Update: what changed since I built the "no wait" directory
A few weeks ago I posted here about getting tired of waiting 2-4 weeks for a backlink and building ToolIndex instead: free to submit, live in minutes, real dofollow backlink, no paywall for the basic listing.
Wanted to come back with the honest numbers, because half the value of these threads is seeing what actually happened after launch day, not just the pitch.
Where it stood at launch: a handful of listings, a DR 86 domain, and a bet that "submit and go live now" would beat the wait-2-weeks-or-pay model most directories run on.
Where it stands now:
1259+ products indexed
Founders are finding it through other directories and submitting organically, nobody's paying for that traffic
Claim flow is live: any founder can verify ownership of their listing and add their own logo, description and screenshots
Paid placement tiers went live too (Daily Boost, Weekly Feature, Premium Listing), starting around $9, for people who want more visibility than the free tier gives them
The part I didn't expect: once claiming became possible, it created a second, quieter growth loop. People who'd never heard of ToolIndex were discovering their own product already listed (pulled in automatically from other launch platforms) and claiming it just to control how it looked. A decent chunk of new signups now come from that path, not from submitting fresh.
What I'm still working on:
A "New Today" and category-filtered browsing experience, because the thing that kills most directories isn't launch day traffic dropping off, it's that nobody comes back to browse once the initial wave fades
Sponsor slots with a hard cap (max 3 concurrent) so featured placement stays meaningful instead of turning into another wall of ads
Better data hygiene on the automated import pipeline, since pulling in listings from other launch platforms means occasionally pulling in duplicates or stale info too, and I'd rather catch that early than let it erode trust in the listings
If you run a SaaS or AI product and you're tired of the wait-2-weeks-or-pay model, still happy to have you check it out and tell me what's missing: https://strategicflow.tech/tools
Happy to answer anything about the backend, the claim/verification flow, or what I'd do differently starting over.
Good question. So far it's mostly still on the founder side, claiming gets them control over how the listing looks, not necessarily a push into the paid tiers yet. I haven't seen a strong correlation between claiming and upgrading to Boost/Feature/Premium, but the sample size is still small enough that I don't want to read too much into it either way.
What I have noticed is that claimed listings tend to look better maintained (real logos, actual descriptions instead of the auto-imported placeholder text), which probably helps browsing conversion indirectly even if it's not showing up yet as a direct claim-to-upgrade path. Will have a clearer read on this once there's more volume through the funnel.
Agreed, will keep tracking it. My guess is it'll show up first in return visits to claimed listings rather than a direct upgrade path.