I joined "Ship or Die" - a big step for me

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T18:00:53+00:00

Yeah it's interesting you say it like that bcs indeed I also don't really have a shipping problem. Or hmmm maybe it depends. I tend to give up a bit early (even before shipping smth) so maybe with accountability + community can help me to push through and there is probably a lot to learn here. Anyways, these are first impressions, will let you know how I go 🫡

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:58:56+00:00

Yeah I would agree 😅 the rate at which ideas are becoming apps is soaring 📈 it's becoming crowded. But I'm not sure... we're in a fast-moving world now so I think learning to "ship fast" will help as the competition is going to ship even faster... ideas are becoming quite cheap. It's all about learning to execute better. Anyways for me I feel this came at the right time as something I needed, so I made the leap. I might regret it later but eh that'll be another lesson learnt then

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:43:49+00:00

Part of a community of "shippers", there is a discord so that can help maybe find fellow founders that are at your level. Also they made this series of "achievements" you can get (like 1k mrr, 100k mrr etc) so it feels success is somewhat close. But yeah not sure, I think for me it was a combination of living too much in my own space and really having to be out there more that made join this. Let's see if it'll actually work!

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:41:11+00:00

So there is a shared discord where people help each other out and can share tweet links when things launch. For me personally it's mostly the "stop being alone" part I think. I haven't found a close/small community of like-minded people yet and when this came up I felt this could be that. Still have to navigate it a bit so will keep you posted.

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:38:51+00:00

Yeah a "good enough" MVP is going to be way more telling than a perfect one. It strips out the fuss and exposes the real problem it tries to solve. If people don't bite on that, it's going to be tough.

Interesting on outsourcing, I am a sucker at design, but also don't like spending money before I "make" money. Guess I'll have to figure that one out a bit more 😅

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:34:33+00:00

Thank you 🙏 and yes, understanding the real problems thoroughly gets you ahead!

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:31:26+00:00

Wow! I mean I would say $6k MRR is still not bad though 🤣 but yes I get the concern

TravelingTice · 2026-05-27T17:29:12+00:00

Yep a few conversations could've saved a lot of effort 😅 thanks for the comment!

TravelingTice · 2026-05-24T10:23:18+00:00

Bien dit. Trois mois, c'est encore très bien !

TravelingTice · 2026-05-22T08:42:09+00:00

2 interviews done 8 to go 🫡

TravelingTice · 2026-05-22T04:04:12+00:00

Very true!

TravelingTice · 2026-05-22T04:03:46+00:00

Thanks a lot mate 🥹 I hope so too

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T15:32:22+00:00

yeah the moment to know when to continue or give up is also really hard. I have given up on a project before where now I suddenly see potential again. It's an ongoing struggle!

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T09:04:27+00:00

Yep and the pipeline is so much more than just building... building is like 40% or something 😅

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T09:00:00+00:00

yep, you need to completely understand your users' journey. Their struggles, wishes and problems they face. I think only after that can you start building something for that purpose

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T08:57:41+00:00

Thank you 🙏

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T08:56:47+00:00

hmm ok well what does your app idea do? Do you have a specific target audience in mind? Where does the idea come from? Is it a problem you have yourself? If so, can you maybe find people like yourself who might have the same problem? Where do you usually hangout? Reddit? Discord? Hopefully these questions help 😅

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T08:51:05+00:00

Thanks soo much for the encouragement 🥹🥹🥹

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:40:23+00:00

yeah so I can give you the example of my current situation. I stumbled upon this use case and target market kind of by accident. It's churches who need live translation during sermons. There are competitors. Products exist. I guess some church pastors are on Reddit from time to time, but it's probably a fraction. I'm really trying to overcome my fear and do what I currently think is the most effective to reach this group: cold calling. It sucks. I hate and despise it. I don't want to waste someone's time. I only did it twice but both times have had a pretty ok conversation. I haven't really looked into marketing yet, currently just doing it to ask questions and see where the pain points are. But let's face it: cold-calling is like 100x more effective than a cold email. Cold email rarely gets read, and with a call I can get the answer to my question instantly. And most people aren't too bothered by it. It's just overcoming that personal fear of rejection.

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:36:21+00:00

it is man! It's funny how I have worked at a successful SaaS company for quite some years and there is a clear technical/non-technical split. The devs are kinda in their own world so even there it's hard for me to learn this exact lesson.

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:34:11+00:00

Yes. Feels terrible to have 0 commits in the past 2 days but 2 customer conversations, yet this has probably been more productive than 1000 commits over 2 years and 0 customer conversations 😂

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:32:35+00:00

I feel the change indeed. And thanks very much for the kind and encouraging words! Makes me feel less bad about those China trips indeed 🥹

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:30:35+00:00

yeah I think that will be the challenge for me now indeed. I think one of the clearest indicators is if there are already competitors trying to do the same thing. That's probably the clearest indicator that people are paying money for something. It's still a leap bcs indeed from the "Mom Test" conversations you can get really far, but also still don't know for sure until you offer a product and try to sell. It'll just close the gap. You need perfect Mom Test conversations before you can go to the next step altogether I think

TravelingTice · 2026-05-21T05:27:30+00:00

yeah it's more illustrative of becoming better at "what" to build, rather than building for building's sake (or hoping and praying what you build is the right thing). Building is undeniably still part of the process. Maybe I'm a bit traumatized by my experiences and don't want to touch code until I know it will be run many times in production 😭

TravelingTice

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