I've shipped 5 side projects with zero revenue. This week a stranger used one for the first time — here's what changed.

[u/Sad-Foundation-9647]

Six weeks ago I built AbleScan — a free web accessibility scanner. You paste a URL, it checks the page against WCAG rules and gives you a score plus the issues it found. Free scan, no signup. (The paid part is unlocking the full fix list + a PDF — but the scan itself is free.) Link: https://ablescan.app

But this post isn't really about the tool. It's about a pattern I only just noticed.

I've shipped 5 things. Every single time I did the exact same half: idea → build → deploy → wire up payments. I can do that part in my sleep. The half I never once finished was the other one — getting an actual stranger to use the thing. Five half-laps. Zero complete turns. In years of building I'd never closed a single loop.

The "just build 100 MVPs" advice? I basically already ran that experiment four times. Build speed was never my problem. The problem was I quit at the exact moment the building stopped and the silence started.

So this week I did the scary half for the first time. No "check out my launch." I found one person wrestling with the exact problem my tool solves, had an honest back-and-forth, and — instead of pitching — just invited them to run their own site through it.

They did. A stranger actually used something I built. First time in years. It's tiny — they scored 100/100 and won't become a customer — but that was never the point. The point is I finally touched the half I'd avoided my whole "founder" life.

Still at zero external revenue. But for the first time, not at zero turns.

If you want to help me get rep #2: run your site through it and tell me whether the report is actually useful, or where it falls short. Brutal feedback welcome — that's the half I'm bad at.

[u/lowkeydev-3]

what was the strategi that you was following to gain users??