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My app failed: lessons learned

rithm.app

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Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#91

Post by drewolbrich »

somenewaccount1 wrote: post #37
kylebolt wrote: post #2

So early 2020, I launched Rithm, an app that helps you build habits, reach your goals and stay motivated. The 1st version was a chatbot app, think of it like an accountability coach that you text with to track habits and stay accountable. Rithm landed as the #4 product of the day on ProductHunt, had some good initial traction which proceeded to fall off a cliff. Here are the 8 lessons for a failed version 1, see vide…

Looks like you are still working on learning distribution. I'm typing on a mac, but own an android. i still can't use or try your app :(

At least for this particular flavor of app, building an Android version is an optimization that should be made once the product has been proven successful.

Until that happens, it would be a huge waste of time and money for the developer to build an Android version, since it too would fail as a product, just like the iOS version.

Multiplying 0 by 2 is still 0.

The situation might be different for an app whose success depended on the user's ability to use the app to communicate with all of their friends, some of which had Android phones.

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#92

Post by kylebolt »

allenu wrote: post #33

I think the biggest myth with apps today is "if you build it, they will come". I think it was true 10 years ago when the iPhone App Store was getting started, but not today. The thing is, having a ton of competitors in the space means you will have to work extra hard for your app to be seen and then picked. "Lesson 4: Distribution" in the post is probably the most important thing here. Marketing and SEO are huge in t…

Thanks for reading! I'm focusing more on distribution and monetization (or ability to pay) on my next product.

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#93

Post by ensiferum »

rexreed wrote: post #15

Good lessons. But so many common mistakes To summarize: 1) Build something people really need, not a nice-to-have 2) Keeping customers is more important than just acquiring them 3) If you're not keeping your customers that means they don't want or need what you have 4) Changing people's behavior is really hard. Unless you have a significant amount of marketing budget, don't try to change people 5) "Distribution" is k…

Most of these fall under the term "product - market fit". All key points really. Fail at the these and it's an uphill battle to acquire and esp. Retain customers.

Good stuff to read "the mom test" and "sell more faster".

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#94

Post by asdev »

koalala wrote: post #8
mcraiha wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only question that needs to be asked nowadays. You need user acquisition money. Sad fact is that otherwise it is almost impossible to do anything.

Exactly, I would recommend spending a few thousand on a good PPC marketing agency and let them set up your marketing. You might be amazed at what this would accomplish since your product seems fine.

very interested if you know how to find a good agency for this as well. please DM/message if you can, thanks

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#95

Post by asdev »

This seems like a classic case of "build and they won't come". I feel like OP could've validated that the market for a product like this is too competitive quite easily before writing a line of code.

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#96

Post by kylebolt »

OJFord wrote: post #12
kylebolt wrote: post #2

So early 2020, I launched Rithm, an app that helps you build habits, reach your goals and stay motivated. The 1st version was a chatbot app, think of it like an accountability coach that you text with to track habits and stay accountable. Rithm landed as the #4 product of the day on ProductHunt, had some good initial traction which proceeded to fall off a cliff. Here are the 8 lessons for a failed version 1, see vide…

Just a minor copy note: > There are a million and 1 habit and goal apps out there and I made the mistake to think that just because there are a lot of products in this space, doesn’t mean that there is a lot of businesses in that space. I think you were thinking of two different ways to phrase that, mixed them up, and the result is that it says the opposite? As in, either remove 'I made the mistake to think that', or…

Good spot, thank you!

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#97

Post by zdragnar »

LeonM wrote: post #85
jfengel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really realistic to build something people "need"? Humanity survived millions of years without a single piece of software; it's unlikely that anything you write is ever going to be a "need". People buy stuff they don't need all the time. Games and other entertainment are the very definition of "nice to have", and they're vast markets. Even business tools are usually not "needs" if all they do is improve an exis…

> Is it really realistic to build something people "need"? Humanity survived millions of years without a single piece of software; it's unlikely that anything you write is ever going to be a "need". Replace "need" with "desire" and suddenly it makes sense. People have a desire to socialize (facebook), people have a desire to be heard (twitter), people have a desire to communicate (messenger apps, phones), people have…

Need in the context of the quote was used as opposed to "want". I think the point was to drive home that people are less likely to pay for, and continue using, things that they "want" versus "need".

The problem is, needs (as prerequisite to survival) isn't really what is being described here. "Desire" doesnt quite sounds like the right term either, because it is semantically no different than a want.

Rather than looking at the customer's spectrum of desire, perhaps a better framing is fulfillment- does the app fulfill a gap in a person's abilities, or does it sate an idle fancy?

Facebook and twitter do both, I think, at different levels. Perhaps that is why they are so successful.

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#98

Post by redisman »

kylebolt wrote: post #86
nicoburns wrote: post #11

I've yet to see a single product that was improved by being a chatbot.

So true, it's an inferior user experience is most all cases where a UI could suffice. (A game product could be the exception)

The early adventure games used a interpreter that was basically like a chatbot. It got quickly replaced by more direct controls.

Typing “walk north” instead of just pushing the up arrow or clicking with a mouse was pretty frustrating

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#99

Post by brianwawok »

dnautics wrote: post #87
mdorazio wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To your #5, I find that developers tend to be allergic to the term "marketing" because it's easy to think it's a waste of money or the department of flashy do-nothings if you've never tried to actually build a business yourself.

I doubt that's why they are allergic to it. Perhaps I'm projecting, but I suspect that developers have seen their fair share of products which succeed (for some measure of succeed, e.g. "raised a round" or "founders cashed out") with only marketing and a crap or, worse, vaporware product. It's a very common and easy fallacious inference to go from there to "all marketing is bad", especially in a field where there are…

Marketing on a bad product sometimes lets you make money.

No marketing on a good product seldom lets you be successful.

The mistake of founders is to let burns from the first bucket, stop the second from having a chance.

Re: My app failed: lessons learned

#100

Post by kylebolt »

bastawhiz wrote: post #73

> I initially saw oh ok, there are a ton of people making these apps, it must be profitable. If you look at a dense market and decide to join in because you see potential profit because the market is dense , you're already destined for failure. Everyone else already has a head start, which means you need some sort of differentiating feature to be competitive. Why would I pay for blog software that's half baked or doe…

I thought habits might be an interesting market to work in + using a chatbot as a novel approach but alas my approach did not pan out.
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