Building like AzeniqTech: small tools, sharp focus (instead of “one platform to rule them all”)
Hey Indie Hackers 👋
Over the last year I realised something about how I like to build:
I don’t actually want to run “a big platform”.
I want to build a tiny shelf of tools that make one specific pain disappear at a time.
That’s basically the thesis behind AzeniqTech:
small, focused apps with one clear gesture, not feature buffets.
The problem we’re trying not to recreate
A lot of tools I’ve used (and built…) followed the same arc:
- clean, opinionated v1
- “just one more feature”
- a dashboard where 80% of buttons are “maybe useful someday”
As devs, our ego loves complexity.
As users, we mostly want one button that works every time.
So we wrote down a few constraints for ourselves:
- each product is built around one core gesture
- default > configuration; options only after people beg for them
- if a feature needs a long explanation, it’s probably the wrong feature
- codebase stays boring so UX can stay opinionated
Example: Rephrazo (one gesture, not a platform)
One of the first things we’re working on is Rephrazo, a tiny writing helper.
I used to have this “workflow disease”:
- write rough copy
- feel one sentence is clumsy
- copy → new tab → AI tool
- “make this clearer / shorter / less cringe”
- paste back, fix formatting
- repeat 20–40 times a day
The pain wasn’t “I have no ideas”.
The pain was “every tiny rewrite requires a full ritual with new tabs and new distractions”.
I tried the usual “AI assistant” approaches:
- separate editor
- sidebar with 10 tones and 6 modes
- fancy UI that wanted to become the new place where I write
They all failed the same way: they wanted me to move into their world.
So we reduced the “product” to one gesture:
- highlight a sentence
- press a hotkey
- see a rewrite next to the cursor
- insert or ignore
- keep typing
That gesture is the product.
Everything else is plumbing.
Where AzeniqTech fits (at least in my head)
Right now AzeniqTech is basically:
- a small studio for narrow tools
- each tool solves one annoying step in a workflow
- we care more about habit than about signups
For something like Rephrazo, the main questions I’m tracking are:
- Do people come back and press the same button again?
- Is it becoming a reflex, or still a novelty?
- Are we preserving their voice, or slowly turning them into “AI-sounding” clones?
If a tool isn’t on its way to becoming an unconscious habit, it probably doesn’t deserve to exist in our stack.
What I’d love to learn from other IH builders
If you’re also building small, opinionated tools (or a studio of them), I’d really love to hear:
- How do you decide a tool is more than a “cool toy” and worth doubling down on?
- What early metrics matter most for these very narrow products (sessions, actions per session, retention… something else)?
- How do you keep scope creep under control when users inevitably ask for “just one more mode”?
And if you’ve gone from “tiny tool” → “sustainable business” with this kind of philosophy, any “I wish I’d known this on day 1” stories are super welcome.
Small tools, sharp focus.
