A freelancer that works hard to become an indie developer
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My name is Vladimir Kelin, I build iOS apps. Just search me on the App Store and you'll find 3 of them. However, it's been 10 years since I left working on a company and become and entrepreneur. Plans where big! And today... I have only 3 apps, and 3 more in development, some of them since 2017! What's my problem? Well, mostly it's a budget: I don't have enough revenue from the apps, so I have to provide freelance services. Good way to get rich experience, actually. But not the shortest way to accomplish my goal. What would you recommend?
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Hey Vladimir...super inspiring journey from freelancer to indie hacker. I've been there...solo dev life means juggling builds with survival gigs, and distribution is the real beast (outreach x100 was key for my past launches, one even hit Product of the Day).
For you? Double down on one app that solves a painful problem people already pay for...validate fast via Reddit/Twitter/HN, then laser-focus outreach to get those first 100 users. Momentum snowballs from there.
If you're up for it, I'm launching The Sponge (AI flashcard app that turns webpages into spaced-rep study gold) on PH soon...would appreciate a follow for the launch (link in profile)! 🚀
@rianbrob, thanks for the answer, man!
Great advice, my apps all comes from user (often mine) pain. The recent app - HeartBLE was build for a very niche audience: indoor runners/cyclists/rowers who have Apple Watch and want to get their heart rate in Zwift/MyWhoosh/Rouvy training app. And this app outperforms all competitors, because HeartBLE is a watchOS-only app, it directly sends data over Bluetooth, while others use iPhone as retransmitter.
That was a pitch, now to the problem. I started to advertise the app immediately after the release – all according to the guides: posted on reddit and FB. Few threads were deleted, but few approved! For marketing purpose I use "Feedback for promo-code" campaign. People should test the app during the free trial, fill in the survey in Google form, and I'll send them code (in an App Store deeplink) to unlock the full app for free.
So far performance is very low:
- 20 days passed
- 15 people enrolled
- 9 people started 7-day trial
- only 1 filled the form and got the code
In long term, I hope, those posts would be indexed and will give some attention to my app; but the campaign itself goes super slow. Should I follow up those users? Maybe they forgot... Maybe they scared to start the trial because they think they'll get charged...
Regarding The Sponge, could you please explain what is "spaced-rep study gold"? Do you extract valuable info from web pages into short notes? Sounds useful, I would like to have a tool like that for YouTube videos.
@kelindev I don't think it ever hurts to follow up... Yes, The Sponge makes flashcards from web pages (or just notes or bookmarks)...basically a proactive PKM. YouTube handling is coming soon :)
@rianbrob, what is a flashcard? How big is it?