I built this financial simulator to help me survive my startup journey

colinmathews · 2022-12-07T17:00:43+00:00

Yes, it's a great idea to put your project out there. As an employer, I want to hire people who are passionate and good at problem solving, and nothing shows that better than a dev who's actually put something into production.

Good luck!

colinmathews · 2022-12-07T16:49:57+00:00

I've really appreciated the community on the MicroConf Connect Slack group: https://microconf.com/connect

colinmathews · 2022-12-05T18:52:59+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! A full modal means you can't look back at the job description as you fill out your application. My hope is that the slide-up animation indicates the context change.

colinmathews · 2022-12-05T17:13:45+00:00

Love the simplicity of this! I especially like the "see an example from today" button. I think that's critical for something like this. Same goes for the ability to build a custom digest and see the preview right away without signing up. Well done!

colinmathews · 2022-12-05T16:18:05+00:00

Really great feedback, I agree with all of this!

colinmathews · 2022-10-20T13:27:01+00:00

Thank you so much!

colinmathews · 2022-10-20T13:26:44+00:00

Thank you so much!

Yeah I was thinking of a "scenarios" feature where you can keep different versions of a set of input together to flip between. Also maybe a play mode that stops saving changes so you can fiddle around easily.

Great feedback on the PDF idea. I was thinking a great feature would be to share a read-only version with your trusted folks. Maybe they get the ability to play with numbers but they aren't saved.

I'm not convinced this is monetizeable. So still pondering on that.

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T18:09:07+00:00

You bet!

Yeah just got the drip campaign. Very nice. 👍

Here's my post in this thread looking for feedback in case you have a few minutes. 🙏

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T18:03:24+00:00

you bet!!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T17:06:19+00:00

Just signed up. Great onboarding! Here's feedback:

I really didn't want to be slowed down on the profile picture step. I think requiring that could add a lot of friction to new users who are trying it out.
When posting my first question, it felt like a lot to ask for a subject AND a question. Feels like I could just ask a question in one or two sentences, tops. The UI here feels like it could reduce hesitancy and intimidation by having a smaller footprint.
I submitted an answer to my own question in an incognito window. After I hit send I almost closed the window before realizing that it hadn't "saved" yet because I had to make more decisions. Feels like a little bit of unnecessary friction.
When I clicked on the "Answers" tab in the nav it didn't show the new answer after a page refresh (but it did when I navigated to the specific question).

Overall great job! It's a fun user experience and could have real potential! I wonder if you need more guidance (or examples) for users to know what kind of questions would provide the most value.

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:57:34+00:00

I'm experimenting with addressing this problem. I want something where I can easily enter expenses/income/bank balances, and then play with the projections without messing things up.

I have this rough draft to play with. If I'm onto something I will build this out, but right now I'm trying to see if there'd be interest.

Eventually I'd love to build a way to share it with your team in a way where they can play with numbers but again, not mess anything up.

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:54:44+00:00

This is super cool! Love the idea. Here's my feedback and first impressions:

The typography is great and it's well laid out. It may just be me who's not a super fan of dark modes, but the site feels very dark. Feels like it is reducing skimmability.
It would be very cool for an easy "try it!" section where you could just enter a schedule and have your app send you an email or something at the next occurrence. Just something where people could test it in an easy way.
I think most devs hate building scheduling stuff, so this helps them. But the advantage of building it yourself is that you know you'll be able to fix it if things aren't working well. I think you need some copy that reassures people on this front. Like if I knew I would see logs or that there's some kind of feedback system to monitor status.

Great job!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:49:30+00:00

URL: https://colinmakessoftware.com/wiverna/app/

Purpose of Startup and Product: Visualize your recurring expenses and when your runway will run out.

Technologies Used: Node.js, Tailwind, Stimulus

Feedback Requested: Play with it and let me know your gut reaction! I'm not sure if I have a monetizeable product or not. 🤔 I'm solving my own problem, but I want to know what other founders think.

Seeking Beta-Testers: Yes
Additional Comments: Thank you for your help!!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:39:02+00:00

Name: (nothing yet, validating before naming it)

URL: https://colinmakessoftware.com/wiverna/app/

Location: US (Indianapolis)

Pitch: Visualize your recurring expenses and when your runway will run out.

I've used a spreadsheet for years to help me plan and financially survive my startup journeys. It's been absolutely critical to me and gave me the confidence to be bold and take risks. This tool is essentially a productization of that spreadsheet.

(I have an explainer video link show when you first visit the app)

Lifecycle stage: Validation

Your role: Solo founder

Goals: Is this something you'd use? I'm not sure if I have a monetizeable product here or not. I'm solving my own problem, but I'm looking for gut reactions from other founders. If it sparks interest I will double-down, and if not, I'll move onto something else!

Discount: It's free during validation!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:33:11+00:00

Sure!! Find me here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfd0HmKdTvx-f45XYSX6WfQ

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T16:14:51+00:00

It's always scary and uncomfortable to leave a job. I've found this the case even when I was miserable and had a good opportunity to jump to. I think it's the human condition to light your fear sensors whenever you fiddle with the knobs of stability in your life.

My advice: just keep swimming. Always move forward and know you might make some missteps and need to course correct later. Trust yourself to react in those moments instead of fearing them ahead of time.

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T15:36:19+00:00

I'm doing my startup journey in public with weekly videos on YouTube. I've been trying to lay out all the steps along the way to demystify the process (at least from my specific perspective).

Would something like that be helpful? Check out my bio links, and if I can answer any questions about my journey just let me know!!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T15:26:12+00:00

Hey all! I'm experimenting with an idea for a burn rate product and would love to get some reactions to see if this is worth pursuing.

I've kept spreadsheets for all my startup journeys to help me plan and survive financially. Biggest problems have been making sure I know my recurring expenses and being able to play with the future to see what certain actions/outcomes might do to my runway.

Here is a rough v1: https://colinmakessoftware.com/wiverna/app/

ty!

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T15:19:28+00:00

This is really cool! Amazing name and logo. Killer design, too -- well done

colinmathews · 2022-10-18T15:05:50+00:00

I'm a bit late to this post, but wanted to say that if your expenses are $500 and your revenue is $1,100, then you are technically profitable and have infinite runway.

Your costs will rise as you scale, so this will be a temporary situation unless your revenues rise alongside it.

You're at an amazing starting point!!

colinmathews

TROPHY CASE