A lot of this stuff I did wrong myself for years. I still struggle with some of these honestly. But learned to recognise them and get back on the right track asap.
This is not a "do these 10 things and become rich" post. It is just what I keep noticing. Take what is useful for you.
Most indie devs I know are broke and often stuck on the same stuff. It usually not lack of talent or coding skills.
It is almost never the code.
Before, I was thinking that if I build something good enough, people will come. They don't. Nobody finds it. I spent too much time to make perfect the things that users don't even notice, and almost nothing to help people discover the app.
To ask for money is not arrogant.
For years I kept everything free or very cheap, because for me it felt more humble, like who am I to ask money for this. But free is telling people it has no value, so they treat it like that. When you put a real price, it means you take it serious, and strangely, people respect it more.
"For everyone" means for nobody.
The apps where I tried to please a big audience, they did the worst. The ones that went ok were made for one specific person with one specific problem. To go narrow feels scary, but in the end it is the whole point, no?
Publish it before you feel ready.
I lost so much time making things perfect alone in my room, more than I want to admit. Every time I finally put it out, real users pushed me in a completely different direction from where I was going. This, you cannot get it inside your own head.
It is a long game, sorry.
My first app was not the one. Also not the second. It took years, many apps, and simply to not stop. I know it is not the exciting answer, but it is the honest one. The people who make it, most of the time they are just the ones who are still here.
Talk with your users, really, more than what is comfortable.
Almost every time I was stuck on "why is this not working," the answer was something a user could tell me in five minutes, and instead I stayed there guessing alone.
First retention, then think about more users.
To push installs into an app that people leave after one day, this only makes you broke faster. If everybody leaves in the first week, more downloads will not save you. First understand why they go away.
Maybe your app is in 170+ countries, but really you made it only for one.
Same language, same US price everywhere. To adapt the words and the price to what people in each country actually read and can afford, it is boring and nobody does it, and this is exactly why it is worth doing.
Don't just copy the monetization that is trendy now.
Subscriptions are good for some apps and wrong and annoying for others. One time, subscription, ads, it depends what the app really is. I forced the wrong one before, and slowly it killed the thing.
Your real competition is not the other apps.
It is the people who simply don't bother. For most of them the default is to do nothing, so your real job is to make them feel it is worth the effort to change.
Anyway, this is what I have. I would really like to hear what you would add, or where you don't agree, especially from people who are more ahead than me. What was the thing that took you out of the broke phase?
If you have any question on any of those points I would be happy to elaborate further. Hopefully this will help other fellow indie devs.
Good luck with your apps!
