Ashutosh

Right, that's the essence of procrastination. It's a fear of no reward. I feel the breakthrough to overcome it is to make the reward intrinsic, which is in our control more than external stimuli.

Two things I'd do differently: get the branding right for differentiation, and focus on retention. Both are common pitfalls when building new stuff blinds an indie maker from existing customers' problems.

Pre product-market fit: high retention (the only North Star metric that matters) Post product-market fit: CAC:LTV ratio Huge TAM is a good indicator, but not really a must in my opinion.

Let's celebrate sprints! What works for me is working in short sprints rather than a perpetual marathon. Continuously working long hours is draining and counter-productive, but strategic long-hours only when needed are sometimes required to push uphill. #productivity

Name it last 😊 Specially for us engineers, creative branding doesn't come naturally. It helps a ton to build first, test in a small group, then name that project for audience fit and competitor differentiation.

I feel that being a developer who can also write well is a superpower. Design can be outsourced, sales/marketing can be learnt gradually, but good copy-writing (emails, website messaging, blog content etc.) makes a core competency.

Good copywriting > Great eye-candy. nitter.gq/jackbutcher/status/129…

This is insightful, because of all the parameters people buy software in particular like: - save time - save efforts - save money - make money The last one matters most for customers in B2B selling, through adding value for their own customers.

That's the ultimate truth about software in general. It's never complete, yet it needs to be simpler at each iteration. There's always scope for improvement. The important thing is to keep shipping what enough paying customers ask for.

This! A 6-figure (ARR) software business started out a decade ago by accepting donations for a bare-bones prototype. A monetary transaction is the only signal of real demand.

I'd suggest: share a basic mock-up and full list of v1 features of the app with them, suggest a base price (say $499) of final product, and offer a discount (say 20%) to early adopters who authorise their card (not charged until later).

Ideas can be stolen even after you launch. What can't be stolen is your unique execution (domain knowledge, product design, distribution, branding etc.) @Sivers says it well, "ideas are just a multiplier of execution": sive.rs/multiply

Git's time machine: git reflog git reset HEAD@{index} Something I recently learnt via OhShitGit.com

True, and a lot has to do with luck as well. Two people/teams working on the same idea will produce different products, and hence different results. But, we can improve ("law of attraction") the luck factor by brute-forcing. One thing will succeed if we stick to it long enough.

Only if #nocode tools supported a common data portability spec, so that 'templates' for personal utilities (e.g. budgeting, contact-mgmt etc.) can be created, shared or even traded (p2p).

Imho, social media is more about learning/sharing, than sales. 1) followers aren't committed to a purchase, 2) social in aggregate has <2% conversion rate. Many studies on it. Email and search are bit better. Is amassing followers for SaaS sales worth the time (indirect CAC)?

Time/effort/capital invested can be metrics. I feel one metric for slightly experienced makers can be domain knowledge: Building for niche/atypical segments (non-dev/design) where they have some industry experience/know-how, or a deep interest.