Starting over: Chiringo!

Hey IndieHackers! I recently started a new project leveraging all the learnings from the previous one, number one being: have fun while working on it!

Some history

In 2018 I started my first project as an indie-hacker: ShopWindow.

I didn't understand how being 2018 eCommerce was still so complex, and so expensive, and why it required expertise just to get going...

At the same time, I started seeing more and more people selling informally through social apps: WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram...

But that was (and still is) an extremely clumsy process: having to hold conversations and arrange payments with each customer, sharing details over and over again...

So I set out to build something that made e-commerce as simple as any other social app feature!🦸‍♂️💬💳

I ended up building a Shopify replica that had nice integrations with Whatsapp, Messenger... Functional, but boring... 🤢🤮

Still, at some point, it got to generate some hundreds of monthly revenue 👇

Unexpectedly, some companies got interested in the concept and asked for an API, but that was clearly not what I wanted my project to be!

I wanted it to be a tool for end users that truly meant a breakthrough, turning something really hard into something ridiculously easy, so more people can benefit from it!

After a couple of years, I decided to stop working on it. I was burnt out, but more importantly, I realized I had built the wrong thing!

What did I actually want to build?

Believe it or not, the bitterest feeling didn't come from the project failing. It came from realizing I didn't build the concept I actually had in my head.

After some decompression (2 years), I started thinking of it again, but now from an end-user perspective, and leveraging lots of lessons from ShopWindow... 🤔

• It cannot be the classic SaaS, the people you are targeting uses just their phones and social apps...
• They hate any onboarding, getting it working should be smoother than installing an app...
• Setting up payments is a big obstacle, how could I make it transparent to them?
• Using the tool itself should be ridiculously simple, which will improve the experience + increase the chances of people giving it a go...
• Can I leverage AI? Yesssss! People are not good at writing descriptions, decorating... Leave that on GPT-3...
• ...

Thinking for some days/weeks (I cannot tell, to be honest) slowly cooked answers to my own questions and the new concept appeared clear in my head! 💡

The result!

The result of all the thinking is called Chiringo!, which means small beach shop in Spanish!

It requires no installation at all, you use it through your social app, and it enables the biggest dummy to sell any product online in 60 seconds!

Do you know what WeTransfer does for transferring files? Well, Chiringo! does something pretty similar for eCommerce! 😉

Here is the logo by the way, thoughts?

Objectives for this time

First off, I want to have fun while learning and doing! I took ShopWindow sooo seriously, that there was no experimentation playful part!

The objective this time is to put out there a useful tool that is ridiculously easy to use, and see what people use it for! That simple!

Focus and pragmatism

Something obvious this time was to work as little as possible to get something functional that allows testing the concept.

I played devil's advocate a lot with myself, in order to discriminate the absolutely essential tasks to get the prototype on its feet!

Additionally, I planned development to leverage as much as possible ShopWindow's tech stack and infrastructure.

All this☝️combined enabled me to get the prototype working in less than 2 weeks, spending 1-2 hours here and there!

Launch time 🚀

My intention is to launch an open beta in early March and share the access on a handful of places: here, Reddit, HackerNews, and through the email list I gathered from ShopWindow users!

I'll create a feedback post for y'all to test it, hear your opinions, and spread the word if you like it!

The prototype is built and some real-world people have already sold some products using it! 👇

Actually, I feel tempted to share the access over here right now... But not yet! The website is on its way, working on it as I type this post (literally).

Can't wait to see people giving Chiringo! a go! 🥲😍