a customer a runaround will make them less upset than saying "Sorry, this is a known issue. We're working on it but do not have a timeline"? Certainly at some point, some support person…

If you're working with a large company, Support is outsourced to a bunch of people reading scripts in Manila/Bangalore, and the external company employing them is actively incentivized to never resolve the root cause of any issue, because doing so would mean less tickets and less billable hours.

In my first job in a software maintenance project, I was overenthusiastic and was closing issues left and right. My manager called me to his office and told me that if I solved all the issues, the project will need much lesser people when they renew the contract, which might lead me, the junior most person, to be sent to the bench until they get a new contract.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#367

Post by kristopolous »

sschueller wrote: post #351
tda wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me: This very specific thing is broken in general for your product when I do a and b. Just like users x,y and z report on . (Siemens) Support: Before I can help you, please find the serial number via , and the exact version of subsystems . Me: Here you go, though I fail to see how my specific setup is relevant as the problem has been reported on forums for years, and it is easily reproducible Support: Please update t…

What do you do if you are incorrect? It has happened many times that a customer calls certain they know what the issue is and even if the customer is well versed in that field he may be wrong.

I hop on video and do screen share. It probably takes less aggregate time, they think they get special treatment when really I'm just saving time and I know how my stuff is being used more.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#368

Post by kadoban »

RachelF wrote: post #296
shash7 wrote: post #37

Can relate, I've been in a similar boat running a small B2B Saas over the last 2 years. It does get easier over time. I've learnt a few tricks for managing early stage pain points. - You need to develop a polite but curt tone of voice for customer support. - Once your core product is built, its worthwhile spending some time automating the heck out of everything. This will save a TON of time in the near future. - Inve…

"- Invest in good docs..." In my experience, end users don't read the docs or FAQ's or help search - they send you a question.

Even if users don't read them of their own volition, they're still valuable. You can copy/paste responses from them, link to them, or hell just use them to remember the answer yourself later without having to confirm it or even think about it.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#369

Post by kadoban »

filoleg wrote: post #109
Gustomaximus wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be worth putting a price to investigating? Message like: "Our premium support can investigate this for $XYhr. If the fault is at our end we will waive any fees. Please let us know if you wish to proceed."

Take my advice with a grain of salt, as I am a customer rather than someone running a product with customer support. I would say this would only feel justified if the product pricing page already had clear tiers outlined for paid support. Putting a price per hour on customer support otherwise would make me feel like I am just being milked behind closer doors for more money, and non-paying customers are getting shafte…

That's fair, but also: sometimes the customer going away and not using the product anymore is the correct result for both sides.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#370

Post by micw »

Vegenoid wrote: post #126
duxup wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You need to develop a polite but curt tone of voice for customer support. And very focused responses in terms of action items. You might think of 3 things to say, check, but sadly 90% of the people you respond to with a list will behave like they read just one of them. Sadly this also leads to dragging things out for everyone who can handle more than one thing at a time :(

Yep. All the time when I worked in IT: Me: Please try these 3 things and let me know how it goes: (list of 3 things with instructions) Them: I tried (thing #1) and it didn’t work. Me: Thank you, please try these 2 things and let me know how it goes Them: I tried (thing #2) and it didn’t work. Me: Thank you, please try this thing and let me know how it goes Them: (no response) Me: Just checking in to see if this is re…

_This_ is exact the place where a LLM could step in and could really help:

1. Customer describes the problem 2. You get the problem, parsed by the model, including a summary and a suggestion what could help. 3. You write "do that 3 things" 4. The model tells the customer to do the 1st, then the 2nd and so on 5. The model reminds the customer in intervals that things are not completed 6. the model notifies you after the 3 things are done and the issue is still there.

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