My experience
I’d been itching to build a small tool to help me remember new vocabulary — a place to quickly save words I encounter online or in books and then review them later. So I built it. From July 14 to September 21, I shipped an MVP that worked exactly how I wanted.
I recorded a couple of demo videos and launched on X, Reddit, and Hacker News. I received a good amount of feedback and over 200 visits — but as of now, 2 signups and $0 revenue. Here’s what I learned.
What it actually takes
Key lessons
- The idea matters, but the problem and audience matter more. Is it a painkiller or a vitamin?
- Speed wins. Don’t overthink — build, ship, and iterate.
- Define your target user clearly: who are they, what do they do, and why would they benefit?
- Do real market research. Know alternatives and competitors.
- Your landing page should instantly answer: what it is, who it’s for, and the core value.
- Tech stack doesn’t matter to users; solving their problem does.
- Set up systems that help you build fast (starter kits, templates, scripts).
- Distribution is the only way to grow, to get potential customers to your product. But don't forget that Marketing is a part of the product, it only works well if the product is something people want but don't yet know how.
Resources that helped
This doc on distribution and marketing was super helpful: How to do Marketing.
Sahil Lavingia’s The Minimalist Entrepreneur also reinforced the importance of building for (and with) a specific community — understanding their daily habits and pains and crafting solutions that fit naturally.
Make more bets (increase your success surface area)
- Wordgrind is my first SaaS I've built and it taught me a lot and it failed, now i know what was wrong and i will iterate fast and build another saas and ship it and get feedback going and if it works,good or if it doesn't works, still good I will still iterate and start working on another solution & will keep on doing it as fast as i can with tiny improvements.
- The only way you win is by throwing as many darts as you can in the direction you want to go.
- Build more, ship more, iterate more.
The plan from here
- Solving a big problem for a specific community, pick existing markets DON'T try to create one
- Research the market: go on reddit find communities ask them about the solution you propose for their problem, find gaps in competitors product
- Share consistently on X and explore 1–2 additional channels (e.g., short demo reels on Instagram/YouTube).
- Keep the pricing simple and give users pricing comparisons to choose (consider a 3-7 day trial and start with one-time plan first then later switch to subscriptions).
- After Launch for a week: ship improvements,reflect on the feedbacks, iterate and ship again with improvements. If you see people signing up, buying your product, double down on that product, if not then pause working on it and start on a new project.
Key takeaways
- Built a vocabulary SaaS and shipped an MVP in ~2 months; launched on X, Reddit, and Hacker News.
- 200+ visits, lots of feedback, 2 signups → distribution and positioning matter more than expected.
- Solve a painful problem for a clear audience, problem you're solving has to be big. Marketing a good product is easy with proper systems for marketing