1
Each one felt like "the one."
Each one made $0.
After my 15th failure, I was exhausted. Frustrated. Ready to quit.
But then something clicked.
The problem wasn't my coding skills.
I could build anything. Fast.
The problem was simple: I was building solutions for problems that didn't exist.
I spent weeks perfecting features nobody asked for.
I obsessed over design details that didn't matter.
I launched without talking to a single potential user.
Then I changed my approach :
→ Spent 30 days researching before writing a single line of code
→ Used Google Trends, keyword tools, forums to find real pain points
→ Built an MVP in just 1 day instead of 1 month
→ Got it in front of people immediately
Product 16 made my first dollar.
Product 17 - QRAnalytica- now serves 1,200+ businesses.
The lesson ?
Fall in love with the problem, not your solution.
Your users don't care how elegant your code is.
They care if you solve their problem.
Talk to people. Validate early. Build fast. Iterate faster.
The best code you'll ever write is the code that solves a real problem.
What's one lesson that changed your approach to building products?
P.S. - If you're building something right now, ask yourself: "Am I solving a real problem, or just building what I think is cool?"
For a solopreneur building this after my day job, this number means the world. But the path to get here was paved with a massive mistake I kept making.
When I launched back in December 2024, my logic was simple: make it as cheap as possible. I priced it at $99. I thought, "The lower the price, the more people will sign up, right?"
Wrong. So wrong.
The first dollar didn't even come until February 14th, 2025. For months, I was dealing with low-value sign-ups and felt like I was spinning my wheels.
The turning point was a random LinkedIn post by Marc Lou. He talked about pricing based on value, not on being the cheapest option. A lightbulb went off.
I decided to run an experiment. I started raising my prices.
From $99 to $149... a few more signups.
From $149 to $249... things started to change. I attracted a different type of customer—one who understood the value and was ready to invest in a real solution.
I even tested $349.
The result? Increasing my price didn't scare customers away. It attracted the right ones. And it led directly to my first $1k+ month.
If you're building something, here's my advice: The fear of pricing too high is real, but the cost of pricing too low is even greater.
Charge for the value you deliver, not the time you spent.
Onwards and upwards!
Right now, I'm using Trello with four lists: Planned, In Progress, Staging, and Production. It works okay, but I feel like there’s room for improvement—maybe by adding progress percentages or something similar to get a clearer overview of my tasks.
Are you using any simple agile frameworks that work well for solo developers and could also scale to a small team (up to three more devs) in the near future?