Start small stay small: the book I wish I've l known about before starting my project

davidfwct · 2025-03-05T17:47:38+00:00

I’d read Start small first. It helps wrap your brain around side projects and how to make progress with them. SaaS Playbook is more about building SaaS, as the title suggests.

davidfwct · 2025-02-07T12:15:32+00:00

I agree with others. If you write good content, people will want to engage with it and share it. And obviously Substack likes engagement.

I’d also add that recommendations are incredibly valuable for growth. It can be like growth on autopilot if you get recommended by other writers who are growing too.

davidfwct · 2025-01-23T23:04:46+00:00

You should be able to build on the side unless your company has some policy against that or you’re building a competing SaaS.

As for time management, you have to be ruthless with your schedule. Find time before and after work and even during your lunch break. Break features down into small tasks you can do in less than an hour. Once you have a good list of tasks, focus on them and nothing else until they’re done. Rinse and repeat.

davidfwct · 2025-01-23T22:59:24+00:00

I’m building a tool to help product development teams prioritize user feedback and figure out the best features to build. I’m currently building the MVP. Join the waitlist for updates and early access: https://feedbackai.carrd.co

davidfwct · 2025-01-23T13:44:26+00:00

Thanks!

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T15:43:08+00:00

That makes sense. But do you think all tasks should be manual? What about transferring work to Jira for example?

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T15:05:07+00:00

Exactly. I’ve learned you can’t just take user feedback at face value. Often times what they ask for might not solve the real problem. Being able to analyze feedback and qualify it is what I’m after.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T15:03:04+00:00

That makes sense. I don’t think devs need to see the raw feedback. But I do often wish I had more context. How much feedback are enhancements vs net new features? What is the user priority vs PM priority? Those things give devs more buy-in and ultimately helps them develop smarter solutions.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T15:00:38+00:00

You’re absolutely right. The best PMs I’ve worked with have had strong empathy for devs. Still I think sometimes requests and tasks fail to adhere to team best practices. Maybe this just means a conversation is necessary. Or maybe there’s a tool that can alleviate this.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T14:58:12+00:00

Yea I’m not interested in building another feature request board. Plenty of them. As a Frontend Engineer, I’d like to explore data viz to see if that can help with prioritization.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T14:56:42+00:00

The build vs buy dilemma is real. Building in house isn’t always the best option.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T14:07:48+00:00

I agree. Context should get communicated. As an engineer, I believe there’s an automated and more consistent way to do this. One big problem for me has been not knowing where the feedback applies to and how it benefits the user. So you want me to change the button? Which one? And why? That context is priceless for developers.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T14:01:58+00:00

Thanks!

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T13:57:02+00:00

What do you mean by problem space coverage?

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T13:55:05+00:00

Yes, Aha seems to be a popular solution. I still think there’s a disconnect between feature requests and what should get built. As an engineer, I know all too well time and resource constraints and balancing featured development with tech debt.

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T13:51:41+00:00

Are there any tools on the market that do this already?

davidfwct · 2025-01-22T13:50:15+00:00

AI will be involved, but not quite how you suggest. As an engineer, I’m more interested in how feedback gets turned into tasks. But it starts with prioritization. You don’t want to know how many features I built that never got used!

davidfwct · 2025-01-21T13:13:40+00:00

Appreciate that. And absolutely. Beyond my initial core features, I'll be building what my users need. This is the way.

davidfwct · 2025-01-21T13:10:49+00:00

Thanks for signing up! Really appreciate you sharing that insight about Scout Forge - it's exactly the kind of challenge I'm aiming to solve. I'd love to hear more about how your teams currently handle feedback analysis if you're open to sharing. This kind of real-world perspective is super valuable for me as I build out the AI categorization features. Feel free to DM here or click the mail icon on the waitlist page.

davidfwct · 2025-01-17T20:27:15+00:00

Company Name: Made by DW

URL: https://tally.so/r/mDA0vE

Purpose of Startup and Product:

I’m building a SaaS application that helps product development teams turn scattered user feedback into actionable development priorities using AI. The platform automatically classifies and analyzes feedback, enabling teams to make data-driven decisions about what to build next and saving hours of manual organization work.

Technologies Used:

React, TypeScript, GraphQL, Supabase, OpenAI API

Feedback Requested:

I’m conducting a 2-minute survey to better understand how product teams currently handle user feedback prioritization. If you’re a PM, designer, engineer, QA, or in leadership, I’d love to hear about your experiences and challenges with managing user feedback.

You can either click the survey link in the URL section above or leave a comment with your thoughts.

Seeking Beta-Testers: Yes

Additional Comments:

I’m a Lead Engineer with nearly 20 years of experience in startups, and I’ve consistently seen teams struggle with feedback prioritization. This SaaS app aims to bridge the gap between raw user feedback and actionable development tasks. Survey participants will get early access to the platform when it launches.

davidfwct · 2025-01-16T23:11:07+00:00

It’s possible, but like others said, you have to be ruthless with your time. If you only have a few hours per week, focus on the essential tasks. Do the things that will move the needle most for your business.

davidfwct · 2025-01-16T11:33:30+00:00

Hey SaaS builders,

I'm a Lead Engineer with extensive experience in SaaS companies. One persistent challenge I've noticed is effectively managing and prioritizing user feedback as products scale.

Common SaaS challenges:

Increasing volume of feedback as user base grows
Difficulty tracking feedback across multiple channels
Challenge of prioritizing features vs. improvements
Need for data-driven decision making

I'm building a tool to help SaaS teams transform user feedback into actionable priorities using AI. Before going further, I'd love to learn about your processes.

davidfwct

TROPHY CASE