This is just so incredible... I honestly never thought this was possible for me. But I did the thing...
I JUST STARTED!
I put together a working MVP. Just the bare minimum functionality. Bought a domain and put it out there. I posted about it here on Reddit and got in contact with the people who commented and started using it.
I followed a simple concept that just came to me naturally:
And after some time your product becomes so good that it no longer sounds absurd to charge money for some features.
Anyways... I'm super grateful that this is working out so well and I really think I've built a community that is actually useful to many people.
About the product:
I've built IndieAppCircle, a platform where small app developers can upload their apps and other people can give them feedback in exchange for credits. I grew it by posting about it here on Reddit. It didn't explode or something but I managed to get some slow but steady growth.
For those of you who never heard about IndieAppCircle, it works like this:
Since many people suggested it to me in the comments, I have also created a community for IndieAppCircle: r/IndieAppCircle (you can ask questions or just post relevant stuff there).
Currently, there are 2841 users, 2497 tests done and 629 apps uploaded!
You can check it out here (it's totally free): https://www.indieappcircle.com/
I'm glad for any feedback/suggestions/roasts in the comments.