Lightpad. A year after PH. 3k signups, 15 MAU, $10 / month

Howdy, fellow hackers!

A year ago (on June 2, 2020) I've launched Lightpad.ai on Product Hunt

This was one of the best days of my life. Dopamine hits when I get a new upvote or a comment, adrenaline spikes when a competitor overtakes. Still very grateful to all who supported me and the PH team for keeping up the resource ❤️
I got loads of comments, compliments, and critiques. My first launch, competing against professional hunters, Lightpad got place #5 of the day! It got into the email campaign. It also attracted the attention of Jared Newman – Fast Company's tech editor, who included it twice into 25 and 20 best new productivity apps of 2020. It also got coverage from a few smaller magazines. I'm sorry for being this lucky in these aspects. Then comes the bitter part.

Over the year, these three publications attracted around 10k visitors, resulting in 3k signups, and 14 subscriptions sold (2 still active). After a publication in a German magazine business-punk.com – one guy said to me in an email that he wants to purchase a subscription, but he can't find the purchase button. So I think, this could be related to sales performance 💀

People who left feedback and comments on PH, were generally very interested in Lightpad and liked it, sometimes a lot. Still, they churned out because of the quality issues. Also, Google Calendar integration was missing at the time. Since then I've added more than 600 test assertions on the frontend and backend and also added GCal support, so the churn rate should be much better. I've also enjoyed a lot chatting with Lightpad users, all who I contacted were very bright and energetic people, who offered a lot of great advice. Just generally it makes me so happy if my product is useful for someone.

I drained my cash pillow and now am working on a part-time contract. Still, today I feel much more confident about the app. My product vision also has improved, and I see now how the next version is going to look like. I also want to make it more social. Hopes are high and I'm looking for new marketing opportunities and sales partners!

Sometimes I wonder if I should continue with the web version as is, or make an iOS app, and use App Store as a simpler channel.

Thanks a lot for reading this. I'll be glad to chat and answer any questions.

Wishing you the most satisfying product week ever! 🌿