What was your 1st product?
Sometimes I have a problem to have a look at my past milestones or things I have achieved so far.
When I think about it, even creating my first product was a success for me. I’ve always been a bit shy and afraid to show what I was working on, or I just didn’t know how to present it properly, so it took me a really long time.
My first product was an online workout program with a payment gateway, and the monthly price was ridiculously low. But I managed to monetise it and had my first customers. I was probably around 20 at the time. 😀
What was your first product?
What would you do differently to maintain it and make it successful?
What lesson did you learn from it?
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My first real product was something I built to solve my own problem. I was constantly overpacking for trips and still forgetting essentials. I wanted a smarter way to plan what to wear and bring, based on the weather and where I was going.
What started as a simple checklist evolved into a complete project that blended weather data, travel planning, and personal style. Looking back, I wish I had shared it sooner with others who could help fine-tune my vision instead of waiting until I felt “ready.”
One of my biggest lessons as a solo creator was learning when to bring others in to help bring the vision to life. I tried to do everything myself in the beginning: building, designing, and marketing. All while figuring out what it means to be a startup founder and creator. If I could do it again, I’d collaborate sooner. It would’ve saved much stress and probably accelerated the journey.
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@stellarcarto47 Can you share the project, Kyle? Or is it something that does not already exist?
@busmark_w_nika Sure! My project’s called ClimaPal. It’s linked in my profile if you’d like to take a peek. I’m just wrapping up the soft launch and preparing for the full release here on Product Hunt sometime next week. Being a solo founder has been exciting (and humbling!). There’s so much that goes into bringing an idea to life. I hope that people find it genuinely useful in their everyday lives. It’s been quite the journey. :)
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@stellarcarto47 I will have a look ;)
@busmark_w_nika Let me know if you have any questions!
Now I built an web-app for image editing with AI model in first time of my life,
And Now I learn about "Make a product is not finish, just start." 😂
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@9mr Do you have a website claimed? :D
@busmark_w_nika It's my product page! :) name is banano-shot. https://www.producthunt.com/products/banano-shot
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@9mr aaa, can see it now! :)
Lancepilot
My first product was Lancepilot.com, a SaaS platform that helps businesses run marketing campaigns through WhatsApp.
It taught me that early feedback is gold. I initially spent too long perfecting features instead of validating real user needs.
If I could do it again, I’d focus more on distribution from day one.
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@priyankamandal How is Lancepilot doing now?
@priyankamandal claps, you can never go wrong with validating users need, if you are doing it again, would love to do with you...
Pretty Prompt
My first product was a Google Form stitched with a PayPal link for online dance classes 🕺.
Proper MVP (during the pandemic!)
Long way from there to Pretty Prompt now!
Alai
@ilaiszp amazing growth! starting with simple google forms to validate the idea sounds pretty smart. what was your key learning there that you still follow?
Pretty Prompt
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@ilaiszp Were those dance classes online during the COVID?
Pretty Prompt
@busmark_w_nika Yes! :)
Literally grew to about 200 users paying between $15 - 40/m for online dance classes. Learnt so much about solving real deep pain points regardless of how complex (or simple in my case) your product is!
Was a fun experience. But now building Pretty Prompt. We did a launch on Product hunt a while ago - 2nd product of the day, and will do a relaunch soon!
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@ilaiszp You are probably also a skilled growth marketer! Have to learn a lot from you ;)
Pretty Prompt
@busmark_w_nika I have a lot to learn from you!
Mine was called "Jet Class". It was an online marketplace/platform for buying empty legs (repositioning flights) on private jets. We hooked into private airlines' scheduling systems to surface "potential" empty flights that customers could bid on.
I worked so damn hard on it. At the time, micro services were in vogue and I spent a ton of time building out an elaborate set of services all linked via APIs using Docker, deployed via Amazon ECS.
What would I do differently?
Turns out no one buys these flights ($5k+) by dropping their card details into a website that has zero reviews or online reputation (so obvious now of course 🤣). These things absolutely need a sales team so I would've partnered with someone experienced in private aviation sales, probably via an equity stake.
What lesson did I learn?
There are the obvious lessons (like, don't do all the above), but having built and launched successful companies since, the main lesson was not to spend a ton of time building. No one cares about your tech - just throw something basic up and go from there. Great news for anyone reading is that this is literally the best time ever to do just that using AI.
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@rich186 We tend to over-engineer products, but the thing that is enough to do is to make a basic website to see whether people put their card details :D But it sounds like a good experience :D ty for sharing.
My first web app on ProductHunt is AirArcade.top. I created it to allow users to play arcade games again without needing a physical console. All you need is a screen—like a TV, laptop, or tablet—and a phone to use as a gamepad. That's it!
Now, I'm trying to share it with others, and that's the most challenging part for me.
As a developer, building apps is not difficult, but marketing them is a lot harder at this stage.
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@morteza_sabihi Cool! It feels so nostalgic. I remember how I watched the movie Pixels with Adam Sandler! :D It was something similar to Pac-Man. 👾
Cal ID
I built a to-do list Chrome extension that verifies if you have really completed a task or not (just guesses based on the time you've spent on that tab and if the listed task really takes that much longer or not).
If it fails to verify the status of the task, there was a checkbox saying - "I swear on oreos that I've done it bro 😭"
Oh god, I should have launched it here!
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@sanskarix yes! Please launch. It sounds like a fun, it could be featured :D
Cal ID
@busmark_w_nika I'll try to find the code and I'll launch it if I find it
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@sanskarix Hope we will witness it! :D
Real Favicon Generator
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@ph_bernard Cool! Did you work in administration before? Because this kind of service would come to my mind in such an environment. :D
My first app on product hunt is pixel fixer for fixing stuck screen pixels
there are many apps like that but i have my unique features
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@muhamed_maher I haven't experienced an issue with pixels so far, but this can be pretty useful if I do once. :)
@busmark_w_nika i hope you like it
PassTIA(passtia.com) is my first and only product 🫡
From this experience I've learned that if your product solves someone's problem,that person is will to pay .
What started as a project and the developed as a problem for my own problem became now a solution for more people.
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@cosmin_iurea Solving own problems is usually the best way to start a business, you are a great example for that.
@busmark_w_nika Thank you for your kind words 🫂 Much appreciated!
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@cosmin_iurea You are welcome! :)