r/Solopreneur

Just venting and looking for honest takes from people further along than me.

Built two products. One is a link-in-bio SaaS with 200 users, mostly silent. The other is Branchpost, a tool that reads your GitHub repo and opens AI-written blog post PRs. I built it because I'd skip writing about my own projects for months.

The painful part: I use Branchpost daily. Ship 3 blog posts a week with it now. Zero other users. Google hasn't indexed the blog posts yet either, so the SEO play isn't kicking in.

Tired. Not quitting, just tired.

If you've been here and pushed through, what actually moved the needle? Cold DMs to specific users? Reddit/IndieHackers posts? Switching positioning?

Hey everyone,

We recently crossed almost 1,000 downloads and around $300 in revenue with our first app.

Still small numbers, but enough to start learning real things from real users. Here are the biggest lessons so far:

1. ASO matters way more than I expected
Around 80–90% of our downloads come from App Store search. For a mobile app, ASO is not optional. Better keywords, screenshots, translations, and conversion rate can slowly compound into more visibility.

2. Always make it easy for users to give feedback
Some of our best product decisions came from users who reached out directly. A simple email, form, Reddit post, or feedback button can be enough.

3. Onboarding is probably the biggest revenue lever
If users don’t understand the value quickly, they leave. Small changes in onboarding, copy, screen order, and paywall timing can have a real impact.

4. Track everything that matters
You need to know where users come from, where they drop, what they use, what they ignore, and where they convert. Without analytics, you’re mostly guessing.

5. Translations can unlock unexpected markets
We translated the app into 8 languages and were surprised to see traction in places like Russia. Even when revenue is lower, more users means more feedback and more behavioral data.

6. US users monetize much better
For us, the US install-to-payment conversion rate is roughly 2x higher than the rest of the world. Other countries help us learn, but the US is where most of the revenue potential is.

7. Test a paywall during onboarding
Around 68% of our conversions happen before users even sign up. I know onboarding paywalls can be controversial, but for us it clearly matters.

8. Reviews are harder than they look
It took us several attempts to find a review prompt logic that actually worked. Timing matters a lot: not too early, not too late.

Main takeaway: the more data you have, the less you rely on your own assumptions. What you want as a founder doesn’t matter as much as what users actually do.

Happy to answer questions or debate any of this in the comments.

There's a post on claudeAI subreddit at 4.6K upvotes right now. A satirical "PR rejection letter" written like a job rejection, from a code reviewer to a developer who submitted 4,000 lines of AI-generated code without reading it. The killer line:

>"I appreciate your courage to press enter without reading the output, and wish you every success in shipping this slop to production."

It's a code joke. It's also our situation as solos.

The whole pitch of running solo in 2026 is force multiplication. One person plus AI tools, shipping faster than a team but the trap is that "ship faster" easily becomes "ship without reading." I've watched founders in this sub post launches where the website copy and the announcement tweet sound like the same generic AI brand voice with different logos pasted on top.

That's slop surfacing at scale, even though It looks like productivity as it functions like dilution.

The version that actually works is AI handling the heavy lift while you handle quality control. The bottleneck has moved, It's now the time it takes to read what came out and notice when it doesn't sound like you or like your brand.

Two questions I've been asking myself:

• If a customer reads my last 5 outputs back to back, do they sound like the same human?
• Could a competitor swap their logo onto my homepage and have it still read coherently?

If the answer to either is no, the slop is showing up. It compounds quietly until someone screenshots your content next to three other "AI-built solo SaaS" posts and you all look indistinguishable.

For full transparency: I'm building USENOREN AI to fix this on the writing side specifically. It learns your writing patterns and voice from your own previous samples like blogs, email, reddits, tweets, newsletters e.t.c and constrains AI models like chatgpt and claude to match your actual voice. The bigger point I keep coming back to is that for solos, voice is one of the few defensible moats left, and AI is making it cheaper to lose it.

Anyone else thinking about this?

I’ve been learning something interesting after launching my first app on Google Play recently. I used to think app growth was mostly about downloads. Now I’m realizing installs are honestly one of the least important metrics 😅

The deeper I go into Google Play Console analytics, the more I see things like:

•retention

•crash rates

•subscription conversion

•where users came from

•and whether they come back after Day 1

These matter WAY more than raw install numbers. Like… you can get thousands of installs from a viral post and still have an unhealthy app if nobody returns.

As a first-time founder, it’s been fascinating learning how much psychology is behind product analytics.

People don’t just “use an app.” They actually try it, get confused, abandon the onboarding, or just forget it exists.

For experienced founders/devs here: What analytics metric changed the way you thought about your product the most? Would love to learn from people further ahead in this journey.

I’m a Graphic + UI/UX Designer with 3 years of experience, and I want to help founders who feel stuck with their website, branding, landing page, or product design.

If your site isn’t converting, your branding feels weak, or users seem confused, drop your problem in the comments or DM me. I’ll give honest feedback and actionable advice for free.

Hello, I was wondering how many people in this sub are still working and looking to start a business?

And what is the most difficult thing at the moment stopping you from starting one?

And if you could would you spend time to find what business you truly want?

I’m a Graphic + UI/UX Designer with 3 years of experience helping startups improve branding, UI, and website experience.

If you’re building something and need a designer, drop a comment or DM me and let’s connect 👍

If you’re struggling to get your product seen, I can help you with marketing across Reddit, LinkedIn, and Meta.

I focus on real visibility, not spam or fake engagement just clear positioning and content that attracts the right audience.

If you want more eyes on your product, drop a comment or DM me and tell me what you’re building.

Built this for veterans to see every single possible benefit they're eligible for based on a few questions, no account, no paywall, no sign up, just results. I add every benefit manually and accept feedback on everything!

every solopreneur has a list.

not the list of things they love doing. the list of things that have to get done but that are not why they went solo in the first place. writing ad copy. managing campaigns. generating lead lists. sending cold email. updating the CRM. building the website. configuring payments. tracking analytics. all of it necessary. none of it the reason you built something for yourself.

that list is what burns solopreneurs out. not the actual work. the everything else around the actual work.

we built Locus Founder to be the co-founder that handles that list so you never have to touch it.

you focus on the work only you can do. the AI handles everything else. ads running autonomously on Google Facebook and Instagram. lead generation through Apollo pulling your ideal customer. cold email sequences written sent and adjusted automatically. builds a real website optimized for conversion. copy written for your specific customer. full CRM and analytics tracking everything. Locus Checkout handling payments end to end.

not a tool that helps you do those things faster. a co-founder that does them so you do not have to do them at all.

the difference between a good co-founder and a bad one is that a good co-founder handles their half without you having to manage them. that is exactly what this does. you describe what you want to build and the AI handles the operational and commercial side continuously without check-ins, without management, without equity, and without a vesting schedule.

if the idea of finally having someone to handle the stuff you have been doing alone sounds like what you have been missing this is what we built it for. beta is completely free and you keep everything you make.

FREE BETA ACCESS FORM IN THE COMMENTS!

PayWithLocus is the company. YC backed. VC backed.

what is the one thing on your list right now that you wish you never had to touch again. that is where the AI co-founder starts.

A few weeks ago I posted about a tool I built to help evaluate business ideas before you spend time building them. 160 people tried it, and the most common thing I heard was:

"I'm not stuck on evaluation, I'm stuck on uncertainty and not knowing what to do next."

So I rebuilt it around that. It now asks what's making you hesitate about your idea, figures out your biggest weak point, and tells you exactly what to address first. Still gives you a verdict and scores, but the focus is on clarity and next steps rather than just analysis.

Also got feedback from a university business professor who flagged that the scores felt too authoritative without enough context so I fixed that too.

If you've got an idea you're sitting on and aren't sure if it's worth pursuing, I'd love for yall to try it and tell me what's missing.
Happy to share the link if anyone's interested.

I am thinking to build something and find the users right from start... but I think time is the biggest constraint for me. How do you guys manage your time?

Do you spend any specific hours on weekends vs weekdays?

On one side, we have AI tools, automation, no-code platforms, Shopify, content tools and easier access to online business infrastructure.

On the other side, there are now so many tools, subscriptions, workflows and “systems” that a lot of solopreneurs seem more confused than ever.

Curious how others feel about this.

Are modern tools making solo businesses easier to run, or are they just creating a different kind of complexity?

I have been working on something - an AI co founder. Here's it what it does

- Read, drafts, replies to emails in your voice, unsubscribe, flags invoices. Learns from your edits over time

- Find and qualifies prospects based on your ICP

- Monitors competitors, tracks their new features, watches their content, and surfaces what matters.

- Writes posts based on keyword clusters, competitor gap data and backlink signals

- Saas directory submissions for backlinks

- Any other agentic work you point it at, scheduling, research briefs, follow-up sequences.

- Proactive -- It doesn't wait for you to ask it. It noitces things and acts.

- You get a summary of all the relevant info you may need in each track.

- Suggest ideas on how to market and grow your app.

**Question: Would you pay $50/ month for this, assuming it does all of the above quite well and it's not vibecoded at all?**

Building this and want to know if the pricing makes sense, or whether the use cases are too broad or is it better that you get everything at one place.

I’ve been active in builder/startup communities for years.

And honestly, after a while I kept seeing the same problems everywhere:

• good posts get buried in noisy feeds
• fake “growth reports” everywhere
• shallow engagement
• people promoting without actually helping each other
• builders struggling to find real users, cofounders, mentors, investors, or even quality feedback

Most communities feel more like content farms than actual builder ecosystems.

So over the past months I started building something around a different idea.

I basically wrote down every pain point I personally experienced as a builder and indie hacker, then designed features around solving those exact issues.

The goal is simple:
help builders actually grow their network and business.

Things like:

• finding early users
• finding beta testers
• getting feedback
• meeting cofounders
• connecting with mentors/investors
• growing social presence
• getting traffic/backlinks
• scheduling online or local meetups
• and a lot more

One thing I’m experimenting with is a curated + credit-based model to reduce noise and make interactions more meaningful instead of turning into another spam feed.

For context, I’ve been growing pretty fast recently myself as an indie hacker, so I’m building this from real experience instead of theory.

Around 500 builders already joined the waitlist so far.

Still early, still evolving, but the response has honestly been interesting.

Hello everyone, I need to hire in the Philippines and I’ve been looking at EOR options for a week. Didn’t know it was gonna be this hard finding the right fit for us.

Deel and Remote seem legit but expensive. I’m considering the cheaper ones but can’t find reviews of them.

Aside fro that, pricing is all over the place too. Some $600/month per employee, others $200-300 and I really can't tell if the cheap ones are sketchy or the expensive ones are just overpriced.

Just want to know what actually matters like compliance, hidden fees, support quality when something goes wrong.

Need advice please. Thank you!

First off $0 in sales because my platform is free and I want as many people to join as possible. So I was posting on reddit and X everyday for 2 weeks leading up to launch day. Just trying to see if their was any demand for my product at all

Results:

40 brands

118 creators

Before launch day I was constantly sending out emails and when I did finally launch I personally sent an email and DM to everyone who was interested.

It's been 2 days since then and I've got 3 brands and 33 creators using my platform so I'm thinking of expanding into paid ads or doubling down on marketing

I'm working on a project that is about to luaucnh in July 26. At the same time, I'm unemployed and need some income coming in. My goal is to get this project to become my main income.

I need some advices on what job should I take on now (as I'm unsure how quickly this project will take off in terms of profit).

I used to work before as data scientist and not really keen to get back to it again.

Any advice in terms of jobs in between (that allow me to crack on with my buiness)? how would you manage that?

I began my project as a cybersecurity evidence and 3rd party secure access platform that sits above existing security for those times cases are elevated and the process becomes part of the risk. But I came to the conclusion that my thinking was too narrow.

I had built the truth core first and only the terminology was cyber specific. So I changed direction. I made the truth core a general evidence handler with secure 3rd party derivative sharing and disclosure platform. I then created a cyber pack, an insurance pack, an HR pack, and a legal pack. The workflow, UI/UX, webhooks needed, etc. is individualized for each industry, but all run on the some core.

Now I can license each individually or license the core engine to teams building investigation software who need infrastructure. I can add as many industry packs as I want without altering the core. If I want new global functions I can alter the core without rebuilding the packs.

Starting the pilot in 6 weeks. And I am damn proud of myself since I built this solo. But I would love some advice on what to look out for during the pilot. It's uncharted waters for me.

Apoorva Mehta built Instacart alone in 3 weeks. No team. No investors. No traction. Just a San Francisco apartment with an empty fridge and a bottle of sriracha.

He applied to YC two months past the deadline. Got rejected. Applied again with a late application. Got rejected again.

Most people stop there. He didn't.

Instead of rewriting his pitch, he opened his own app, ordered a 6-pack of beer, and sent it to a YC partner's office. Delivered in under an hour. The partner forwarded it internally with the message: "they sent me beer using their system just 5 minutes ago. I was impressed."

YC called him the next day. "We've never done this. Ever." They let him in.

A few things that hit me as a solo founder:

He had tried 20 startups before this. All failed. The turning point wasn't a better idea. It was building something he personally needed. He didn't own a car. Getting groceries meant a bus. That was the actual problem.

He was still solo when YC accepted him. He met his co-founders inside the batch. So if the "you need a co-founder" gate is stopping you from applying anywhere it doesn't have to be solved before you knock.

The beer trick wasn't clever PR. It was product demonstration. He removed the need for imagination. Anyone can describe an app. Almost nobody can make a VC experience it in real time.

To get the first Trader Joe's catalog live, the team photographed every single product manually. Cost $50k. They ate Trader Joe's food for 2 weeks. When the catalog went live, demand in that area doubled overnight.

Instacart went public in 2023 at $10 billion.

The solo founder thing isn't the liability people think it is. The "I don't personally care about this problem" thing is.

I am going deep down and writing up 23 of these case studies which has the early stories of founders who got rejected are underrepresented in the startup conversation, happy to share, if someone wants it