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I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

indiehackers.com

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Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#151

Post by hermitcrab »

fxtentacle wrote: post #22
rorylaitila wrote: post #11

Let's call this shotgun capitalism. It's all the rage over at indie X. It used to be that one had a unique interest, profession or capability. This uniqueness causes them to see a gap in the market that could be filled by a new business. They work on filling out that gap, going as far as the customers and their capabilities will take them. But that's too limiting. Because their interests and their customers might not…

The problem is that feedback is difficult to get without customers. Plus in many cases, the feedback of what people intend to do is not really helpful at predicting what they will do. I'll go with an example from my past: We built a SaaS for freelance photographers to organize and distribute their images. People loved it. We listened for feedback and people loved the new features. But churn was always a bit too high…

This is my experience as well - it is very difficult to know what a market is really like without actually trying to sell a product into it.

What people say and what they do are very loosely coupled. The only really good validation of a product idea is people giving you $.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#152

Post by eddythompson80 »

comprev wrote: post #143
baxtr wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Build a shovel app?!

Shovel-as-a-Service* [*] Also known as "tool hire" and has been around since the dawn of mankind

I package shovel-industry futures into financial instruments and sell them to speculators.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#153

Post by [deleted] »

fxtentacle wrote: post #31
TimPC wrote: post #14

A product with $6000 in revenue selling for only $12,500 seems crazy to me. Why were you so eager to get rid of it?

Most likely, they booked some advertisements to push revenue but didn't honestly account for the ad expenses. I've seen that way too many times with Indie products that they brag about large revenue numbers and "forget" to mention that profit margins are negative. I remember once hearing about a start-up that resold baby diapers at a loss. Obviously, they were easily able to scale up customers and revenue ...

[deleted]

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#154

Post by eddythompson80 »

libraryatnight wrote: post #60
karel-3d wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesn't even own it anymore and, according to the recent reviews of the service (by marketers), it basically stopped working since he sold it (and when I google there are many more like it that works better, this seems to be using 2024 LLMs). So I am not selling it at all. I just really hate the idea.

I hate it too, but I hate it even more knowing it broke after he sold it. Not even bringing any integrity to the evil. lol

“If it’s not worth doing, it’s not worth doing well”

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#155

Post by hermitcrab »

satvikpendem wrote: post #55
jf22 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you defining garbage?

Probably because Levels says he codes each product in a single PHP file. But then again, there's a reason he's successful and the parent is not (at least to that same level, pun intended). Technologists think code is an end unto itself while true entrepreneurs that it's just a means to an end, and that the end itself is money (otherwise, why are you running a business? If you don't make money, it's simply a hobby).

>it's just a means to an end, and that the end itself is money

The end is also to create something useful for your customers. Hopefully.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#156

Post by WA »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #82

"After launching 37 different products over the last few years, I've had one go viral and almost all the others struggle to get any traction at all." Imagine if these "products" were subject to the laws of product liability in the United States like real products sold there. Why do software developers call websites or apps "products". Why not just call them "websites", "apps" or just "software". For example, "After c…

> Imagine if these "products" were subject to the laws of product liability in the United States like real products sold there.

Software products are products and they come with liability. Maybe many bullshit apps can't cause any harm and don't really matter, but most evident is software in the medical space. Also, if you step outside of the US, software products in the EU must comply with the GDPR. If you fail to comply, you are held liable.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#157

Post by eddythompson80 »

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #145
nikolayasdf123 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

single file 30,000 of PHP code.

That truly doesn't matter though. It's certainly not what I would do, but assuming the numbers he claims are genuine, it's hard evidence that your customers don't care how you wrote the software.

The feature of software being maintainable and reusable by people other than its original author is for the users. It can be easy to forget until it’s too late.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#158

Post by WA »

farceSpherule wrote: post #18

Everyone is trying to "copy" Pieter Levels "success" which as of now is "brand effect." The guy started his thing over a decade ago and people look at it now and think they can replicate it. The stuff the guy codes is garbage and what he does is far from solving any problems. And, I do not believe his revenue numbers. At all. But people on the Internet see some shit posted, believe it, and then compare themselves to…

I think Pieter is actually legit, even though his bad takes on things started to increase in the last few years. But his products?

- Nomadlist solved a problem, especially back then: a social network for digital nomads. Nothing wrong with it.

- Remoteok is a job board, but niched down, which is completely ok

- photoai / interiorai: it pains me that an AI slop generator is obviously a viable business model, but apparently many people are willing to pay for this

The rest is indeed brand effect. That shitty flight simulator wouldn't have gotten any traction if it wasn't for being part of "a community".

But, and this is the most important thing I like about Pieter: he doesn't sell shovels in a gold rush. His products solve problems for quite different groups of people and X isn't necessarily the primary marketing platform for his stuff.

There are others in the indie hacker scene that are way more shady, because they make their money from products that sell that lifestyle first and foremost.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#159

Post by yakshaving_jgt »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #157
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That truly doesn't matter though. It's certainly not what I would do, but assuming the numbers he claims are genuine, it's hard evidence that your customers don't care how you wrote the software.

The feature of software being maintainable and reusable by people other than its original author is for the users. It can be easy to forget until it’s too late.

The users don't care about this.

I write my software with Haskell, NixOS, comprehensive testing, static analysis, linting, a great deal of care, etc.

If I had written everything in one big PHP file however, the difference to a paying customer would be exactly nil.

Re: I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

#160

Post by TheDong »

jimkleiber wrote: post #147
latexr wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you make money online? By making “how to make money online” courses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWMAOzH20mY

Lol I love it, been hoping something like this existed, thank you

If you want an overly long slightly different version of that video, you could check out the Folding Ideas video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biYciU1uiUw
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