Why my recent app succeeded vs all the others I've built

First I want to say that I am by no means an expert on this "solo founder thing". I like many am learning many new skills as I go.

I want to shed light on why my recent app has had some success compared to my other failed apps:

  1. I actually use the product this time.
  2. Previously i built apps due to my own hype and not because it was solving a problem, let alone my own problem.
  3. I iterated multiple times over.
  4. Yes you can prob get lucky and come out swinging with a successful product but in most cases, that wont happen and thats ok. Most solo. founders will probably give up here but I urge you, challenge everything about your app, even if its the one feature you really love most. Iterate to make the users life easier somehow.
  5. Question your business model.
  6. For example in my app, I launched with a subscription model, the usual monthly plan, then I had two separate users tell me that a credit model would work best. So I made the change and that actually led to more sales, some users even purchased credits multiple times across 3 months. Remember people are sensitive to pricing and subscriptions these days. Make it make sense.
  7. This one is probably controversial but you should obsess with UI and usability.
  8. My app is by no means perfect but I do spend a lot of time trying to reduce clicks, and make the app feel delightful. Every time I did that, users spent more time on the app, it adds up overtime.
  9. Over index on distribution and figure it out early
  10. 99% of the time I built apps and then thought about distribution. It should be the other way around. You should haver a clear idea on who the app is for and clarity on where those users spend time. Once you launch, improve your app here and there but, spend most of your time sharing your app where it makes the most sense.

Some of this may be trivial to some but it wasn't for me, I was naive to think I always had the next best idea and I routinely was proven wrong. So I hope this post finds its way to someone who really needs it.

Happy building.

Author: Both_Refrigerator623