From learning how to code to raising an oversubscribed round

One of these projects is Shhh Noise, a sound generator designed to increase focus and relaxation, which got her a $5k Product Hunt Maker Grant last year!

We connected so I could learn more about her journey, as well as her main product of focus right now, Llama Life, which recently raised an oversubscribed $690k pre-seed round.

My background is quite varied. I never knew what I wanted to “be” growing up.

I worked in retail in a mobile phone shop and later did 10 years in branding/advertising, which was something I fell into, but in hindsight was an incredible foundation on how to run a business.

I’ve always loved building things. When I was younger I obsessed over Lego, particularly the Space sets / more technical ones with lights, sound, and pneumatic air pumps.

But I only started building things with code in the past few years.

At the start of the pandemic, everyone was learning a new skill, so I decided to teach myself how to code.

Previously I’d tried twice but it had never stuck. But that’s because I chose the wrong learning method. I had tried to learn by reading books and failed miserably. But this time around, I decided to learn by watching YouTube videos… and suddenly everything just clicked.

The first product I developed by myself was Llama Life. Llama Life is a productivity tool that helps you work THROUGH your to-do list, not just make neverending ones. It does this by increasing your focus throughout the day and making it fun and rewarding to complete tasks.

I am now working full-time on Llama Life.

Shhh Noise is a background noise generator that lets you mix and match sounds to create your perfect work environment.

I built Shhh Noise for 3 reasons:

New ideas are always fun, and I have to admit I have quite a collection of domains that were bought for new ideas that never went anywhere.

I think Twitter is a great place to validate new ideas. There’s the whole “build in public” movement where people share what they’re working on, as they build it, day-to-day. So I would share it there. Before even putting up a landing page for an idea — it’s worth floating it on Twitter to see if people are interested.

That of course depends on you having an audience to do so in the first place. If you don’t have an audience, I would invest time in building up relationships and a following on Twitter as it has been a huge factor in how both Llama Life and Shhh Noise got visibility and validation.

Product Hunt is a great community and way to raise awareness of your product.

But I’ve learned that launch day is not just one day.

A lot of people think launch day can make or break a product and they put a huge amount of pressure on themselves because of this. There’s no doubt it’s important, but what’s more important is maintaining the momentum that you get from launch day.

I’ve learned to not just prepare for the day itself, but to prepare for what comes directly after.

It’s good to try and drum up a bit of excitement and awareness before the day.

You have to remember that people have a lot of other things going on, so may not necessarily see your launch day announcement if you just talk about it on the day itself.

Some people have whole drip campaigns leading up to it, but personally I usually just let my Twitter audience know a day before and then again on the day. It really depends on the product.

With Shhh Noise, it was one of the more spontaneous launches I’ve done… there may not have been any advance notice on it. But to be honest, it was probably the most enjoyable one I’ve done because I put a lot less pressure on myself for it to do well.

My main goal with Shhh Noise was just to share something cool that I built, which I think gets back to the heart of what Product Hunt is all about.

Hmm, not really. I think life is full of surprises, and that’s what makes it interesting.

But if I really had to say one thing it would be that making stuff is quite different from building a business, so it’s important to have clarity on what your goal is for any given product, and set expectations accordingly.

It’s got to be Llama Life.

Because it was the first thing I built after learning to code, and more importantly it is attempting to solve a problem I feel deeply about and experience every day.

Stripe notifications are always a high. Not just because of the money, but because it means people value the work. And that gives me the fuel to keep going.

The lows - well that would be a lack of Stripe notifications. Sometimes it’s a hit or a miss, or just luck. But it’s hard to not take it personally as a solo maker when your product is not gaining traction. We all know it’s not personal, but it’s still hard to live that in practice.

Llama Life just raised a $690k pre-seed round from Jason Calacanis and Black Sheep Capital.

I’m super excited to build out the team - have gone from a solo maker to a team of 2 - and we’re looking to bring on board a few more.

We believe there is a world where we can be productive, without feeling hectic, stressed, and burnout. So if anyone is interested in our mission of helping people achieve calm, focused productivity, we’d love to hear from you.

We have an open position here.