20 Years of Backend Code, Humbled in 4 Seconds.

Guys you need to keep them short.

Maybe she just wanted you to take out the fucking trash without being asked.

This is the whole point of the UX profession. Have you considered you're just not a designer who can create engaging software? Plenty of b2b apps have stolen the market simply because they have engaging UX. Linear from Jira, Figma from Adobe, Slack from Skype/Email, Airtable from Microsoft. I have made many b2b apps grossing many millions and I have never had this problem in a user interview. That 5 second window you described absolutely matters and it's called User Experience.

Absolutely! it is a game of patience and willingness to keep improving.

it's extremely brutal and you will likely fail nobody cares about your product they care about your marketing and ability to get their attention

And it has okay been a few weeks! Imagine those who go years without getting success. It really does take at least 18 months in most cases to build an audience, trust, brand and eventual steady sales. SAAS is a long game as I had to learn as well. Thankfully, I’m nothing but patient as a serial entrepreneur. If you hang in there, it can pay off. And the skills you’ll develop along the way will be invaluable.

She’s thinking this man got time to create apps but can’t take out trash

Because Opus can’t keep it short. This is a LLM generated post.

Sounds like a bad wife not a bad app

Hi guys Sales and marketing guy here. Just wanted to drop this as a way to help you all out. Marketing is a way of passing your product information to a prospective customer(not to everyone, just a prospective customer). Sales is that art of getting that prospective to buy in to your idea, product or service. To help here, get offline, go looking for physical customers or businesses who you believe will be interested in what you offer. Prepare yourself, cos you will fail most time. Just tell yourselves you are looking for one person

Your architecture isn't the product. Your code quality isn't the product. Your feature list isn't the product. Even your UI isn't fundamentally the product. The customer's desired outcome is the product.

Next time your wife tells you a story, walk away. If she does not care about you, why would you?

This comment is literally the premise TLDR hahahahahaha

It’s a very tough game. Just focus on where you can find them communities that you fix something for and be consistent. If you have the former right, I think it’s just consistency until you get your first few customers. Upload their testimonies and work on SEO. My app took months to build, I think marketing is just the same. We are competing against people who have been marketing a product for months and years. It won’t come easy unless you have a very rare and niche product. Good luck out there.

I feel you 🥺🥲

Did you take out the garbage bins out?

This post is the epitome of LinkedIn slop

This is what happens when you get your app in-front of somebody who is NOT your audience. If you built an app that has an audience, it is your responsibility to market your app to your audience. Stop harassing friends and family and then declaring failure. Your friends and family did not sign up to be your co-workers. If your app isn't ready to market, then you need feedback from your team. If you don't have a team, then you are solo. Your wife doesn't want to be your co-worker.

Currently in the same boat.. Decided to pull the trigger on coursera google marketing certs. Learned a lot for now. I don’t like just doing stuff just because so I always try to learn more about it… let’s see if the learning will help at the end

If you know anything about UX you’d know that asking your wife who wants the trash taken out isn’t remotely the same as a user interview. It’s not a meaningless interaction, but close to it. Whether someone is interested in presumably the first screen in 4 seconds or not doesn’t define whether or not it’s a useful product. That said, people have a tendency to forget that people don’t actually want what you’ve made - they just want whatever problem it’s solving even less.

Read book called The Mom Test. Don't build anything until you talk to 100 potential customers with that framework from the book. You don't pitch your app idea. You understand the pain so deeply you can fix it magically.

Give your woman an app she doesn’t need and ask her what she thinks about it. She doesn’t understand the task, nor does she have the pain a real consumer maybe has that is searching for your tool. You just need to understand that targeting is important. Maybe you have the right skills to build, but lack skills to sell?

My favorite is when a user signs up and it’s like: yay. Then they do the free thing, then never return. I have a graveyard of emails where:Last login date === signup date.

Then don't fucking read it? How have you made it this far in life.

The irony is great here. Dude found out B2C users need simplicity + idiot proofing vs B2B users having no choice but to accept software as-is. Writes all of this in long ass post, instead of a short post.

hahahahahahhahah

what u building OP?

Build a brand is hard. But I think that in this era it’s a key thing. Build a strong Brand (roots) and you can ship whatever you love. Hope one day will be there 🤞

yeah, building is one thing, getting people to see it is a whole different beast. i've been using replyhey.com to find threads where people are actually asking about problems my app solves, then jumping in naturally. takes the guesswork out of where to post.

I just joined a startup with my friend and I was clear that I could definitely not do any sort of 'selling' because I'm just SO bad at it (she agreed to take that on for now). I applaud people that can do it. (seriously, what are your secrets?! how do you get over the hump of both feeling cringe and like you are just a snake oil salesmen type?!) But I also recognize that it takes the whole team and I will (at some point) have to get people to want to use it once we build the MVP for testing. I am terrified of this because, yeah, I'm more of a behind the scenes organizer not a "Here's why you need this!" kind of sales person. I do believe in the product/company (or else I honestly wouldn't have jumped on) but I just struggle with conveying that to others without feeling overly corporate/salesmen-y

I feel you. I’m almost at the same spot as you, built an app for my sports community, set up 2 dates for live presentation (around 100 ppl in my community). First presentation, no one came.Second one 1 person :D It’s an free app It’s tough

I feel you. I was also humbled when I was forced to do marketing for my app. But previously, being a software engineer is also really hard, it just became less "hard" because of AI that even non-tech people can now build their ideas unless it is really complex that they need a programmer

the empty stadium part is real, and I think it's because posting to promote is the version that needs an audience to work at all. the thing that doesn't is talking to one person who already has the problem. slow and not satisfying, but it's the only thing that's ever produced anything for me with nobody watching.

This is the problem with the software engineers. They see a poorly built product and think I can do better however they quickly realize that software is but a small part of the bigger picture. Unless you find a way to sell it to people, your product will never see the light of day, no matter how Superior it is to its competitors. This is one of the reasons why people join companies like Y combinator. It has less to do with just building software, but more to do with the business connections and partnerships that you can sell the software to even if it's half baked. And Y combinator helps with those relationships.

I found that developers often love building and shipping products, but marketing and sales are a completely different game. This is where you need to clearly define your ICP and build your marketing strategy around that ICP instead of keeping it generic. You need to understand exactly why your ICP would buy your solution and what problem they are trying to solve. If you’ve built a consumer app here's my two cents could be helpful if apply them. Fix your ASO first Optimize your metadata around relevant keywords. Make screenshots highlight the core benefits, not just features. Avoid filling screenshots with heavy text. Make sure your App Store messaging connects with the psychology and motivations of your ICP. We Humans often use mental shortcuts when making decisions, so your App Store listing needs to communicate the right message quickly like with 3 to 6 seconds and clearly Use ASO to get your initial traction Think of ASO as getting your app from 1 to 100 users depending on niche regardless of where your traffic comes from, users eventually have to land on your store page and decide whether to install. But to go from 100 to 1000+ users, you’ll usually need additional distribution channels depending on your app, niche, and ICP. Analyze your funnel after you have enough data once you reach around 1000 users, start analyzing the entire funnel and user behavior. Look at: Retention Engagement Activation Conversion Where users drop off How frequently they use the app If the data shows that users are getting value from your product keep investing in distribution. If the data shows that users aren't staying or getting value, fix the product first because you can't effectively market or scale a broken product.

I know your pain.I'm thinking to do commissions / affiliates for one project. Even finding suitable affiliates is a challenge, but you're offering them re-occuring income for what could be a blog post if they have relevant traffic.

i want to cry

Its always hard building business. No matter if you are solo or with small team or with venture funding. The only thing that will help you ( was in your shoes) is to plan marketing activities at least a day in advance and just to focus on those activities and if you did all things you promised you will do a day ago , call it success. Once you make a first dollar and find a continuous way ( marketing funnel / channel) to build it there is no going back. All the best.

Yes. Marketing and Sales are a nightmare. Building is now the easy part lol.

Not easy, consistency is key, everyday show up. I should listen to my advice, not easy when you have an app like mine. Some days showing up is not an option. I do notice more traffic when I do follow through and market 5 days in a row. Don't give up, keep going, a little at a time still works but slower

Its really hard. I feel you. I started building social media before finishing my app. You'll get there!

this feels hard. Have you considered joining any communities?

They key is to find a good niche and target a specific micro-community users by combining distinct interests, focusing on high-demand categories, and validating demand with data. Sale anything to new cagetory is always hard and takes alot of time.

I'm currently going through this phase and, man, how I feel you. Marketing is hard. I'm on every platform possible and managed to get around 12 people in one month, but the work you put in is 10x from building the app. I promise myself that I would go for a year like this. If nothing happens (consistency, as all entrepreneurs say), then I'll probably go back to my comfort zone. 😭😂

Man this is soo true. It feels tough to get even someone to try your product. I feel you man marketing is brutal. I have been posting on X, cold emailing agencies and even sending cold dms to just try and give me feedback but no response. The real trophy is building audience from start.

Sto passando dalla tua stessa situazione: la frustrazione che si prova nello scoprire che creare il prodotto non è la parte difficile ma commercializzarlo è il problema è davvero indescrivibile. Però mi sembra di imparare una lezione che voglio condividere con te: l’unica cosa che conta nel marketing è la perseveranza. Fare video su YouTube, fare post sui gruppi, raccontare la propria esperienza nel costruire il prodotto, migliorare la seo, accompagnare il prodotto con un blog di settore, lavorare con video di formati corti e cercare collaborazioni con le persone che si sentono interessate al tuo prodotto, oltre ovviamente (se le tue disponibilità te lo permettono) smettere qualche soldino in un po’ di ads. Non è facile, a volte bisogna anche ricorrere alle chiamate a freddo, cosa difficilissima e molto antipatica come attività, ma non ci sono scorciatoie, questa è l’unica strada….. perciò continua a provarci!

the hating sales part is so real. one thing that helped me was using a tool that scans reddit for people already asking for what you built, instead of cold posting everywhere. replyhey does that and even drafts a reply for you, might be worth a look if you want to skip some of the groveling. https://replyhey.com

My productivity went up 1000% once I got an Accountability partner- working on creating a group now for other entrepreneurs with ADHD. It does get really lonely without someone to check in with and celebrate your successes with you.

So true. This business is for hustlers, period. Everyone can build now. I don’t see myself enjoying that either.

hey man, I feel you.My two cents: you can consider delegating the marketing part. offer revenue share affiliates, partner up with influencers, etc. If you can't convince anyone even for that, DM me and we can start an engagement pod and such. I'm also exploring some easy ways to distribute my stuff.

You and me both my friend. If you have the chance to participate in networking activities from your local chamber of commerce you should give it a try. Talking to people face to face about your product or service can get you the first sells you need to keep the motivation going.

Yeah. Shipping was the comfortable part. Asking strangers for 30 seconds is the actual job, and it feels like begging because it kind of is. Going back to the code won’t make the silence quieter. One awkward message a day still beats another feature.

OP problem wasn't a UX interface. He could have used the best UX in the world that it wouldn't have changed anything. He tried to sell something to somebody that was not interested in the real thing. Because UX is only secondary. The first thing is to solve a real problem people have, want to be solved and to show it to them at the right moment. All these software with bad UX sell because they solve real problems. All the alternative that take a bit of market share with better UX also solve a problem: do the same in a better way that is helping users.

What do you think is solution for this “problem”?

This doesn't make any sense. Did you tell your wife you built it? And what is this about?

As a SaaS? So someone is supposed to pay a subscription for this?

Even here, no one is getting your pain. These are zombies who care for karma, upvotes and hate to anyone in front of them. Opposing 100% AI and using less than 100 words from their vocabulary …

But what did it teach you about B2B sales?

Es una constante o variable?

You dont say what the app does. What problem are you solving. Did you do research initially to discover whether this was actually an issue.

Look, people start paying attention when they enter the market to buy something. Asking them to care before that usually doesn’t work. Think about buying a car. Your current car starts getting old, so you begin considering a replacement. Suddenly, you notice different makes and models. You pay attention to what other people are driving. Car ads on TV, social media, and billboards that you previously ignored suddenly stand out. Then you start researching, narrow down your options, visit dealerships, test-drive a few cars, and eventually make a decision. Your wife’s story simply shows that she wasn’t in the market to buy at the time. So her lack of interest doesn’t really tell us anything about how people behave once they actually become buyers.

Tbh I’m not sure this proves anything. Maybe it proves your wife has different priorities but that’s just how most wives are. Does the app actually solve a real problem?

You didn't make a mistake. Your doing the same thing as the masses. I don't know where people are getting this entitlement or expectation that their app is deserving of that fairytale attention 0.001% of success stores stems from. You don't expect the lottery ticket you bought to win and when it doesn't you don't go on reddit and shit your pants all over the place. Odds are you built your app for free. The lottery ticket cost money and yet... here we are. Why is your app any different than anything else? I'm an insurance broker by profession. 20 years. I'm not going to fucking try and sell it on reddit. I have two dev projects. One is just recreational but I know the customer and how to sell them on it... The other is an enormous gap in my particular insurance market. I'm cold calling and pounding the pavement just like how you would sell anything. Trust isn't just earned... its god damn grinding. I had an audience and customers and I am still debugging but I established a market somewhere I am familiar. To the people, not you in this instance, that upload their app to whatever store and expect to profit while they go rub one out ...then brick their pants all over this place when nothing happens...they get exactly what they deserve. The build isn't even half the project. It's a hard-core, balls out, bare knuckles, fuck your competitor fight. If you aren't willing to do that. Then you just had some fun learning and building. But that is it. I should be a god damn sales couch....

Sounds like you need couples counseling brother.

Wrong target market?

Not reading that marketing ai slop

Jesus Christ this cannot be a real post

get a different wife?

My wife told me my little app was awesome, then proceeded to ask me to bring the trash out 😂

Next time tell tour AI to keep it concise

Is this a copy paste?

Another thing that nobody cares about: AI generated slop reddit posts

just 1 opinion.

Cool story but the issue isn't the app. The issue is your relationship with your wife.

This is LinkedIn, right?

Why u left out how did the launch went? Go back to linkedin with fake stories.

Ai slop

Isn't that very obvious? If your wife has no use case for your app, why would she use it?

You're still in defense mode. Just because people don't care about your app doesn't mean they don't care about any app. It's not that they are daily drowning in apps, it's just that yours doesn't provide shit. Good luck ahead.

I'm both of you. ERP dev. Tired. I had a facebook account ages ago. No twitter, no instagram, no tiktok, no nothing since. I barely bring myself to read my private emails nowadays. Only building my little home automation for me (like a hobby and having a blast) and only exposing my family to the minimum of it.

This is a long winded way of saying “build something that solves a painful problem” This is why a lot of successful entrepreneurs don’t care that ai can spin up a reverse engineered version of their app. The moat and edge was almost always non-technical.

Yea, it's not your app she doesn't care about, it's you.

Feel you brother. But paid distribution is the only way out. There are basically 2 problems to solve. First, Getting the 100k eyes, and then second, marketing your product to them.Trying to find a solution to the first problem is what humbles us. As programmers and builders we dont really have an audience since we spend most our life talking with computers in their “languages” only. But luckily for us, its also the problem thats solved by influencers, and we can benefit it using paid influencer campaigns. Once you have 100k eyes on your product its totally upto your creative freedom to convert them and somehow make them use your product atleast once by running some offer or strategies.

How to find paid influencers, any tips or advice? And what are their fees in general for a saas product for trades companies if you know, or any influencers if you know?

Same boat, different week. Twenty years for you, four years plus a product I launched last month for me. The building part was the part I knew how to do. What's hitting me right now is that "no audience" and "no distribution" aren't the same problem, and I spent weeks solving the first one thinking it was the second. Posting into the void builds an audience eventually — maybe six months, maybe twelve. That's a real strategy if you have the runway. I don't, and from your post I'd guess you'd rather not wait that long either. The thing I'm trying now, no results yet so take it for what it's worth: going back through people I already worked with over the past few years and asking for twenty minutes, not for signups. Twenty conversations instead of twenty posts. Feels much worse to do and probably works better. The one part I'd push back on: twenty years of engineering didn't prepare you for zero of it. You know what actually breaks in production and what people complain about at 3am. That's the raw material for anything worth saying. What's missing is the habit of saying it out loud, and that's a smaller gap than it feels like right now.

to make a point tho i think if someone were to do it with the opposite background as you(years of experience in marketing but no tech skills), theyll have an even harder time

Get a cofounder who understand Go to market, you’ll go a long way

Right there with you! Just launched my project (25+ years in various aspects of IT and broadcasting) and I knew building it was the easy part, but even knowing that it's still a very daunting and humbling task to put some initial announcements out there and hear crickets. I'm trying to go the organic route with specific community engagement, and in the process now of trying to hone the "elevator pitch" to quickly get folk's head around the pain my project addresses. It's also hard to stay focused when I have two others in the pipeline. One at a time! I'd love to share what our projects are about and the approaches we are each taking. Message if interested, if not no worries. Best of luck!

just patience, in the long run all ur hardwork will pay double trust in the process

Facts

man this resonated with me more than most posts I’ve read on here. I’m also building stuff solo and have been looking to connect with other people doing the same thing, not to sell each other shit, just to have people to bounce ideas off of and compare notes with. tried to DM you but looks like you have incoming chats turned off. shoot me a message if you’re up for it.

Can people stop fucking writing like this? What is with this new shit trend of double spacing single lines? Fuck you abd your shit writing

chore tracking is just another chore too yk

Ok, idea is clear. It can be written in one sentence - talk to public before building anything, not after.

I liked the comparison of Enterprise vs DTC

Yeah man, Ive experienced this with family and friends, except its one of those subtle smiles/laughs where they just think you're crazy.

Classic B2B software developer

Exactly. That is why SAM and SOM are equally important analyses after TAM. Also, OPs drawing a conclusion after 1 conversation. Complete sales problem.

Thank you. I will review if there is a way to open up the sweet spot 💚💚

if you could see my basement you'd know how i actually need this app

But I am being forced to read it. He's got the barrel pressed against my forehead. I'm so scared that if I stop reading, he'll make another post about his wife.

Haha. Tough crowd.

Haha no, the app isn’t called "Take Out The Trash" though honestly that would be an elite name! The app is finoo.app: snap a photo of a storage bin or shelf, and visual AI indexes the items inside so you can search 'where did I put the drill bits' later.

Well it's a catchy name for an app, I'm sure someone will appreciate it

And yet, here you are commenting. 😂 TL;DR: Take out the trash

Fair question! It solves the 'garage void' problem: losing tools and rebuying things you already own because finding them in 15 unlabeled rubbermaid totes takes 45 minutes.

It would be nice if the sliders were easier to use on mobile. I found it a little difficult to change values.

right, people are always polite and agreeable to your face. Since you're a UX designer, I'd honestly love your blunt feedback on the demo flow: does the camera-to-search interaction make immediate sense?

I’m a UX designer. U cant ask them that question Directly. They will always be agreeable to avoid conflict.

Haha, glad to know I'm not the only one getting that exact look from my wife! 😂 Labels work fine for organized people, but for the rest of us, photo-search is a life saver.

LMAO. I did see somewhere that wife gave no shits about the app. Same thing happens in my situation.

You're completely right: pitching someone who isn't actively 'in the market' for that solution is shouting at a brick wall. Hard lesson learned.

Did you do any research around whether people want this? I think simple labels might do the trick. Don't overcomplicate a physical problem with AI.

The app is called finoo.app: You snap a photo of a storage bin or shelf, and visual AI indexes the items inside so you can search your physical stuff in seconds.

Well with this mindset nobody would create anything. OP didn’t say it was to escape the grind, more like a realization that code alone doesn't build a business.

valuable problem → clear value proposition → fast time-to-value → low-friction UX → polish/delight.

*sales. He pitch-slapped someone without knowing if they were even open to a conversation

You were talking with users. He didn't. You were talking with people using it, or searching for a product like that. He talked to his wife who didn't need the product, didn't use it, didn't care about it. That's nothing to do with the UX.

😂😂

🤣

TBF she's just thinking of the next time her gym instructor is going to sort her out. Her husband is too obsessed with app details in his free time, but Fabio really knows what inputs to make and which UI to tweak.

Brilliant Fabio. Goes straight to the point. 3 minute sales pitch. User satisfaction guaranteed.

The customer's data you swiped and surreptitiously sold off to a FAANG company is the product.

also I think creating your own app does not let you escape 9-to-5 grind,quite opposite it makes you think about it all the time if it becomes your main source of income. It's a trap.

Maybe she rolled her eyes about what a waste of time it was in her mind, then immediately went back to Instagram, where he watched her 3,000th video that day with morons online trying to be clever with their little skit videos.

Uf, that was dark but I agree

I am trying to find a small group of people who have the exact, burning headache that I had when I started working on the app. It's hard now more than ever, nonody has patience, their attention is taken by thousands other things

Choose the right moment to discuss or present something. Show your product to people that can benefit from it. Explain to people what problem your product solve than showing it to them without any context.

i typically dont read books filled with trite dogshit

Are you one of those who can't recognise the signs that a post was written with AI alone? Jesus christ. I thought this sub might have people who can read an AI post a mile off but I suppose gullible people are why these type of posts still exist and get engagement. Do you realise that u/meshifthenelse was telling the writers of these bot posts to make them shorter for believability and that it wasn't a reflection on people with short attention spans? No, of course you didn't and you bit back with emotion instead of logic haha

Acting like you’re forced to read it…

Yeah the meat proxies cannot understand how valuable the readers time is, because they took much less time "writing" it.

Everybody is a writer now ffs

Wife no like app. Me sad.

Starts with my wife proved it in 4 seconds, then writes a book thats longer than I have read in the last 4 years

The leash for the wife in the kitchen you mean?

A sales couch.... You want people to sit all over you?

Tldr ?

She didn't read this either, nor did anyone else. Tldr

lol @ javascript diss

what are the signs that this is AI generated like people are saying in the comments? (honest question)

This is such a relatable gut-check. The "clean architecture nobody sees" trap is real, it feels productive but it's often just avoiding the scarier work, making the value obvious to someone with zero context and zero patience. My version of this was showing something to a friend outside tech and watching them scroll past the headline entirely, straight to "so what does it actually do for me," which made me realize I'd been writing for people who already understood the problem, not for someone encountering it cold. The 4-second test is brutal but honestly the cheapest, fastest feedback loop there is, way better than months of assuming.

In today's world, Marketing and Selling is the difficult part. Building is simple. We built Podsubs.com for our podcasts, it is the best tool we use to get, keep and communicate with our podcast listeners. We have used it internally for about 2 years now. We decided 3 months ago to take it public so other podcasters can benefit from it too. Marketing it has been a nightmare. We have succeeded to get only about 550+ free customers, no paid yet. That's to tell you that even if the product is perfect and solves an absolutely valid pain in the industry, Marketing and selling it will still be a nightmare. But, we will continue marketing aggressively until the world knows what podsubs.com is. We will be unstoppable. I hope this helps. Peace.

Linkedin needs this not reddit

Thing is , there are still lot of unsolved issues which u can solve using apps. U just showed wrong app 😐

ChatGPT write me a dumb story for uptoots

When you build enterprise software, you’re building something highly customized that has direct dollar impact When you’re building something for a mass audience, very different ball game. Know your ICP and get it in front of them.

Ain't nobody got time for this.

Well she could have looked at it a bit sounds like a shitty wife is my take away

That's not what it is. The app isn't built for her dude. There's a reason you want to narrow down your audience. You can't make apps for everybody.

I stopped reading at taking the trash out. Dude, nobody cares about such a detailed story either. Focus

Slop post

This seems AI generated.

That sounds like a stupid test, if that stopped you then you were never cut for this.

Can we see your app? What is the website or app name or link?

You build for your wife then?

Got to the garbage part then TL;DR, what happened? Did OP find true love or is this a closeted pitch?

Make an app that reminds her to remind you to do things.

The part where you say she had zero obligation to care about what your app does is a sad statement. She should know this is your passion and show that she cares. Maybe she doesn't care. That's not a trait I'd be happy about in a partner.

Could be worse, I wrote a language learning app and handed it to my father who is actively learning a language (goes to classes and attends meetups)... And he wont even look at it. But at the end of the day I wrote the app for me, and to explore vibe coding.

Now show her some knitting patterns and see what happens

learn how to unleash claude or gpt on b2b , b2b , d2c sub reddit farm pain points, current solutions , reverse engineering leading solutions make it better ,faster ,cheaper . Learn marketing distribution > attention > interest > traffic > conversion > retention . Know its hard af to make it but still continue . Get deep deep analytics and you will win.

Ego is the enemy. Small samples are also. Your wife doesn't represent "a market". Your trusted friends don't represent a market. And, 10% take up is good. So, if out of 100 people, 90 ignore your app like your wife did, but 10 engage, that may be well be enough to make the revenue you need. So, define the market, how you are going to reach it, and what percentage take up is required to profit. Test the market with a large enough sample to matter. Get 100-200 beta users, then decide. Don't let your feelings decide.

Friend, if you ask your wife something that important to you and she dismisses it like that, you're in the wrong subreddit. First, go to r/Marriage and ask there. Let me tell you about my first experience building mobile apps (I’m 100% backend): I created a family app to track expenses the way we usually do. My wife looked at it for about 30 minutes, then gave me suggestions on things she didn't understand and pointed out some visual bugs. She told me it looked nice and that I should fix it up; she also mentioned that it was the first time she’d seen my work—even though she didn't quite understand it. Two weeks later, she asked if we should use it instead of the Excel spreadsheets we normally use. She remembered it, even though I had basically dropped the subject until I could learn more about designing attractive interfaces. My job is being a technical lead for backend service development, and I used .NET MAUI to build the UI in the most horrific way possible—with practically no regard for making it look nice or appealing.

Good job Claude / Codex. I almost couldn’t tell this was AI written until the third or fourth paragraph.

Is your wife your target customer?

I built app for my family. .. I am so proud it does everything and much better than any apps in market.. showed my wife and kids and asked them to use it.. I got same response as OP. 😀 .. so even if post is enhanced by AI it’s reality

This is hilarious and accurate and good advice. But just started going to random networking events and I’m having better luck there finding potential users

Classic promoter account, to promote an app :) cool cool. didn't need the ai gen rant though. people are numb by now

A wife should be loving and supportive of all your endeavors.

Great post, needed to hear this. Thank you honestly

Is your wife the target audience, or at least someone from the targeted problem domain?

Man, AI really knows how to structure a post these days 😂

Even if what we build is perfect for those who need it. The hurdle of getting their attention long enough to learn what it can do is very hard. I deal with this a lot at work. "I'm too busy to look at the thing which will stop me from being busy!"

This is why I don’t build anything before having at least one real user who needs it. I’m currently building something for my wife who is a food influencer on Instagram (and I’m pretty sure this will be interesting to many other influencers). The amount of valuable and honest feedback she gave me along the way is just incredible. There is ZERO chance I could have thought about these by myself. And I know her feedback is honest because that is something she actually needs, so she won’t be nice with me just because I’m her husband: she really needs the thing to do the job well.

Maybe she just gave you a hint! I mean, you should create a new app based on that, and introduce it like this "See? This app only adds a few icons to the lockscreen: Trash, Dishes, etc. Whenever you want me to do something, just press the icon and you don't even have to unlock the phone!"

man, that wife story hits hard. i think the real trick is finding the few people who do care before you try to show it to everyone. there's a tool called replyhey that scans reddit for discussions where people are actually looking for what you built, so you're not shouting into the void. might be worth a look.