After four long years of grinding, building, fundraising, and hiring, we decided to pivot. I wanted to write down my thought process and timeline because I wish I d seen more honest pivot stories when we were stuck. Not just we pivoted and everything was instantly great but the real version where we kept trying to make the original idea work for way too long because we already put so much into it.
I went through YC S20 (the first COVID batch) as a solo founder working on @Basedash. After YC, I did what you re supposed to do. I talked to users. I built product. I did founder-led sales. I hired a great team. It felt like progress because I was constantly busy and the product kept getting better.
Have you used Poke? Leave your thoughts in the comment or share other AI Assistants you've used!
What is Poke?
Poke.com is a proactive AI assistant that automates your digital life with smart integrations and real-world utility. It s like Claude via iMessage or WhatsApp that doesn t always need a user prompt to message you.
Can an AI Assistant Finally Deliver on Its Promise?
Here is one of my all time favorites... Writing Pillar Statistics Posts to Get Loads of Quality Passive Backlinks I have used a pretty simple formula to get over a 1000 unique referring domain backlinks every year. Step 1
Find the keyword statistic phrases in your niche that have a search volume of 50+. For example, if you had a dog blog or website, then some of the phrases would be; dog bite statistics, dog owner statistics, service dog statistics. Step 2
Look at the first two pages of Google results and identify the post with the most statistics by looking at the titles. If the highest number is "37 Dog Bite Statistics," then your post title would take it a notch higher with "50 Eye Opening Dog Bite Statistics." Step 3 Compile a great blog post with a list of 50 stats and organize them for easy scanning. Every time a news reporter has a story about a dog attack, they go straight to Google looking for some stats to include in their article. They typically click on the Google result with the highest number in the title. After they grab a stat or two from your post, they link the stat on their article back to your post. What's your best growth hack?
What was your first project and how did you get started? Curious how makers get started in their journey and learn the skills they need to create something. Any advice for makers who have an idea but don't know where to start in the building journey?
When I launched my first startup in 2016 I did everything wrong. Frustrated I began to study how Indie makers and people who build with no-code actually launched successful businesses. Applying what I learned I was finally able to get traction while launching Get Stackd (former PH #1) and creating a database of 150+ no-code projects with The Lean Side Project, which combined has helped 3000+ folks building a digital business find the best no-code tools to start making something. They help by turning what is in your out into the and into a business. I specialize in helping folks figure out what are the best no-code tools to use for their idea and how to start small. Here to answer any and all questions about no-code (building digital products/services without coding).
For over a week, the wider Product Hunt community has been chiming in with their two cents in the discussion about where to draw the line between which product features should be free and which should require payment.
Just yesterday on X, a post started trending about a tool with 35,000+ users, but only just over 1,300 paying customers. The founder was asking the community for advice on how to increase conversions.
One marketing trick that I've found to be really effective is using social proof. It could be in the form of customer reviews or testimonials, statistics about the number of people who have used your product, or even influencer endorsements. Do you know any marketing tricks that not a lot of people know but are really effective? I'm always looking for new ideas to try out.
Notion, Obsidian, and Roam are great, but they re not for everyone. Maybe you found something simpler, faster, or just less overwhelming. What s the one productivity tool you actually stick with the one that makes life easier instead of adding more work?
