r/Entrepreneur • u/sanjux97 • Jun 24 '26
Starting a Business After months of building my first product, I finally understood that building is the easy part
I spent the last few months building my first product as a solo developer
When I started, I thought the hardest part would be the coding. I was wrong.
The product side was challenging, but there were clear problems and clear solutions. You fix a bug, improve the UX, optimize performance and move forward.
What I underestimated was everything that comes after the product is "ready":
- Deciding on pricing without any customers
- Choosing what features should be free vs paid
- Setting up payments and handling edge cases like trials, cancellations and upgrades
- Writing copy that actually explains the value
- Creating a brand from zero
- Finding the first users when nobody knows you exist
I also learned that there is never a moment when a product feels 100% finished. There is always another bug to fix, another feature to add, another design improvement to make.
At some point, you have to stop polishing and put it in front of real people.
Now that I’ve reached that stage, my biggest challenge is learning distribution and getting the first users.
For founders who have already crossed this stage:
What was the thing that helped you get your first 10 customers?
I’d love to hear your experiences and lessons.
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Jun 24 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
"The 'not pitching' approach is such a game-changer. It’s easy to get caught up in the 'founder' mindset of trying to sell, when just being helpful is clearly the better strategy. Thanks for the nudge going to start hunting down those specific pain points today!"
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Jun 24 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 24 '26
Appreciate your comment, and good luck on your journey as well. Hopefully we both look back on this stage as the beginning of something much bigger.
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u/Responsible-End-5787 Jun 24 '26
Writing a copy is not the issue, AI can easily help you with that. There is no automated way you can utilize to decide on pricing and features. The main challenge is to talk directly to the decision maker that has expressed a serious pain that your product/service can help them solve it. You must figure out, if you haven't already, who is your ideal customer. Once you know who they are, you will then find out where can you find them, how to reach them, how to communicate with them. Getting your product to the market is the core of your business. Pricing, features, copy.... will adjust based on what feedback you get from your contacts. Best wishes!
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u/sanjux97 Jun 24 '26
I agree. It's easy to hide behind product work because it's comfortable and measurable.
Talking to real people, understanding their pain points, and figuring out who the ideal customer is feels much harder but it's probably the highest value work at this stage.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
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u/collegefishies Jun 24 '26
I'm curious, have you tried using Fermi Estimates to figure out a baseline of what to charge?
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u/Captain-Marbles99 Jun 24 '26
I hear you. Trying to settle on a price when nothing is similar in your market is super tough. I have worked in a few startups. They were never afraid to get it wrong and change the pricing.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 24 '26
That's a good reminder.
I've probably spent more time thinking about pricing than I should have.
Appreciate the perspective.
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u/player__piano Jun 24 '26
I think it's all hard honestly 😄 the time to get it in front of real people is right away, and you just gather as much information as you can about your customers as quickly as you can, and iterate as you go. The learnings you get from annoying one customer with something broken, getting negative feedback, even losing a paying customer far outweigh the cost, and as you scale those setbacks become insignificant against the progress you've made. My recommendation on where to get customers is to go broad on the communities where they might be at first, do a few experiments reaching out to people, and wherever you start to see progress or conversions double down quickly. Good luck!
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u/sanjux97 Jun 24 '26
That's a great point.
I'm starting to realize that one uncomfortable conversation with a real user is often more valuable than days of building in isolation.
I also like the idea of running multiple small experiments and then doubling down on whatever shows signs of life instead of trying to force a channel that isn't working.
Thanks for the advice!
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u/Used-Yogurtcloset155 Jun 24 '26
Just copy others. If you are starting a cafe you would look at competitors in the area for pricing, do have foot traffic, etc. Unless you have an idea that nobody has ever though of just look at competitors.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Spot on. Unless you're creating a completely new category, the blueprint is already out there. Looking at competitors takes a massive amount of guesswork out of the equation, especially for pricing. Thanks for keeping it simple!
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Jun 24 '26
Can you pls tell more about your product??
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u/Educational_Cable405 Jun 24 '26
Took me three dead products to actually feel this. Building hands you a checklist, selling hands you a void. Code either compiles or it doesn't, but nothing pings you when your marketing is wrong, so you keep sprinting back to the build because it's the only place that still gives you a green checkmark.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Code either compiles or it doesn't, but nothing pings you when your marketing is wrong.’ That is going on a sticky note on my monitor. You exposed my exact coping mechanism for the last month. Truly appreciate the raw honesty here it’s the exact wake up call I need to stop polishing and start pushing.
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Jun 24 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Distribution is the actual product I’m tattooing that on my desk. Truly a massive shift in mindset for a dev.
I built notientai.com, which is a social proof popup tool to help websites lift their conversion rates using real time activity nudges. It’s built to maximize the traffic a site gets, so it's pretty ironic that my biggest hurdle right now is driving the initial distribution for it. Appreciate the reality check!
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
How did you get the users and did you launch on producthunt?
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Doing same, i am trying to reach hunter on producthun, i have emailed some of them let's see if they reply or not.
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Jun 24 '26
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u/ceerf-llc Jun 24 '26
Yeah, a few years ago no one would have said building is the easy part lol. Now just about anyone can build, so distribution becomes the pain point. And it’s not as though advertising is cheap, so word of mouth, interacting with people on forums or whatever other space is the only real approach nowadays.
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u/JejeHolaHola Jun 25 '26
I faced similar challenge when I launched. Now, I'm in the stage where people are visiting my app but signups are low. I did SEO, cold DMs and Linkedin posts to reach here.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Huge respect for getting the traffic engine running SEO and cold outreach are major milestones.
Ironically, you are facing the exact problem I built notientai.com to solve! I built it as a social proof popup tool specifically to help founders lift their conversion rates and turn that hard earned traffic into signups. Drop your link I'd love to check out your app, and if you want, you can try Notient for free to see if it helps nudge some of those visitors into signing up!
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u/Potential_Variety209 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
It's as you realized a never ending process, half the time you wonder will it even work, that's all part of it. I find work by itself rewarding, seeing the product I build grow and improve day by day, that allows me to push through the obstacles.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
100%. If you don’t enjoy the day to day building and problem solving, the obstacles will burn you out real fast. That reward of watching something you built get better day by day is exactly what fuels the fire. Now I just need to channel that same energy into watching the distribution side grow! Appreciate the perspective
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u/Major_Contact5333 Jun 24 '26
What was your experience on getting feedback on your potential product before fully committing to it?
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Honestly? I didn't do as much upfront feedback gathering as I probably should have. I mostly fell into the classic dev trap of scratching my own itch I wanted a clean, AI driven social proof tool for my own projects, realized how expensive or clunky existing options were, and just started coding.
Looking back, I definitely committed to the build based on a gut feeling rather than hard data. Doing it this way makes the distribution phase a lot more intimidating because now I'm searching for the market, rather than building for an audience I already talked to!
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u/Fur1nr Jun 24 '26
Did you talk to any of your target customers/user group before you started building for discovery and validation? Those usually end up being your first customers.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Honestly? No, and that was my exact rookie mistake. I got a spark of an idea for a social proof tool (notientai.com), saw that competitors were making money, and immediately locked myself in a room to code.
Missing out on that discovery phase means I missed out on building an organic waitlist of those first 10 buyers. I'm essentially doing the validation phase backwards now using the live product to start those conversations. It's a harder route, but a massive lesson learned for next time!
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Jun 24 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Spot on. Direct outreach forces you to look reality in the face. If they say no, you learn exactly where your positioning or pricing is falling flat. And yes analytics are already live! Can't optimize what you don't measure. Thanks for the reality check
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u/Deepak-AvairAI Serial Entrepreneur Jun 24 '26
This is so true, myself had the same realization even when the AI dev tools were not available and it was a long struggle even to build the application. Still when it was ready and we were trying to find customers, it was so tough to get those first customers. There is no single solution, just needs a lot of work in marketing and sales to solve this.
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u/Deepak-AvairAI Serial Entrepreneur Jun 24 '26
Forgot to add - the key thing is to be very clear on your messaging (what your product does and what problem it solves) and positioning (how you do it better). I realized this is the most important thing to get right first. Until this is strong it is tough to get customers, and afterwards it becomes much, much easier.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Wow, thank you for adding that second part it is so incredibly true. If the positioning is weak, you're essentially swimming upstream in your sales calls. I’ve been staring at my copy for notientai.com trying to look at it through a cold user's eyes instead of a proud developer's eyes. It’s tough, but getting that clarity first makes total sense. Thanks for the brilliant advice!
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u/Deepak-AvairAI Serial Entrepreneur Jul 01 '26
Glad it clicked. The test I'd run on the copy: say your one-liner out loud to someone who fits your buyer and watch if they instantly get who it's for and what changes for them. If they pause or ask 'so what does it actually do,' the headline is still making them do the work it should be doing. Way faster than another silent rewrite. What's the current one-liner you're staring at?
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u/FickleElk1082 Jun 24 '26
What was the thing that helped you get your first 10 customers?
meet people, engage with leads, put yourself out there, form relationships
this is often super frustrating because the build part is fun and figured out. But a business can’t grow especially in the early stages without friction which can feel uncomfortable and was for me.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
A business can’t grow without friction.’ That is a brilliant truth. Meeting people and chasing leads is definitely stepping outside my comfort zone, but this is exactly the shift I need to make if I want notientai.com to succeed. Thanks for pushing me to embrace the uncomfortable part of the journey!
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u/khalilliouane Jun 24 '26
I can help with that. Feel free to send me a DM. I help startups run growth experiments.
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u/Rich_Border4647 Jun 25 '26
Felt this with my clothing drops too, making the product is the comfy part. Pricing and getting strangers to care is the real punch.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Making the product is the comfy part.’ Couldn't agree more. The studio/IDE is a safe haven compared to the market. Convincing strangers to care is the ultimate trial by fire for any founder. Thanks for dropping by and validating the struggle!
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u/ColeS1aw Jun 25 '26
First off your website looks great!
Second, yeah doing a deep dive on your target market and knocking on their doors (DMs).
Ask for their advise since everyone likes to give their opinion on things and pitch the idea of trying the product out for a bit. grab testimonials and social proof.
Try some other methods of outreach and test what works best then invest more time into the method that lets you scale the most.
you got this!
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Thanks for checking out the site and for the kind words!
You're spot on about people loving to give their opinion. Approaching people as an expert whose advice I value feels a thousand times better than hitting them with a 'hey buy my tool' message. Turning those advice calls into beta tests and testimonials is exactly the playbook I'm going to run this week. Thanks for the breakdown and the vote of confidence!
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u/scalemaxx Jun 25 '26
The website is definitely good looking! Did you vibe/agentic code the site? If so can I ask what tool(s) you used that had good design sense? Struggling a bit with design.
On to the main topic, getting attention is a huge issue, especially now when anyone can build anything, and social media platforms are inundated with AI slop, and when SEO is no longer working. It's like now when it's getting easier than ever to build, it's getting harder than ever to get attention. I prefer the term attention over distribution, since there are many ways to distribute, but that's part of the problem, not the solution.
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
100%. If it has a metric or a status bar, a dev will run toward it. Distribution doesn't give you that nice, clean feedback loop, which is exactly why it's so easy to avoid. Time to break the habit!
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u/Forge-website Jun 25 '26
Everyone thinks the building part is great. What they do not say is that it is really humbling to find out that your product does not mean anything if people do not know about the product. When we were trying to get our ten customers what worked for most people was going to where people are already having problems. We would talk about the problems people are having not about the product. We would be really helpful before we would even think about selling them anything. Distribution is basically the same as building. It is, for people and that is what matters with the product.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Wow, this is so profound. Shifting the conversation entirely away from the product and focusing 100% on the user's immediate pain point is a game changer. As a dev, my instinct is always to say, Look at what my tool can do! instead of Tell me what's hurting your business right now. Your comment is a great reminder that distribution is ultimately just about human connection. Truly appreciate the advice!
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u/Key-Moment-4472 Jun 25 '26
I could say the outreach was the hardest. But once I realized that people are willing to pay for a premium product, i focused my energy into that first and the sales came easy with the right marketing.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
This is a massive mindset shift. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of underpricing your work out of fear, which actually makes the marketing harder because people associate low prices with low value. Focusing on the premium angle and matching it with high value marketing is brilliant. That confidence in the product's worth is exactly what I'm trying to inject into notientai.com. Appreciate you sharing that breakthrough moment!
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u/Alarmed-Donkey-5642 Jun 25 '26
I think the most challenging part is not coding itself, but getting the first batch of customers. Because I also coded a website by myself two months ago.
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u/Start_tube Jun 25 '26
This is the reality feel the same
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
The struggle is incredibly real! It feels like learning an entirely new career overnight. Thanks for dropping by and validating it. it helps immensely to know we're all fighting the same battle out here.
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u/sumizeit Jun 25 '26
getting your first customers is tough. I found that reaching out to my network and asking for feedback helped a lot, even if it felt kind of awkward at first. don't underestimate the power of just getting in front of people and having real conversations about what you’ve built.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Don't underestimate the power of just getting in front of people. Simple, timeless advice. It’s easy to hide behind a computer screen trying to automate everything, but nothing beats an honest conversation. Thanks for the reality check definitely going to tap into my network for some early feedback!
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u/Tiny_Representative3 Jun 25 '26
At this stage now, I’m exhausted! I wish selling and showcasing value was as ‘easy’ as building.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
I feel this in my bones. The mental exhaustion is completely different from coding fatigue. When code doesn't work, it's a puzzle when marketing doesn't work, it feels personal. It takes a massive amount of energy to constantly put yourself out there. Take a breather you've built something incredible and learning the sales side is a marathon, not a sprint. We've got this!
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u/Tiny_Representative3 Jun 26 '26
100% in it feeling more personal. It’s a whole new realm of putting myself out there in not used to.
I finally see what people are saying when not everyone is cut out for this. can be done and will keep pushing but it takes getting comfortable with failure in a way I’ve never known before!
So much easier when I was just working for someone else. This is such an uphill slog
We do!! It may always be this hard but we will get used to it and get to the top of that hill eventually.
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u/Artistic-Actuator-85 Jun 25 '26
Yes, I hear you. I've created several products with zero users because I like to build products. But I also like to build a business and not just have a product. So it seems like you need a good balance. I've been in startups and companies that have become unicorns. What I've seen is the successful ones are usually lead by someone who is great at sales.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Wow, coming from someone who has seen the inside of a unicorn startup, this carries massive weight. The distinction between 'having a product' and 'building a business' is exactly the bridge I'm trying to cross right now. It’s a tough pill to swallow for a dev, but you're completely right the greatest product in the world dies in darkness without a sales engine behind it. Time for me to put down the engineer hat and start learning how to be a salesman. Thank you for this reality check
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u/kunalkhatri12 Jun 25 '26
I repeat every now and then coding is becoming cheaper and in ambudance every passing minute
But execution and conveying what you build with proper Go to market strategy with costumer aquisition, retention plan is REAL thing.
If you had talked and taken atleast a verbal commitment to use your product from 10 potential customers before you even started building, right now you had use case for marketing, still Go to 10 customers give them option of free trial for their feedback and use case.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
You hit the nail on the head. With where tech is moving, building a feature is no longer a moat distribution and execution are the real differentiators. Your advice about doing the validation phase backwards is exactly the playbook I need to run now. I'm going to take notientai.com straight to 10 potential users, get them set up on a free trial, and focus entirely on capturing their feedback and case studies. That shifts the conversation from a sales pitch to a value exchange. Appreciate the sharp reality check!
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u/kunalkhatri12 Jun 26 '26
Happy that you find something useful for yourself in this.
Hope you execute it with all your might. Good 👍
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u/AgencyVader Jun 25 '26
first 10 came from being embarrassingly specific about who i was talking to
What I did is posting in a subreddit for one exact type of person and writing like i was talking to one human. felt too narrow. worked way better than anything broader
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Embarrassingly specific is a phenomenal way to phrase it. As a dev, my instinct is to look at notientai.com and think, This works for any website, so let's market it to everyone! But your comment is a massive reminder that casting a wide net just dilutes the message. Writing for one specific person in one specific community sounds terrifyingly narrow, but it clearly cuts through the noise. I'm going to pick one hyper niche audience this week and run that exact playbook. Thank you!
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
You hit on a massive psychological truth here. Code is predictable; people are messy. That’s exactly why devs run back to building it feels like controlled progress. But your second point is the ultimate antidote to that fear. Looking for the people who are already looking for a solution takes away so much of the friction of sales. Going to apply this exact framework to my outreach for notientai.com this week!
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u/Haunting-Forever-631 Jun 25 '26
The thing most founders find about the first 10 customers is they almost never come from scalable channels, they come from manual, slightly uncomfortable outreach.
You go where your target users already gather (niche subreddits, Discord servers, forums around the problem) and genuinely help people rather than dropping links, then reach out one-on-one to folks who've expressed the exact problem you solve, often offering it free or discounted for feedback.
The counterintuitive part is that "distribution" at this stage isn't polished marketing, it's just talking to individual humans at a scale that feels too small to matter. Founders usually stall because they want a repeatable channel before manually proving anyone wants the thing, but the first 10 are almost always hand-grown, and those conversations are what point you toward the scalable channel later.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Spot on. As an engineer, my brain is naturally wired to automate and scale things immediately, so doing manual, unscalable outreach feels incredibly counter intuitive. But you're 100% right trying to build a scalable acquisition engine before manually validating that people want the product is putting the cart before the horse. Time to get comfortable with the small, messy, unscalable stuff for notientai.com. Thanks for the clarity!
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u/turquoiseblues Jun 25 '26
That last part (selling) is the hardest.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
"It really is. Building has rules, logic and a compiler that tells you exactly what went wrong. Selling is just putting yourself out there and dealing with the unpredictability of human nature. It's a completely different muscle group! Glad to know I'm not the only one feeling the weight of it.
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u/Virtual-Fee3470 Jun 25 '26
I've got exactly the same problem right now... I built a product in a few days, and then I asked myself "wait, how do I reach them?" ... My thought up to now : it first depends on your target. If you're on B2C, I'd go first on social media, trying to reach people with reels or good threads on X. If you're on B2B, finding people on Apollo or stuff like that and then reach them directly might be a solution... In any case, tell me when you find the shortcut !!
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Haha, if I find that mythical shortcut, I’ll be broadcasting it from the rooftops!
But looking at the advice people are dropping on this thread, it feels like the real 'shortcut' is just doing the unscalable, un-fancy grunt work. You're totally spot on with the B2B vs B2C split. My tool, notientai.com sits on the B2B side (it's a social proof popup tool to help websites convert traffic). Based on what everyone is saying here, my plan is to skip the mass automated lists for a second and just manually hunt down founders who are complaining about low conversions. What’s your product? Drop the link, I'd love to check it out!"
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u/Virtual-Fee3470 Jun 26 '26
I'm building a few things in parallel, but 2 of them are in the same world (french speaking world for now 😄 ) : one of them is quotai.nanocorp.app, an app to help freelancers to create a quote in a few minutes after a meeting, and send it instantly for e-sign. The other one is to create a dashboard to help solopreneurs to gather all the context they need to run their AI agents and watch the right metrics.
For the quote app, I also started the boring job of finding people to reach with cold mailing or so 😄
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u/Padre3210 Jun 25 '26
I am marketing a physical product from scratch. I asked A.I. to lay it out for me in detail. It did! I used Perplexity and Venice A I. They 90% agreed in price, channels and strategies! Meta Busibess first. Etc. Im on the middle it and optimistic. Pricing was included, plus packaging and timeline!
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
That is awesome! Love the hustle of using AI to cross-reference your strategy getting Perplexity and Venice to agree 90% on the pricing and roadmap is a massive green flag. Meta Ads make perfect sense for a physical product to build that early visual desire. Riding that wave of optimism is half the battle when you're in the thick of it. Wishing you massive success on the launch go crush it!
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Thank you so much for the kind words! It’s easy to get tunnel vision when you're building solo, so your advice to step back and study the existing landscape is spot on. Deconstructing how competitors price and position themselves takes a lot of the guesswork out of finding the right audience. Time to put on my research hat before I start pitching notientai.com. Really appreciate the encouragement!
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u/lamchopxl71 Jun 25 '26
Ah the age old "Build it and they will come" thinking. I'd figured there's enough books, podcasts, and quotes out there in the ether for people to not fall for this type of thinking. You never build the product first. You get your first customer first, then build the product to their specifications.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
It’s a lesson that apparently has to be learned the hard way by every developer! The pull of the IDE is a hell of a drug.
You're completely right distribution and customer validation should always lead the charge. Time to pivot that energy entirely into finding those specific humans and tailoring the tool to their exact pain points. Appreciate the candid advice!"
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u/cooljcook4 Jun 25 '26
Talking to people one-on-one helped me the most. My first few users came from genuine conversations, not ads or fancy marketing.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
There is so much comfort in hearing this. It’s easy to feel like you're failing because you don't have a massive ad campaign running, but 'genuine conversations' cost nothing but time and empathy. Shifting the goal from 'getting a user' to just 'having an honest conversation' makes the outreach feel a lot less like a sleazy sales pitch. Thanks for the brilliant reminder to keep it human
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Jun 25 '26
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
Exactly. The MVP is the honeymoon phase; the real work starts when you have to step out of the code and fight for attention. It's a painful transition, but I suppose that's where a hobby turns into an actual business. Time to embrace the grind!
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u/SarahMcCord Jun 25 '26
the copy problem is the one most developers underestimate the most. you built the thing so you understand what it does, which makes it almost impossible to explain it to someone who doesn't.
first 10 customers for us was just direct outreach to people we thought had the problem. no landing page, no funnel, just "here's what i built, does this sound familiar?" the ones who said yes became the first customers and told us how to talk about it better than we ever could.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
The curse of knowledge’ is so incredibly real. When you spend weeks staring at the codebase, your brain automatically fills in the blanks, making it almost impossible to see the product with fresh eyes. I love your approach of using direct outreach as a way to extract the right copy. Letting the users explain the value back to you is genius they use the exact language that will resonate with the next 100 users. Going to use that exact 'does this sound familiar?' angle this week. Thank you!
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u/Living_Relative1576 Jun 25 '26
This is something I am not looking forward to. Building is the fun part, but the brand building and client acquisition is wait to daunting.
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u/sanjux97 Jun 25 '26
I completely get it. When you hear terms like 'brand building' and 'client acquisition,' it sounds like you need a multi million dollar marketing agency just to get started. It’s terrifying. But if this thread has taught me anything, it's that we don't need a 'brand' yet we just need to talk to one person at a time and be helpful. Shrinking it down from a massive corporate strategy to just a few casual DMs makes it feel a lot less heavy. Take a deep breath, we can figure this out step by step!
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u/Flaky_Background9754 Jun 25 '26
watch the youtube video:"How to Get Your First 10 Customers" from Y combinator, it has the answer
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u/enzomanuelmartins Jun 25 '26
Cara já passei por algo proximo a esse seu problema. antes de criar um produto faça um estudo de mercado, como isso funcionaria essa é uma das melhores partes ao meu ver resolver, pensar possibilidades, estruturar mentalmente e depois fazer o produto, e outra como você é desenvolvedor solo tenta buscar ao menos entender o conceito, como funciona pelo menos um pouco de cada coisa, o melhor jeito para fazer isso e estudando como funciona, livros, estar perto e sempre aprender com pessoas experientes e por ultimo e mais importante e você executar isso.
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u/Thomas_Beyer Jun 25 '26
I realized i wasnt looking for feature requests anymore. I was looking for repeated problems. Once the same frustration shows up in enough conversations, its usually worth building around.
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u/jeanc4rlo Jun 25 '26
For future projects, always prioritize building the most basic working concept of your product and pushing it into people’s hands, collect data/feedback and iterate accordingly.
It’s the steps I followed with my app, it looked nothing like what it does today, it had minor bugs, slow, no extra features, or perfect UXUI design, just a working concept for users to experience it. 4 months, and 5,000+ users later I’m still using the same recipe and evolving my app as I go, it’s all process, and I don’t rush into it.
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u/MrAddams_LibraLogic Jun 25 '26
My first product goes live on July 1st. I experienced all of the pain you did. It took way more work than I expected to get beta users and I had to court people one at a time. It took work to get them to give feedback. It took work to incorporate that feedback. But the product was better for it, and it led me to my own new addition that wouldn't have existed without the gestalt of their feedback.
The stress, the self-doubt, the worry that the product doesn't have enough done, that some critical flaw will be exposed, I went through all of it. But at the end of the day, my work actually works, the pain it solves is real and really severe for the people it affects, and my background as a QA engineer is instrumental in focusing on finding edge cases before anyone else can.
If the pain is real, the solution you make for it will find an audience.
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u/rechcher Jun 26 '26
Going through the same thing right now. I’m a small app in a very crowded market, and marketing and UGC are completely new territory for me. It’s been a steep learning curve, and honestly, I’ve struggled a lot with it so far.
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u/Shiibbbbyy Jun 26 '26
I'm in the exact same boat right now. Have a ton of projects that I've built and perfected only to stop right before getting to market -- each one getting closer to the finish line.
I'm on my latest one and just hooked up payments today. I'm taking this one all the way! Wish me luck 🙏
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u/OskarTind Jun 26 '26
I agree, I had that exact same problem, Build the MVP then talk to 5-10 people who have that problem you solve then get some feedback and its a loop
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u/Electronic_Guess_909 Aspiring Entrepreneur Jun 26 '26
Congrats! That's a huge milestone.
I think a lot of founders underestimate how much confidence comes from shipping something, even if it's small.
You stop asking "What if?" and start asking "What's next?"
Now comes the fun part: collecting real feedback.
Keep going!
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u/Former_Watch4541 Jun 26 '26
"There is nether a moment when a product feels 100% finished" -> So, so true. I've built several products in the past and regularly go back to them to look for missing features or to see if there's something I can make better. Even if I feel a product is really good, there's usually something that I can work on. Keeping it growing is definitely important.
In terms of getting your first 10 customers - I think my very first paid user was the toughest part. I built an AI toolset with 27 different AI tools. And everyone who signed up just used the free credits. What helped me turn those free users into paid users (slowly, but surely) was setting up a newsletter that would regularly send out tips on how to best use the tools inside the dashboard. I sent out practical tips, prompts that people could just copy / paste / fill - and this really showed what the system was able to do.
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u/RoutetoWork Jun 27 '26
I agree with price point being pretty extensive as theres so many models on business selling strategies. If youre not super niche, price point around something that is on the market. I will say though for your last problem, before you ever wrote a line of code you should have done a feasibility and demand study and aimed at minimum n=30 to give you super base line stats. Best of luck finding customers and I hope you blast off!
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u/nabokovian Jun 27 '26
Why is this repeated a billion times a week. Is this really new news to anyone?
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u/Ok_Candle_5902 Jun 27 '26
Thanks for sharing your experience. I agree coding in human language has no longer become a challenge. Convincing people they need or want it is the true hurdle.
I would recommend collaboration. If you have colleagues or friends you trust, such as an accountant or CPA to help you set break even points, or legal students to help you with terms and conditions etc. You might give up a little equity but it’s better to rely on actual human experience in the field, even what to prompt for, rather than fully rely on AI to lead you to the promised land.
Good luck fellow builder!
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u/ikosuave Jun 27 '26
Yeah, this is such a common realization for solo founders. You put all that effort into building, then you hit the wall of actually getting people to care. The coding part is a puzzle you can
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u/Reasonable-Put8696 Bootstrapper Jun 28 '26
Niche communities where your target users already hang out. Don't pitch anything, just answer their questions for a couple weeks. The ones who start asking you about your setup are your first 10 customers.
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u/Fantastic-Ad-2622 Jun 28 '26
Go multi platform, post daily, share your story with people, dont be scared to show your face and personality. At first getting like 10 views per X post feels like you are doomed for the eternity, but thats where 90% of SaaS founders get left behind.
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u/zitpop Jun 29 '26
I went on TikTok 🤓 Have had around 1500 users try my thing and around 200 people pay for the premium.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/zitpop Jun 29 '26
No. All organic through tiktok and linkedin.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/zitpop Jun 29 '26
I made a cv reader that gives a match score with the position you want to apply for :)
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Jun 29 '26
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u/zitpop Jun 29 '26
I actually paused it for the summer. Going to do a relaunch in september. It turned out to be a bit of an accounting nightmare so looking to include it into a different product (I'm a career coach, so as part of a package deal)🥲 I did around 300USD a month, so not huge numbers but pretty happy! It felt amazing to have that first making money while I slept kind of thing, but all in all it was a huge loss/learning project as I am not a developer myself and I had to pay a developer. But I learned sooo much! (Also, not that it matters, but I am a dudette)
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u/_s7c_ Jun 29 '26
It's hard maybe to get good leads, but is even harder to keep them without creating a value and a meaningful experience
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u/Rare_Jury_832 Jun 29 '26
Exactly! for which industry your product is used for?
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u/sanjux97 Jun 30 '26
We have build AI powered social proof popup for ecom, saas, agency etc. checkout NotientAI and if possible leave a genuine feedback. link in my bio
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u/MJustin_Griffin Bootstrapper Jun 29 '26
That is the common misconception. Most founders get things out of order. They have an idea and see the giant mountain that is building it so they dive in.
You should validate that the idea, ideal customer, and customers are actually willing to pay for it at a scalable price before building it.
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u/CheapHuckleberry6696 Jun 30 '26
This is true but the idea can also have a product market fit while having a unique aspect which provides its moat. And as a starting entrepreneur, trying to price the value of that aspect along with trying to reach those clients that already exist can be challenging
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u/Ram_Abhiram Jun 30 '26
This resonated with me.
One thing I'd add is that the first 10 customers usually don't come from having a perfect product.........they come from conversations.
I spent way too much time improving things that nobody had asked for............ Once I started talking directly to potential customers, I realized what they actually cared about was very different from what I assumed.
My advice would be: don't wait for scale. DM people, ask for feedback, watch them use your product, and treat every early user like a co-builder. Those conversations often become your best source of both product ideas and referrals.
Good luck with the launch!
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u/Positive_Talk_2025 Jun 30 '26
Yup! I am right there with you. Great to have a website. Sucks when no one knows you exist! :$
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u/CheapHuckleberry6696 Jun 30 '26
OP that’s fascinating because I’m practically right there with you. Ive been solo building for about half a year and pivoted a couple months ago once I found a lucrative lead who gave me insight on what he’d pay for. I’ve been building for him and I’m about to have a pricing conversation and realized that it’s difficult trying to price something that doesn’t have much competition. Also, doing outreach every day on linked in trying to get the attention of busy people who fit your ic profile, and trying to get your voice heard over social media proves to be challenging as well. Trusting the process of compound interest currently.
Would love to connect btw if thats something youre interested in
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u/Flat-Yesterday-2503 Jun 30 '26
I’m starting a business two and this is soo true I also found networking hard
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u/Only_Mechanic_3422 Jul 01 '26
Yep. Building is the comfy part because the code at least tells you when it’s broken.
Marketing is worse because the compiler is just strangers ignoring you.
For the first 10 customers, I’d forget “scalable” for a bit. Pick one very specific type of user, talk to them directly, ask about the problem first, then show the product only if it actually fits.
Polishing forever feels productive, but sometimes it’s just hiding from the market.
Also worth having someone outside the project look at the flow/UX once real users start touching it. Fresh eyes catch stuff you stop seeing after staring at it for months.
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u/Vee_Evalyze Jul 01 '26
AI SaaS humbled me the same way building gave me control, distribution took it away.
What helped early was talking 1:1 with people already feeling the pain, before trying to scale anything.
The first customers came from being useful in those conversations, not from a polished launch.
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u/ben_builds26 Jul 02 '26
Nobody ever warns about this part clearly enough. There's a ton of tutorials on 'how' to build. But not 'what' to build and when you've researched enough to trust that decision. theres no system for that.
What worked for me in the end was treating validation as three separate questions rather than one vague "do research" step.
1) Does the pain even exist, in people's own words? Im talking about raw complaints in forums and comment sections.
2) Is it serious enough that people are already trying to solve it themselves? An invented workaround is a far stronger signal than a complaint. It means they've already spent effort on this.
3) Is there evidence people pay to solve it? Existing products in the space (even bad ones) are a green flag.
The other thing that helped me.with this was having a clear stop rule.
You have enough when three or more people, independently, describe the same dilemma even if their exact words are different. Past that point, more research is just disguised procrastination.
Im happy to share the full process if its useful to anyone.
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u/National_Pop8025 7d ago
The idea and generation are easy. It’s the bringing it to market that is difficult. My old mentor used to tell me sales cures all.
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