Observe the world
The questions you can't avoid while building
Positioning, cold start, growth, revenue, team and mindset. Pick one and talk through your own situation.
Positioning 3 questions
Who is my product actually for?
"Everyone" means no one. Narrow it to one specific person and product decisions get much easier.
Is this a real need, or did I invent it?
Your own itch doesn't count as evidence. Separate "users said they want it" from "users already spend money or time on it".
Should I stay small, or go for scale?
The two paths differ in pricing, channels and almost every product decision. Choosing early matters more than choosing right.
Cold start 3 questions
No traffic. Where do the first 100 users come from?
A cold start is not "build it and they will come". The first 100 come one at a time, by hand.
Where should I post about it first?
Reddit, Hacker News, Product Hunt, X, a newsletter — pick the wrong channel and a good product still goes unseen.
Should I ship before it's finished?
"Let me polish it a bit more" is the most common form of procrastination — but shipping too early wastes the first impression too.
Growth 3 questions
People sign up and never come back. What now?
Retention is a product problem before it's a marketing one. Find the moment they leave.
SEO or community — where should I put my effort?
They pay off on completely different timescales, and both punish half-hearted effort.
Growth flattened out. Is it the product or the channel?
The same flat line can come from a saturated channel or a product that stops being useful. The fix is different.
Revenue 3 questions
How much should I charge?
Most indie developers price too low. Start from what the user saves, not from what it cost you.
Plenty of free users, almost no paying ones.
Usually the free tier already solves the whole problem, or the paid one solves a different problem than you think.
Subscription or one-time payment?
One is a promise of ongoing work, the other is cash today. Which one fits depends on the product, not on fashion.
Team 2 questions
Mindset 3 questions
Should I keep going or call it?
Neither persistence nor quitting is virtuous on its own. Look at the evidence, then at what you can afford.
How do I keep this going alongside a job?
The problem is rarely total hours; it's that the hours are broken into pieces too small to think in.
Someone copied my product. What do I do?
Being copied usually means you found something. What decides the outcome is what you do next, not how loudly you complain.
Nothing here you want to talk about? Suggest a question. If it's approved it joins the pool under your name and anyone can use it — so suggest the ones more than one person runs into.
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Same corner of the site: Drills — prompts you copy and take to another model, so it interviews you scene by scene.