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Question 1 of 7
I am a problem solver and perfectionist at heart. I love building cool projects and software the people enjoy, use, and (sometimes) break. Solving the problems associated with bugs and seeing that discovery and research pay off with something working is what keeps me going. Thinking through complex things meaningfully is always a joy to me.
Question 2 of 7
IndieAscent. It is a launch site for indie SaaS. You list your product, a human reads it, and once your badge is on your site the link back to you is dofollow rather than the nofollow most directories hand out. You earn it rather than buy it. The part I actually built it for happens after that. Launching is not one day, it is twenty afternoons: a Show HN, a dozen directories, a newsletter swap, a podcast. Then those listings carry on existing without you. Some send visitors, some quietly stop linking back, some disappear entirely, and nothing tells you which is which. From where you stand they all look the same as the day you made them. So IndieAscent keeps a dated record of everywhere you have posted, and a crawler rechecks each one: still standing or gone, links back or not, dofollow or nofollow. Free for one product. The paid tier checks daily instead of weekly and tells you which placement actually produced a signup, which only works if you post a tagged link from the start. Live at indieascent.com since the start of August. Still early.
Question 3 of 7
I've started a dozen projects and never seemed to be able to get it in front of people without getting banned on sites like Reddit. I wanted to create a site dedicated to self promotion while not filling with spam. I also wanted that site to give founders helpful information they need to keep pushing forward.
Question 4 of 7
Currently I am noticing that many new indie SaaS founders don't even think about monitoring their posts at all. They thow a bunch of posts and list on a bunch of directories and hope something sticks. This has changed the way I present the value of IndieAscent as monitoring your backlinks, posts, and listings with the added benefit of attributing which ones brough signups.
Question 5 of 7
I was contacted by a guy that wanted to pitch me on his product. I agreed and gently suggested mine could help him as well. He begrudgingly agreed and has been a daily user ever since.
Question 6 of 7
Right now, my reach is small and getting the word out is the hardest part. I am not a social media user in my life outside of IndieAscent so I am starting from zero when it comes to an audience. Slowly I am making good connections and the word is spreading but it is a real challenge right now in the early days.
Question 7 of 7
Don't jump on social media shouting about your product from the rooftops. Be helpful. Be interested in others. The views and the signups will come. But no one likes the guy that only sings one song. A good idea does not guarantee quick sales. You have to work for it.