In 2020, I started reading books and listening to podcasts on finance and financial independence, but I couldn't find a good long-term planning app that felt modern, fluid, detailed, and actually fun to use... so then I spent all my free time for over a year building one 😅
MicroFounder
How did you find your first customers?
Kyle
Initially, I wasn't sure there would be any! The alpha version was just a tool for myself and friends/family. They got enough value out of it that I figured I should try creating a subscription offering; and as luck would have it, a Show HN post brought about 50k people to the site. Luckily, the infamous HN hug of death didn't bring it down, and that post is where many of ProjectionLab's early adopters came from. Over the past year and a half, they've been a consistent source of ideas and support, and have helped shaped the app into what it is today.
MicroFounder
How are you finding your customers today?
Kyle
In truth, I still spend a lot of time with my head in the sand building tons of new features and not doing any marketing. The conventional advice is to not be like me! 🤫
Occasionally I'll post something to places like HN or Reddit though. And what might be a contributing factor to those posts historically doing well is that each time, the product has evolved radically since the last time, and there are genuinely a wealth of exciting new things to show the community.
I've also seen some spread by word-of-mouth, and a few instances where organic search has brought people in.
MicroFounder
What's your advice for other microfounders who want to get started?
Kyle
Try to find a problem you're passionate about solving and build something that you'll actually be a user of. There are often more hurdles on the path to finishing and launching a project than you can predict going in; but if you really have that desire to see and enjoy the final product yourself, you can use that to help power through some of the obstacles.
