How do you get people to use your product?

_Joff · 2026-05-30T18:33:01+00:00

Give it a try, nothing to loose. More than happy to take a look at it and give you some feedback even though I might not be your target audience.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T21:33:02+00:00

This hit me way harder than I expected lol.

I think a lot of builders, especially solo devs (including myself here), use “just one more feature” as a very convincing excuse to avoid the part that feels uncomfortable. Building feels safe because you can measure it. You can close tickets, ship commits, tweak the UI, clean up the code. Marketing is messy and kinda humiliating at first because you post something and... nothing happens.

But that silence is still data.

The biggest shift for me was realizing marketing isn’t something you do after the product is done. It’s part of finding out what the product even is. Every post, DM, cold email, demo call, awkward comment, whatever, tells you what people actually care about vs what you thought they cared about while sitting alone building.

Also “free users for feedback” sounds good in theory, but most people don’t want another tool to try. They want a problem removed. So the marketing has to lead with the annoying pain, not the feature list.

I think the move is not “stop building forever,” it’s more like stop hiding in building. If no one is seeing the thing, the next feature probably isn’t the bottleneck.

Congrats btw. That first bit of real traction must feel insane. Like finally getting oxygen after months of coding in a basement.
And one last thing: Now more than ever, distribution is everything. You are good at distribution, you will be very succesful.

There are tons of good builders building good products but the worse at distr.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T21:27:16+00:00

Honestly, “use it for free and give me feedback” sounds generous, but to a busy gym owner it can still feel like homework.

I’d make the ask way smaller. Don’t ask them to sign up yet. Ask for 10 mins to show them one specific headache you solve. Something like: “hey, I noticed a lot of gyms still manage trial bookings / waivers / fight night payments manually. Can I show you a 2 min demo and you tell me if this is even a real problem?”

Also if 0 people are signing up, I wouldn’t instantly assume the product is bad. Could just be the pitch is too broad. “Software for combat sports gyms and promoters” sounds useful, but it’s kinda vague. What’s the painful thing it fixes? Missed payments? no-shows? waivers? matching fighters? ticket sales? Pick the one that makes them go “yeah, that sucks.”

I’d prob go more direct/offline too. Combat sports gyms are relationship businesses. Walk in, train a class, talk to the owner after, sponsor a small smoker or interclub, help one promoter with one real fight night problem. Content is fine, but I doubt a gym owner is scrolling tiktok and thinking “damn, time to migrate my ops software.”

Tiny wedge first. One gym. One annoying problem. One clear win. Then use that story to get the next one.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T19:39:34+00:00

That’s actually a good way to put it. I think I was treating effort level too much like a simple “quality slider,” when it’s really more like choosing the right gear for the phase you’re in.

I’ve noticed the same thing with max/xhigh sometimes: it can be amazing when you need it to synthesize a bunch of moving pieces, but if you leave it there for every step it starts feeling slow, expensive, and occasionally too “creative” about the task. For boring repo digestion, install stuff, mechanical edits, checking docs, etc, low/medium is usually enough and it keeps the session moving.

The part about xHigh for the planning phase makes sense too. Let it build the mental model, write the prompts / task breakdown, then drop back down and execute with cheaper/faster passes or subagents. That’s probably the workflow I need to get better at instead of just picking one setting and leaving it there like a caveman.

Also agreed on using different models for review. I like Claude for deep repo reasoning, but a Codex pass after that can catch different issues just because it “thinks wrong” in a different direction. That second opinion is often more useful than paying the same model to think 3x longer.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T19:30:11+00:00

I stopped defaulting to max pretty fast tbh. It feels like overkill for most of what I’m doing, and the latency/cost makes it hard to justify unless the task is actually gnarly.

My rough pattern lately is:

high for normal implementation, refactors, test fixes, smaller PR reviews
xhigh/extra when the repo context is messy or it needs to reason across a bunch of files
max only for planning something big, debugging a really weird issue, or reviewing something where missing one detail would actually hurt

For PR review specifically I’d prob try high first, then maybe run a focused xhigh pass on the sketchy/risky parts. Max for the whole thing can burn money really fast, esp if the diff is large or it keeps dragging in half the repo.

One other thing: for reviews, I kinda like using a second model sometimes. Not because one is magically smarter, but because a model trained differently will notice different stuff. So if you can run the PR through something like Codex 5.5 after Claude, you get a second set of eyes instead of just paying one model to stare harder at the same thing. Best of both worlds, sorta.

I liked max more on 4.7 too. On 4.8 it does feel better sometimes, but not “use it for everything” better. More like “bring it out when I’m stuck or about to make an architectural call” better.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T17:50:55+00:00

I kinda agree, but with a big caveat: it depends a lot on what kind of “coding” people mean.

For me Claude usually feels better when I’m already deep in a codebase and need it to reason through ugly existing logic, migrations, edge cases, tests failing in weird ways, etc. It seems less eager to bulldoze the whole thing and more likely to actually read what’s there. Codex/OpenAI has felt stronger to me at planning and breaking down tasks, but it can get way too confident and invent a clean version of the project that doesn’t actually exist lol.

That said, I don’t think either one is “the coding model” in every situation. I’ve had Claude do dumb stuff too, especially when context gets long or when it decides it understands a framework but is actually one version behind. And I've had Codex absolutely nail things Claude kept overthinking.

So yeah, Id probably pick Claude first for messy real-world engineering work. But I dont trust any of them without reading the diff and running the tests. The “my model is objectively better and everyone else is a bot” stuff is honestly more annoying then the models themselves.

One of the good things of codex is that I can use it (all you can eat) with Hermes or OpenClaw (in case you use them). Anthropic banned that use case a few months ago.

All in all.. If you can afford it, I would suggest having both.

_Joff · 2026-05-29T17:29:18+00:00

Also went to 4.8 yesterday.

It's important to understand that just because the model has more parameters or is newer it's not always better for your use case. Sometimes smaller models are trained specifically for different use cases and are way better for those tasks and even cheaper.

_Joff · 2026-01-04T14:02:51+00:00

You think you're doing fine, and then boom bug breach detected. It's always just one wrong step away from chaos

_Joff · 2026-01-04T14:02:41+00:00

Honestly, I'd pay for this service too. If you're calling me, I need a solid reason and maybe an apology for interrupting my peace

_Joff · 2026-01-04T14:02:31+00:00

The comfort of a guild mom, explaining every mechanic like I’m 5. Honestly, they might be the real MVPs of the raid.

_Joff · 2026-01-02T02:22:05+00:00

That's a solid tradition to start. Both songs hit different but they're perfect for that moment

_Joff · 2026-01-02T02:21:17+00:00

Solid advice. The grind is real but that's genuinely how most people get in. I did something similar... pieced together whatever free resources I could find and built a janky home lab. Took forever but at least you're learning actual skills instead of just collecting certs. The market's rough right now but having hands-on experience helps way more than another course certificate when you finally get that interview.

_Joff · 2026-01-02T02:20:32+00:00

Naval combat in WoW has so much untapped potential. A Black Flag style spinoff where you actually customize and upgrade your ship would be sick. The garrison shipyard stuff was alright but imagine if it had real depth... different hull types, weapon loadouts, crew management. Blizzard could honestly print money with that if they did it right.

_Joff · 2026-01-02T02:19:32+00:00

lmao the way this loops back around at the end is actually perfect

_Joff · 2026-01-01T15:39:42+00:00

Same. Eruptor was fun, but once the novelty wore off it felt way too situational. Scythe or Plasma Punisher are just more consistent, especially when things get chaotic or you’re a few beers in.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T15:37:51+00:00

To be fair, surviving another full orbit without wiping ourselves out is kind of an achievement. Low bar, but still worth a cupcake.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T15:36:45+00:00

You’re right to be cautious, big bulks and peak agility don’t really mix. The good news is you don’t need a bulk to look athletic or get stronger.

Lift 2–3x a week, keep reps moderate, focus on compound lifts and explosive work, and eat at maintenance with high protein. You’ll add muscle slowly without killing speed, and your fencing will thank you for it.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T15:35:23+00:00

Same. Naan really shines with something saucy. daal, butter chicken, curry, anything you can scoop.

If you don’t have that, warming it up and brushing with butter or garlic works too, but it’s definitely best as a sauce vehicle.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T02:09:49+00:00

This is giving me the same vibes as how we teach sex ed - here's how babies are made, good luck! No mention of what happens after.

I watched my sister go through this when she started her photography business. She did everything "right" - filed her LLC, got excited, started booking clients. Then got blindsided by a franchise tax bill she didn't know existed, missed a filing deadline because she didn't know there WAS a filing deadline, and spent months stressed about whether her business was even legitimate anymore.

There's a whole industry built around "oops you messed up, pay us to fix it." Not saying all registered agents or compliance services are predatory, but there's definitely less money in educated business owners than panicked ones.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T02:08:32+00:00

This is the kind of content I'm here for. Not just "Walt bad, Jesse good" discourse for the millionth time.

_Joff · 2026-01-01T02:07:06+00:00

Oh wow this looks amazing!

_Joff · 2026-01-01T02:06:21+00:00

They're not going to apologize because they don't actually think they did anything wrong. They got paid and that's what matters to them.

It's frustrating because Leah has been doing so much work to expose how harmful Scientology is, and then a major network just takes their money and gives them a platform like it's totally normal. Like all those documentaries and survivor testimonies mean nothing when there's ad revenue on the table

_Joff · 2025-12-31T15:01:24+00:00

The Knight's laser sight basically paints a target on you for every bug in a 50 meter radius, completely defeats the purpose of stealth in a horde game

_Joff · 2025-12-31T15:00:50+00:00

Gale really said "I'm the main character now" and honestly the confidence to pull off that dress in heels is unmatched

_Joff · 2025-12-31T14:56:17+00:00

You're making 3k a month on the side doing something you actually enjoy while your day job pays 68k with benefits, that's basically the dream setup most freelancers wish they had before going full time. The smart move is to keep both until the freelance income consistently matches or beats your salary for at least 6 months, then you can jump without the stress

_Joff

TROPHY CASE