First off, let me just say that much of the time was actually just spent learning web development. (Go, Vue, Tailwind). I was a complete beginner one year ago.
That also why I don't regret having built the site: I learned a ton and I'll be able to build my next project 10x faster.
That said, here's what you can learn from my mistakes:
- Don't be afraid of competition.
Going after markets with low competition isn't a bad idea. You can be a big fish in a small pond.
But it gets problematic when the market is so niche that noone actually needs what you are making.
With my next product, I'll go after a proven market. Sure there'll be competition, but at least people will be interested in what I have to offer.
- Design is less important than you think.
I made 3 different landing pages for my product, thaught there was something wrong with it every time and made a new one from scratch. Complete waste of time. Pretty design doesn't change your value proposition and is never going to be a reason someone buys. Sure, good design can improve conversion rates, but if there is no instrinsic demand for what you offer then design won't help. 0•x = 0
- Know your customers
One of my main challenges when building my product (keepyourstory.com)
was that I was never really sure who it was for. I just built something I found cool and hoped people would appreciate it. Next time I'll start with a niche, find a problem people are experiencingbin that niche and market it precisely to them.
I just signed up, and it seems like a cool app.
Technical issue: Email verification should not block the signup flow. I signed up, but the verification email went to the spam folder. Not a huge issue except I couldn't login until I went digging through the spam folder. You shouldn't really need to have users verify their emails for this app.
Product suggestion: Allow users to write their own prompt in addition to the three sample ones. Also consider letting people see a preview of the book before they finish the first conversation.
Marketing/positioning tip: I don't have any interest in writing about myself, but I would be interested in getting down some family stories from elderly relatives. Consider marketing this to people who want to get family stories (or life stories of elderly relatives) written down. Assume that the users will be sitting with their relatives and jotting down their responses.
Thanks for sharing your story. I think it's pretty impressive that this is your first web app and you were able to learn how to make it and create it in only a year. If you're willing to keep trying out new use cases, you may find some people who are interested. Good luck on this side project or your next one!
This is really valuable feedback. Thank you so much 🙏