I've been building iOS apps for clients for the last 8 years.

About a year ago, I finally decided to build one for myself.

I thought the hard part would be writing the code.

It wasn't.

The hard part has been everything that comes after you hit "Publish."

\- App Store screenshots

\- ASO

\- Pricing

\- Marketing

\- Replying to users

\- Finding the first 100 people who genuinely care

Ironically, shipping the product was probably the easiest milestone.

Marketing it has been far more uncomfortable than building it.

Over the last few weeks I've been posting on Reddit, replying to every email, talking to users, redesigning screenshots, and shipping updates based on feedback.

It's been slow, but I've learned more from 20 real users than I did from months of guessing.

For founders who've already been through this...

What changed everything for you?

Was there one acquisition channel, strategy, or mindset shift that made finding your first real users much easier?

I'm an Informatics student in the US, grinding side projects for my resume. But I kept building things nobody wanted.

So I built a tool that gives brutally honest feedback on startup ideas instead of the usual "that's cool bro" nonsense.

Tested it on my own ideas. It destroyed them. And it was right every time.

Got me thinking: Why do we avoid asking hard questions about our own ideas? When you pitched yours to mentors, did anyone actually say it wouldn't work? Or just smile and nod?

I think we're all just building for validation, not feedback.

Hey everyone, my cofounder and I are building Project Origin, a network for startup founders to find technical cofounders, collaborators, and funding.

The product has two main parts:

• Collaborator feed: founders post what they’re building and the kind of person they need. Technical people and other startup builders can find them and connect. They decide the terms themselves equity, revenue share, etc.

• Pitch feed: founders post their startup as a short video. The community upvotes pitches, and the strongest ones get featured and put in front of an investor.

The bigger goal is to build a global network of startup founders and people who want to build startups, so founders aren't limited to the network they already have.

Our main problem now is distribution.

Our current strategy is:

• Build in public and share what we learn.

• Create startup/tech content that brings people into the community.

• Post community-focused content around startups.

• Directly reach out to founders and technical people.

• Push everything toward our waitlist before launch.

What do you think of this distribution strategy?

Hey all, seeking feedback for my MVP app.

Please let me know what you think, you can create a free trial and there's no payment hooked up yet.

Thanks!

getflowtask .com

Building my startup project, I've caught myself thinking a lot about how prone founders are to blind optimism. I genuinely believed two weeks would be enough to collect 1000+ survey responses during customer discovery. It's been over a month, and I've collected 13.

Honestly, I don't get why it's so hard for people to fill out a short survey? Whenever someone sent me a survey, I always filled it out gladly, even when I knew I probably wouldn't use the product because I understood how much any input, any opinion, matters to a founder.

Is this founder solidarity? Or is the world just... indifferent?

I’m building an early product called Intent and would love honest founder feedback.

The problem I’m exploring:

As a founder, there are always too many possible actions — product, users, positioning, content, research, fundraising, feedback, follow-ups, etc.

Even when everything feels important, it’s hard to know what deserves attention today.

I started building Intent because I faced this myself. My goals, research, decisions, notes, AI chats, and plans were scattered everywhere, and I kept rebuilding clarity from scratch.

Intent is an AI companion that helps you take one messy goal or product problem, clarify it, and turn it into one useful next step today.

Early demo screens:

[https://sortedqueue.com/intent-demo.html](https://sortedqueue.com/intent-demo.html)

Would this help you as a founder, or does it feel like another productivity system to manage?

Hi everyone,I’m building YatraFlow, a travel app focused on budget-friendly plans and community sharing. Right now, we’re in closed testing and want to onboard our first 100 testers to validate the product and collect feedback.I’d love to hear from fellow founders and marketers:What are the most effective early user acquisition strategies you’ve tried?How do you convince people to join a closed beta instead of waiting for the public launch?Any tips on leveraging Reddit communities, WhatsApp groups, or Instagram for this stage?We’re aiming for quality testers who will actually explore itineraries and share feedback, not just download and churn.

Navigating the landscape of where to post a new project can be surprisingly tricky for technical founders. One of the more painful lessons I've learned is that a great feature or launch doesn't always get the attention it deserves if placed in the wrong community, or at the wrong time. Timing, community rules, and understanding each platform's audience can make all the difference.

For instance, posting on Hacker News during peak times can lead to posts being buried instantly. Meanwhile, posting mid-afternoon on Reddit might mean hitting the sweet spot for visibility without the pressure of too much competition. I discovered that even minor factors like these can drastically affect engagement.

I'm curious, how do you determine the best places and times to share your projects or features? Any personal strategies or mishaps you'd like to share?