Who/where did you get your initial feedback from?

I'm currently in the same position with my side project.

I've still done more coding than I should (about 2 weeks work) but then I decided to stop and told myself that this time I was going to do things different.

So, I stopped building the product itself and instead worked on getting a landing page implemented, with a CTA to collect emails.

Once that was deployed, I found myself in your exact position.

My first step was to pay a small amount for some twitter ads. I only have a small twitter following so I knew that just tweeting wasn't goin to work.

I got some traffic to the site and a couple of people registered their interest. Nothing earth shattering.

Then, I decided it was time to really shake things up. As a developer, marketing is boring. I think most people in this community would say the same.

However, taking away the 1% who just get very lucky, the rest rely on being an active part of a community, be it twitter, indiehackers, reddit or whatever.

I'm sure this isn't new information to you - it wasn't for me either, it just wasn't what I wanted to hear/believe! 🤣

It felt like there had to be another way. Like, if my product is good enough, then people will magically appear right?

Alas, this sadly doesn't seem to be the case.

But that's ok. We just need to accept that there's more to building a successful startup than just coding. I feel like I should have learnt this lesson years ago. Oh well, better late than never.

So, I've been making a real effort to actually take part in the communities I mentioned. I've stopped spamming my own projects, and instead I am trying to focus on engaging with others and taking an interest in their projects.

And guess what? It seems to work - and it's fun! People seem much more receptive when you treat them as human beings and show an interest in them.

I've had more follows, more people viewing my work... and truth be told, I've had a blast getting to talk to people.

So, I would recommend trying that.

Oh and as a bonus, I've also been inspired like never before and written down a load of new ideas. I believe this is as a direct result of just getting out of my shell a little, and actually taking in what other people are doing, what problems they face etc.

Wow, this was long winded, sorry about that.

Sorry I don't have a silver bullet answer, but that's my opinion. Hope it helps 🙂

Best of luck

Russ

I am a member of the WBE Space and all my first feedback comes from the members whenever I share my ideas in the feedback slack channel

Hacker News with a prefix of "Show HN" will get you feedback, both good and bad. Reddit is also an option and you'll get both the good and the bad.

Ideally you'd have a couple contacts who you think would benefit from the app and you would work with them directly as early adopters. With things like Zoom/Google Meet/Teams, you can do a lot of remote collaboration these days, doesn't have to be someone local to you.

Use communities. Ask questions on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook groups etc...
I believe this is the easiest way to get feedback from potential users.

Find other founders in your space. I don't know the habit tracker space, unfortunately, but I've found other entrepreneurs to be extremely open to helping other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Contact potential customers. Do you know who these people are? Don't write another line of code until you do. Find out where they hang out, reach out to them, and ask their opinion. It's a good idea to go to them with wireframes (I use Miro) so they can better understand the story of your idea.

Our come from mostly family & friends. Then we did a public beta release. Decided to rebrand and re-do a few functions and we are currently in beta testing again.

Are you a user of your own product? If so, what about marketing in places that you frequent online?

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