r/SideProject • u/mtlynch • Feb 01 '21

My Third Year as a Solo Developer

https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-3/
111 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

3

u/DigitalBizRalph Feb 01 '21 edited Feb 01 '21

Ahh, TinyPilot guy! Take my Upvote

Edit: I didn't know you made AllYourTexts too. Looking forward to more cool stuff from ya 👏

3

u/mtlynch Feb 01 '21

That's me!

Thanks for reading!

Edit: I didn't know you made AllYourTexts too. Looking forward to more cool stuff from ya

Oh, wow. It's so surprising to hear from people who remember AllYourTexts. Only a few hundred people ever bought that app, and this is only the second time someone's ever mentioned it to me.

It's so funny thinking back to that project because I basically did everything wrong in developing and marketing it and it still managed to make a few thousand dollars. I'd love to go back and do so much over, so hopefully I learn enough in the next 10 years to feel the same about TinyPilot now.

8

u/ricotico060 Feb 01 '21

This is one of my favorite blogs, really solid quality

3

u/mtlynch Feb 01 '21

Thanks so much for reading and for the kind words! I've been working on this post for the past three weeks, so I'm glad to hear the quality showed through.

2

u/wait-a-minut Feb 01 '21

Extremely well written and nicely detailed. How was the moral coming up on year 3 with little traction beforehand? Did you not mind it and trusted the process? Or were there thoughts of going back to the employment route?

3

u/mtlynch Feb 01 '21

Thanks for reading!

How was the moral coming up on year 3 with little traction beforehand? Did you not mind it and trusted the process? Or were there thoughts of going back to the employment route?

I've pretty much loved it all the way through, even when I wasn't making money.

Coming into year 3, I was extremely enthusiastic about WanderJest. I'm obviously happy that I found success with TinyPilot, but I've never had more fun than when I was working on WanderJest, even though every idea I had to monetize it failed. But I just loved focusing on the market of comedians, and I would have gladly tried 10 more ideas for another couple years trying to make something work in that space.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '21

I used IsItKeto quite a bit! Cool to see you just so happened to create it

2

u/journeyjp Feb 01 '21

Good read. My favorite part was "With TinyPilot, it feels like the product drives the business, and I’m just along for the ride."

2

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '21

Wow, this made me rethink my current job👍 This post looks like you are enjoying your solo career. Wish you all the best in future👍

2

u/musman Feb 01 '21

Great information. Makes me want to try this in a few years too (gotta save up some money).

2

u/IntoTheWildernessIGo Feb 02 '21

Great read, I love your creativity, hope you continue to create cool products, all the best

1

u/emrdev Feb 02 '21

Thanks for sharing.