jack_lynch

This weekend I spent about 14 hours, 1 Billion token (yes that is billion with a B), and a lot of brainpower on a few projects.

AI-assisted coding (assisted is a joke, it literally writes everything now) is crazy. I accomplished SO MUCH. Right?

And yet at 10:33 PM on Sunday night before my work week begins, I'm not thinking about the projects at all.

It's easier than ever to vibecode something in a weekend. To build almost anything you can think of like THAT.

But my brain is instead focused on the fact that in that time, and with those tokens, it was almost too easy to get to this point:

> I made a near-fully functioning iOS app in ~6 hours > made a macOS app in ~4 hours > AND spun up a marketing site for both of them in 30 mins

It's WILD to think about how much I just created in such little time.

Even just 3 years ago, doing that amount of work would've taken me 4, maybe 5 times as long. To write all that code by hand. To learn the frameworks. Debug the sh*t code that

I wrote. But at the end of the day, make a ton of progress.

And now, as I sit at my keyboard, reflecting on what I just built, I can't shake the feeling that I am getting nowhere faster than ever before.

I've built over 30 different projects over the past decade. I've listed a handful of them on my personal site.

But they never made any money, or got much attention. I was enjoying building them because it was hard. Or rather, it took time and debugging and reading documentation to build something that worked.

It felt like I was making progress!

But NOW, because of AI coding capabilities, I am able to realize much quicker how much I suck at marketing. At distribution. At getting people to give a shit about the things I build.

Because now I can spin something up in less than a day. Which means I should have plenty of time to go figure out how to get someone to care. To pay money for the thing I built. The thing that should solve a problem they have.

The skillset of marketing, selling, and distribution - it's one of the last things I feel I need to figure out to get this whole "indie-hacker," "be-your-own-boss" thing down.

I often feel like the miner who turned away just before he reached the diamonds. I've taken so many swings, and have had so many misses, but I gotta be close, right?

So close yet so far buddy :,)

I don't want to give up. I know that I can do it. I just don't know how, but I know that I can do it.

I'm not pulled to go do marketing in the same way that I'm pulled to go build.

The idea of creating something when just before there was nothing, is so exciting to me. It's what led me to fall in love with programming in the first place 15 years ago.

But I know that if I don't figure out the marketing and distribution side of these projects, then none of it works.

And the frustrating part is, I don't feel totally in the dark here of what I need to do.

I follow a lot of people on X and YouTube who have "figured out" distribution.

Sure, maybe some of them have gotten lucky (luck is always a part of the equation if we're being honest). But at the end of the day, there is a series of steps you can take that will at the very least help you figure out if what you built/are building is of any interest to anyone at all or not.

I feel like I know what I need to do. Or at least I have ideas on where I should start?

I think I also am partially scared of failure. It would suck for things to not work out if I tried them. I am pretty good at most things I do (light flex), but this just doesn't feel like one of them right now. I don't want to be complacent and just work a 9-5 for the next 30 years.

So. With that said.

I'll probably keep building tomorrow. And next weekend. And next month.

I know that I can do this. I'm gonna keep taking swings. It's only a matter of time until I make contact.

I built this because I was spending hours "writing" but only producing a few paragraphs. The real problem wasn't writer's block, it was writer's paralysis. I'd write a sentence, then spend 10 minutes perfecting it, then delete it entirely.

The problem it solves:

Every writer knows this cycle: Write a sentence, immediately edit it, rewrite it, delete it, stare at blank page, repeat. You end up with perfect opening paragraphs and nothing else. I realized I needed something to force me past this perfectionist trap. So I built an app that deletes your words if you stop typing for more than 5 seconds.

How it works:

Start writing about anything. After 5 seconds of not writing, words start disappearing. Easy mode deletes from the end of your text. Hard mode randomly deletes words from anywhere (pure chaos). No undo allowed. The delete key is your only friend.

Why this actually helps you write:

The fear of losing your words creates a flow state. You can't overthink sentence structure when the clock is ticking. You write what you actually think instead of what you think sounds good. I've used it for a month and written 3x more content than usual. The quality? Surprisingly better. When you can't edit as you go, you capture raw thoughts and authentic voice instead of sterile, over polished prose.

I built a system to analyze Formula 1 driver performance using race data from 1950-2024. I created “DNA profiles” by extracting behavioral patterns from lap times, qualifying results, and race positions.

The most surprising finding: drivers with the highest “consistency” scores rarely win championships. Ultra-consistent drivers (90+ scores) have won only 12% of all titles, while “inconsistent” drivers dominate.

Technical approach: • Processed 70+ years of race results, qualifying data, pit stops • Built scoring algorithms that normalize for car performance and era differences • Used teammate comparisons to isolate driver skill from equipment • Created weighted metrics for traits like aggression (overtaking frequency), consistency (finishing reliability), racecraft (position changes)

The data reveals systematic biases we don’t usually think about.

“Aggressive” drivers often score low because successful drivers start from pole and don’t need to overtake. Era effects are massive - 1980s drivers appear more aggressive purely due to different racing conditions. Most interesting pattern: the inverse relationship between consistency and championships. Perfect consistency means you’re not taking the calculated risks needed to win races.

Built interactive visualizations to explore these patterns across different eras and driver comparisons. The dataset is rich enough that new insights keep emerging.

Anyone else worked with sports performance data? The challenges around normalizing across eras and equipment changes are fascinating from a data science perspective.

After college, I struggled to recall my accomplishments during internships when updating my resume and applying for jobs. To solve this, I started a simple Google Doc to track my achievements, but it quickly became cumbersome and I frequently have gone months without entering anything. So, I built LogMyWork to make tracking and remembering work accomplishments easier. This app lets you log achievements (hopefully) easily, with integrations for Telegram and Slack to streamline adding entries (more integrations to come). It’s designed to help you keep detailed records effortlessly, making resume updates and job applications much smoother.

I’m excited to share it with the Hacker News community. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome!

Cheers :)

After college, I struggled to recall my accomplishments during internships when updating my resume and applying for jobs. To solve this, I started a simple Google Doc to track my achievements, but it quickly became cumbersome and I frequently have gone months without entering anything.

So, I built LogMyWork to make tracking and remembering work accomplishments easier. This app lets you log achievements (hopefully) easily, with integrations for Telegram and Slack to streamline adding entries (more integrations to come). It’s designed to help you keep detailed records effortlessly, making resume updates and job applications much smoother.

I’m excited to share it with the Hacker News community. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome!

Cheers :)

Got it, thanks!

Is there a code to redeem on testflight to able to test it out?