ZenFirst

I launched a tiny dev tool yesterday while procrastinating on ZenFirst. I really didn't expect much from it, but I woke up to find it got featured on Product Hunt and climbed into the top 30.

The tool is called Okan. It just sends browser notifications for Claude Code, which I originally built to stop myself from staring at the terminal while coding ZenFirst. The launch brought in 312 unique visitors and 28 new users in a single day, and you can see the page here: https://www.producthunt.com/products/okan-claude-code-browser-notifications?launch=okan

I spent exactly zero hours preparing for this launch. Compare that to the two weeks I spent over-engineering my last ZenFirst update, which barely scraped together 12 upvotes. It is honestly a bit frustrating, but it proves that solving a very specific problem quickly beats polished marketing every time.

The sudden spike in traffic was a nice distraction from the usual grind. Now the adrenaline is wearing off and I am just sitting in my flat in rainy London looking at bug reports. Next week I am going to try applying this low-friction launch mindset to the new strict-lock feature for ZenFirst.

I have been working on my screenshots for like a week and at some point I found that all I need is sneak into someone's masterpieces and take ideas from them.

After hours of research I bumped into this product, called AppLaunchpad. https://theapplaunchpad.com/projects

This service provide hundreds of templates for us, and all of them are beautifully designed.

I used one of the templates and it actually looks nice(although my app should have been more quite image so I might have to change the whole screenshots later)

As a Solo Entrepreneur, I need to do everything, starting from software development to screenshots. I don't have any background in a design field and I see myself one of the worst drawer(I got C or D on my art subject in elementary school), but it does not matter in this era.

I am utilizing all the useful tools and making everything possible!!! JUST DO IT.

Stuck at 0 Product Hunt followers for 28 days. Here is my analysis.

I set up the coming soon page for ZenFirst exactly four weeks ago. I have refreshed the dashboard every single morning. It is still sitting at exactly 0 followers.

At first, I blamed the platform. I thought the Product Hunt algorithm just buried indie devs who don't have massive audiences. Then I took a hard look at my actual page.

The reality is my messaging was terrible. I described ZenFirst as a "digital wellbeing utility for modern professionals." That means absolutely nothing to anyone.

Nobody wakes up wishing for a digital wellbeing utility. They wake up hating that they just wasted 45 minutes doomscrolling in bed instead of doing their morning routine.

I also realized I was treating Product Hunt like a marketing channel instead of a destination. I expected them to find my users for me. I haven't driven a single click from my own X account to that teaser page.

So I am changing my approach. I just rewrote the entire page to be brutally clear. The tagline now literally says that the app locks your phone until your morning routine is done.

I am also going to stop relying on hope. Starting tomorrow, I am reaching out to 5 people a day who complain about screen time to ask for feedback on the concept and linking the page.

I will report back next week if the new copy and outreach actually moves the needle. If it stays at 0, I probably have a much bigger problem with my core value proposition.

Apple finally gave me Screen Time access (but I have 0 Product Hunt followers)

The React Native build for ZenFirst is finally coming together. Both the iOS and Android versions are about 95 percent done and mostly bug-free.

The biggest hurdle by far was getting Apple to approve my request for the Family Controls API. Since ZenFirst physically locks your phone until your morning routine is finished, I literally could not ship the iOS app without this permission.

I applied a while ago and was fully bracing for a rejection. Waking up in London today to an approval email was a massive relief.

I also spent the last few days building out the onboarding walkthrough. It finally feels like a real product when you open it for the first time.

But here is the reality check. Writing the code was the easy part for me.

I set up a Product Hunt pre-launch page a few days ago and it currently sits at exactly zero followers. I have no existing audience and I honestly do not know how to drive any traffic to that page.

It is a harsh reminder that building in a vacuum does not work.

Next week, I need to force myself to stop writing code and figure out how to get at least 50 people to care about this before I hit launch. If anyone has tips on getting those initial Product Hunt followers when starting from zero, I would really appreciate it.

I'm Takahito, the maker of ZenFirst.

I built this because I kept opening my phone to plan my day — and 30 minutes later, I was still scrolling X.

I tried app blockers. They just block — they don't help you build a routine. I tried habit apps. They send notifications I ignore.

So I built something different: an app that locks your screen and replaces it with your routine. Meditation, journaling, tasks — whatever you want to do. You can't use your phone until you're done.

It sounds extreme, but it works. I haven't missed a morning routine in months.