2. Write down the one feature for each app that you use the most within that app.
3. Write down what slightly annoys you about that one feature
4. Build the product around the one feature you feel you can cook up quickly and that will benefit your workflow
8 months into it, it is my full-time job and we are releasing our first paid version (post-beta). We have 600 subscribers (beta-testers) and some people claiming they will become paid clients.
It is a huge experience in both, business and tech sides.
So, I would say the most important things are:
* forget "ideas"
* resolve your personal problem that you understand well
* always make a (side-)project with which you can charge people (making it "free" is just an excuse for not making something of good quality - 99.9% of cases)
* to the previous bullet point, you either ship a final solution that has business value for someone, or you are wasting your time (because no one can tell if it is of value or not (by paying))
Product: newscatcherapi.com
> 1. Write down the apps on your phone or computer that you use the most. If you want to bootstrap a profitable business, I recommend listing the apps you use for work.
Emacs, vim, xterm, tmux. (I use them all for work. 99% of the time, what you see on my screen is either Emacs, or an xterm running tmux and some instances of vim.)
On my phone, alarm clock. (I use it to get up for work)
> 2. Write down the one feature for each app that you use the most within that app.
In emacs and vim, probably self-insert-command or some basic motion commands.
In tmux, switching between windows and panes.
In xterm.. uh, just the fact that it's a terminal?
Alarm clock. I use it to wake me up in the morning.
> 3. Write down what slightly annoys you about that one feature
Nothing about the most used features above annoy me. Well, terminals annoy me but emulating terminals is the raison detre of a terminal emulator so I don't know if there's much you can do about it..
I also hate alarm clocks but I kinda need one to wake up.
> 4. Build the product around the one feature you feel you can cook up quickly and that will benefit your workflow
Looks like it wasn't that easy :(
Something tells me that picking the most used application and the most used feature in it most likely leads to the most solved problem that doesn't need to be solved again...
1. Most used apps are the browser, Facebook (marketplace only), Snapchat, Messages, Amazon, and RobinHood.
2. Browsing the web, browsing local listings, messaging people, shopping, trading stocks and options.
3. I wish the browser had better tab management and persona management. I wish Facebook Marketplace had a lot fewer ads and better categories. Also I wish it wasn’t Facebook. I wish there was a way to disable Snapchat notifications about the other person typing. I wish Messages had a way to disable notifications if I am, say watching a video or have some specific apps on (like games). I wish Amazon had a proper filter for “items I can get soon”. I wish RobinHood allowed me to list options bids/asks for longer than a day.
4. Of these the Amazon and RobinHood ones are the only ones that are feasible. There are alternatives to Facebook Marketplace and they are all worse/less popular. I doubt Apple would let me change their apps or OS code.
I suppose there is something here with an unofficial RobinHood API. Scraping Amazon is a popular thing to do but I don’t want to develop a complete clone of their app with just a single additional filter.
Let's see how it turns out this time.
Do you use this for serious products that you feel like releasing? Would you be discouraged when you have found an alternative on the market that fixed the problem for you?
I created my own expense tracker and I use it to share stuff with my wife :)