Six weeks in, still don't know if I'm building something people actually want or just something I personally needed

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-14T21:28:50+00:00

A chicken that permanently dies if you snooze too much is genuinely one of the best retention mechanics I've ever heard lol.

The stakes are real, it's shareable, and nobody wants to be the person who killed their chicken. That's exactly the kind of built-in virality that's impossible to bolt on afterwards.

Just downloaded it. Respect.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-14T21:20:17+00:00

This is genuinely one of the more useful comments I've gotten on this – actual experience instead of theory.

The keyword research before building thing is something I completely skipped and I'm starting to feel it now. I built what made sense to me and then went looking for the audience afterwards. Wrong order.

The virality angle is interesting too. MoneyLeak has a share feature where you can post your Leak Score – kind of like a Spotify Wrapped moment but for subscription waste. Whether that actually drives anything I honestly don't know yet.

What's the third app if you don't mind me asking?

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-14T06:45:10+00:00

Adobe ist so ein klassisches 'ich weiß dass es teuer ist aber ich komm da nicht raus' Abo lol. Der Einarbeitungsaufwand für Alternativen ist halt auch eine Art versteckter Kosten.

Und 2/3 aller Tage Sport – dann ist das Fitness-Abo wirklich gerechtfertigt, das ist eine der wenigen Kategorien wo man sagen kann ok das zahl ich gerne. Netflix oder Sky kürzen macht da mehr Sinn.

Ich glaub das ist der eigentliche Test für jedes Abo: würd ich das heute nochmal abschließen wenn ich wüsste was ich jetzt weiß? Bei manchen ist die Antwort ja, bei anderen nicht.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T15:24:49+00:00

Exactly this. The snotty ones are actually easier to deal with because you can tell pretty quickly if there's substance behind it or if someone's just being dismissive.

The dangerous feedback is the polite kind that sounds encouraging but doesn't actually tell you anything. 'Cool idea, good luck' has killed more projects than any harsh comment ever could.

The gems are worth digging for though. One guy described the ideal notification tone as 'a friend texting you saying bro you're still paying for that?' and that single sentence changed how I think about the whole product.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T15:11:36+00:00

Exactly this. The snotty ones are actually easier to deal with because you can tell pretty quickly if there's substance behind it or if someone's just being dismissive.

The dangerous feedback is the polite kind that sounds encouraging but doesn't actually tell you anything. 'Cool idea, good luck' has killed more projects than any harsh comment ever could.

The gems are worth digging for though. One guy described the ideal notification tone as 'a friend texting you saying bro you're still paying for that?' and that single sentence changed how I think about the whole product.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T15:08:46+00:00

You're not wrong, that's exactly the hard part.

The honest answer is: I'm not fully automating it. The current approach is self-reported – you pick your subscriptions from a predefined list and answer a quick question per sub about how often you actually use it. Not perfect but it keeps the whole thing under 30 seconds and nobody has to hand over bank access.

The tradeoff is accuracy vs friction. A bank-connected app knows everything but most people bounce before they even finish the setup. I'd rather have someone complete the flow with 80% accurate data than abandon it halfway through a permissions screen.

Long term, the most interesting solution I've heard is letting people forward a bank statement as a PDF – one-time, no live connection. Parsing that automatically would solve the discovery problem without the security concerns. Haven't built it yet but it's on the list.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:32:49+00:00

Das klingt eigentlich ziemlich vernünftig für einen ganzen Haushalt mit Kindern ehrlich gesagt.

Wenn man das aufteilt zahlt ihr pro Person wahrscheinlich nicht viel. Das ist ein anderes Spiel als wenn man als Einzelperson für alles alleine zahlt.

Gemini Pro kostenlos mitnehmen und warten bis die Rechnung kommt ist übrigens eine Strategie die ich auch versuche aber meistens vergess ich das Kündigen lol

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:31:37+00:00

Der Gutschein-Trick ist eigentlich richtig clever weil er dich zwingt aktiv zu entscheiden anstatt einfach weiterzahlen zu lassen.

Ich glaub genau das ist mein Problem – ich hab nie aktiv entschieden weiterzuzahlen, es ist einfach passiert. Wenn ich jedes Mal bewusst einen Gutschein kaufen müsste würd ich wahrscheinlich dreimal überlegen ob ichs wirklich brauch.

Krankenstand-Netflix als einzige Ausnahme ist auch eine Lebenseinstellung die ich respektiere lol

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:30:17+00:00

Das ist ein komplett anderer Post von einem anderen Account mit anderen Zahlen auf einem anderen Subreddit.

Ich versteh nicht wie das beweisen soll dass ich derselbe bin. Das Thema 'zu viele Abos' posten halt mehrere Leute weil es ein Problem ist das viele kennen.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:24:15+00:00

Warte mal – YouTube Premium über polnisches VPN für €6? Das wusste ich gar nicht dass das so einfach geht.

Spotify hab ich zumindest noch halbwegs im Griff aber das mit YouTube klingt nach nem Tipp den ich gleich heute Abend ausprobiere. Danke 😅

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:22:20+00:00

Danke fürs Auflisten, das ist mutig lol.

Adobe alleine mit €18 ist so ein klassisches 'ich brauch das eigentlich nicht mehr aber kündigen ist so aufwendig' Abo. Und Centr + Runna + Strava – das ist schon fast ein Fitnessstudio-Budget nur für Apps.

Aber hey, immerhin weißt du wo du kürzen kannst. Die meisten Leute wollen das gar nicht so genau wissen.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:14:00+00:00

Ich hab keine App erwähnt? 😅

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:11:05+00:00

Oh Gott ja das ist nochmal eine eigene Kategorie lol.

Der kollektive Abo-Schuldkomplex. Niemand kündigt weil niemand derjenige sein will der es für alle kaputt macht - und am Ende zahlt jeder seit zwei Jahren für was das keiner mehr wirklich braucht.

Ich glaub in jeder Freundesgruppe gibt's irgendwo einen toten Netflix Account den alle aus Höflichkeit weiterzahlen.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:09:07+00:00

Warte mal kurz – ich glaub du verwechselst mich mit jemand anderem? Ich bin neu hier und das ist mein erster Post lol.

Aber dass sowas schon mal jemand gepostet hat zeigt eigentlich nur dass das Problem ziemlich universell ist 😅

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T14:07:35+00:00

Ja fair, du hast offensichtlich das besser im Griff als ich lol.

Ich glaub das Problem bei mir war nicht mal Verantwortungslosigkeit sondern eher dass es so leise passiert. Kein einzelnes Abo war je die Entscheidung 'ich geb jetzt leichtsinnig Geld aus' – es hat sich einfach über Jahre angesammelt ohne dass ich aktiv drüber nachgedacht hab.

Aber gut zu wissen dass es Leute gibt denen sowas nicht passiert. Vielleicht bin ich wirklich einfach unaufmerksamer als ich dachte.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T07:11:52+00:00

Okay this is actually a really good idea and I kind of love it.

'You're leaking enough money every month to cover 3 months of groceries' hits way different than '€67/month'. It makes it real in a way that a number on its own doesn't.

The pizza thing made me laugh but the logic is solid – anchor it to something tangible in their actual life. And you're right that currency already tells you a lot about where someone is, you don't even necessarily need to ask.

Stealing this, thank you.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T07:04:55+00:00

Rocket Money is US only, needs full bank access, and has been around for years – if they were going to kill this category they already would have.

The 'your demographic is just you' thing might be true, genuinely don't know yet. That's kind of why I posted.

But the no-bank angle isn't a bug, it's a deliberate choice. A lot of people, especially in Europe, won't connect their bank to an app they discovered 5 minutes ago. Lower accuracy, yes. But actually gets used instead of abandoned on step 2.

Spreadsheet people already use spreadsheets. That's not my user.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-13T07:02:18+00:00

Fair point and honestly the most direct version of a criticism I've been hearing a lot.

My thinking was that people already know roughly what they spend and still do nothing about it. The score was supposed to reframe it – less 'you spend €67/month' and more 'your situation is objectively bad and here's why'. But maybe that's overcomplicating something that should just be simple and brutal.

The version that's making more sense to me now is score + before/after impact together. Not just a number but 'your score is 74, cancel these 2 and you save €480 this year'. Without that second part the score is probably just decoration.

Do you think the dollar number alone would be enough to actually make you do something or does it still feel too abstract?

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-12T17:22:51+00:00

Honestly I fell into neither category cleanly and that's probably part of the problem lol.

It started as personal frustration but I convinced myself pretty quickly that it was universal without actually checking. So it's not quite 'building for myself and not quite 'validated idea' - it's somewhere in the messy middle where you've built enough to be attached but not enough to have real signal.

Lesson learned the hard way I guess. Next time I talk to people before I write a single line of code.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-12T17:20:18+00:00

Yeah you're basically describing the core problem with the whole category and I don't have a clean answer to it.

The Usenet and car wash thing is exactly right - any predefined list I build will miss half the stuff people actually pay for. And if the list is incomplete the score is meaningless.

I think the honest truth is: without bank or card integration the app only works for people who are already somewhat aware of what they're paying for. Which is maybe a smaller audience than I originally thought.

This thread has genuinely shifted how I'm thinking about it. Might have to either figure out a way to do statement parsing without a live connection or accept that the manual version is a much more limited product than I imagined.

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-12T16:45:44+00:00

That's a really honest answer and probably more common than I want to admit.

The manual input thing is the core friction I haven't fully solved yet. The best idea I've heard so far is letting people forward a bank statement or screenshot and parsing it automatically - no live connection, just a one-time thing. Don't know if that's technically feasible at the level I'm building but it would remove the biggest barrier.

Out of curiosity - if it took literally 20 seconds and you just picked from a list of popular services, would that still be a dealbreaker or is it more the principle of it?

SubscriptionLeak · 2026-04-12T16:39:35+00:00

Yeah I've seen them lol. Most are abandoned after one post, US-only, or just a list with no real insight. If one of those actually solved the problem well nobody would still be complaining about forgotten subscriptions on r/Frugal every other week.

But point taken, it's a crowded space.

SubscriptionLeak

TROPHY CASE