How do you stay motivated when no one cares about your product?
by•
I think most of us have been there. You keep building, shipping features, and it feels like nobody is paying attention.
Some days it really feels like shouting into the void when traction is slow.
For me, I try to remind myself why I started in the first place.
Curious how you stay motivated in those moments. What helps you keep going?
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Replies
I’ve definitely felt that “shouting into the void” phase. What’s helped me is shifting focus from external validation to small, internal wins: Did I make the product easier to use today? Did I learn something new from even one user? Did I ship something I’m proud of, even if no one noticed yet?
How about you, do you measure progress in milestones, or more in the learning that comes along the way?
Makers Page
@andreitudor14 That’s a great way of framing it. I usually track progress in milestones but the unexpected learning moments end up compounding the most.
Yeah, I think almost everyone goes through that. What keeps me motivated is the challenge itself. I just want to see if I can actually pull it off.
Makers Page
@elenat I feel the same. For me it often comes down to proving to myself that I can push through and make it real.
I’ve been in sales all my life, and giving up is just not something salespeople are wired for. Think about those bankers who cold-call to sell credit cards or home loans - most of the time they’re met with rejection and even rudeness. But they still show up the next day, and the day after that, with the same persistence and even a smile in their voice.
That’s the mindset I try to carry with myself: rejection or not getting noticed isn’t the end, it’s just part of the process.
Makers Page
@atique_bandukwala1 I like how you put it. Seeing rejection as part of the process makes it easier to keep showing up.
IXORD
I focused on conveying to others that my product is truly useful. In reality, it’s a substantial amount of work to communicate this to new users, which is why we constantly adjusted our approaches for onboarding them.
Makers Page
@ixord That makes sense. Onboarding really does take constant adjustment to show the value clearly.
Curatora
For me, every action and marketing task feels like a step closer to earning that first dollar. That thought keeps me motivated and reminds me that progress, no matter how small, is still moving forward.
Makers Page
@imtiyazmohammed I like that perspective. Thinking of each step as moving closer to that first dollar makes the grind feel more meaningful.
This is something that everyone struggles with honestly!
As a developer who's doing marketing and sales I think its about a mindset change. People who do sales learn very early on that failure is part of the job. You need to work with it.
I've learned to rationalize failure. Everything that fails to work is an oppurtunity to move towards a solution.
It’s like a machine learning model using gradient descent to reach an optimal solution, but when it fails, it backtracks and explores an alternative path.
My product revolves around interviewing early stage founders and sharing there stories(about what worked vs what did not). The clear differentiating factor between these 2 groups is that the pursuit of one was simply given up when the other wasn't. People either unlocked a new channel or a hack for a existing channel, pivoted in the right direction or just simple ended being at the right place at the right time!
Makers Page
@avneesh_chadha I like the gradient descent analogy. Turning failures into steps toward the right path is what makes the difference long term.
@alex_cloudstar exactly!!! All the best!!
DeepTagger
Hi Alex 👋 For me, focusing on the mission and remembering why we started helps. If the problem is worth solving, eventually the right people will notice 🥰 🙏🏼