9 months of work and $124 MRR

Hey PH, I'm Marc, Indie Hacker, and I build startups from Bali. 🏝 I suck at marketing. Here is a breakdown of how I grew my gamified habit tracker to $124 MRR (~$250 monthly revenue) using engineering-as-marketing. --- - January 2022: I got fired a month ago. $10k left in my bank account. I'm bored. So I code a free habit tracker with a Github-like grid for completion. - February 2022: I build the app in public on Twitter. I have 30 followers and like my own posts. But I get valuable feedback. People ask for confetti. I add confetti 🎉 - March 2022: The habit tracker has about 50 users, and only one is active. It's me... The real problem showed up: How to motivate people to get 1% better every day? I remembered how I spent 14 hours a day playing Word of Warcraft... I decided to gamify the habit tracker. - April 2022: I rebuild the app and add tons of game-like features: daily quests, random loots, and a leaderboard. The game part is $9/mo with a 7-day free trial. I launch on Hacker News, just to see. The post is banned (I asked friends to upvote, shame on me 🥲) I relaunched on Hacker News, just to see. The post goes viral. 11k visitors, 1000 signups, and $270 revenue later, my wife and I open the champagne 🍾 - May-August 2022: I'm a builder, I love adding new features and buying domains. What they tell you NOT to do in startup books. I cleared levels #1 (users are willing to pay for the game) and #2 (users are ~3x more consistent) So how do I pass level #3 (marketing)? Engineering-as-marketing: I build and launch free mini-apps to promote the habit tracker. - Books Calculator 📚 (https://bookscalculator.com/ ): How many books can you read in a year? - 50 Hacks 💩 (https://50hacks.co/ ): Top 50 productivity hacks chosen by the internet and you - Buddy Crush 🙌 (https://buddycrush.co/ ): Crush your habits with friends - Decision Game 👻 (http://www.decisiongame.co/ ): Improve your decision-making skills with a run/catch game It's fun and easy to get traffic for these mini-apps. They all got at least 10k visitors when launching (55k in 24h for 50 Hacks 🤯). - September 2022: 90% of users of the gamified habit tracker don't show up after 24 hours. Ouch... I redesign the onboarding flow to show the value upfront (before creating an account). Try it, it's fun! (https://habitsgarden.com/welcome) The app crosses $1000 in total revenue 🍾 and my Twitter is growing. --- My 2 cents: - Don't think too much - Every app can be built in 72 hours, don't overengineer it - Build in public on Twitter, the Indie Hackers community is awesome I like to live dangerously, so I'm launching my startup on Product Hunt right now (https://www.producthunt.com/posts/habits-garden )—24 hours before my birthday 🎂 Thanks for reading until here and best of luck with your projects!