Abishek

Can you tell about your failure?

My latest catastrophic failure was homepilot. which I built out of frustration while going through the home buying process myself. It started as a no-code landing page fueled by a dream that one day all homes would be bought and sold on this platform, eliminating realtors and other middlemen.

Despite marketing efforts on subreddits, where self-promotion is generally despised, it gained minimal traction. I then pivoted to sending personalized direct messages to users from home-buying subreddits—500 handwritten DMs resulted in just one reply and one phone call.

I even offered gift cards to people if they hopped on the call. Zero hits.

Next, I launched a newsletter focused on home-buying tips, financing negotiations, etc. It attracted only one subscriber—myself.

How did you notice that things started to fall apart?

The realization that my project was failing dawned on me only after I ceased working on it. It became apparent that it was not the lack of a product but rather the lack of awareness that led to its downfall.

I spent way too much time trying to pretend to build a product, than actually build it.

It wasn’t a sudden realization, it was more a gradual acceptance, however, it did hit me whenever I applied to VCs with this specific idea and pitch deck, only to get a rejection email back. After a point, it wasn’t a surprise anymore, and if I got a reply I knew what it was going to say.

The nail in the coffin was getting a rejection from a VC that I was really hoping would give me a chance because of the new residency program they offered, however, that also was a no. At this point though, I had hyped it up to my friends and family, that I’m building a business, developing a product, and applying to VCs.

Little did I know I’d have to swallow my pride and tell all these people I just got rejected by everyone.

Did you have a Plan B?

It was tough, but while waiting on the last rejection email for the VC that had the residency program, I had come up with a plan.

I remember vividly when I walked into my bedroom and told my girlfriend that “X” VC lets call them, had rejected me, and to be honest, I didn’t really deserve their money because I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Her and I both got into the car and we drove to the park. Sat there in the parking lot, I’m grinding my teeth telling her, “I’m gonna try to learn to code”.

She’s there listening to what my plan is.

“I’m gonna learn to code and just ship very small products, and that by January 2024, I’ll have a company and would’ve shipped at least 1 product”.

I made her this promise and I kept it, and I got right to work. That was September 4th, 2023. The first (of many) green box in this image:

I told my friends and family, and they were all so supportive, genuinely supportive. Especially my parents, they listened to my plans of “learning to develop software” and “building small products to launch” while working my 9-5 and told me that there’s always success reserved for people who put in the effort.

I heard what I needed to and I want to make them proud. I left my country at 17, got my degree, got a really good job and climbed up the rank quickly, but that wasn’t enough for the work they put in, for me. They worked for 16 hours a day for 35 years straight to give me all I had. I saw them work early mornings and late nights for years. In my head, I had to struggle harder than that to really make it worth it for what they provided to me, and thats what I continue to do.

I decided I’m going to hunker down and build the smallest version of a product possible and just launch it. If it fails but still gets views, a few users, a few followers, thats still a win to me.

Here’s a picture I love illustrating this:

After I launched Quillcap, I saw the law of compound effects kick in, and I truly realized, nothing is ever a failure, it’s a stepping stone to your next win, which is only ever going to get bigger.

You can only truly fail if you ever give up, and completely stop, otherwise, you’re just gaining momentum and it’s just “early”

After realizing/learning this, there’s nothing to fear anymore, what can I be afraid of?

What lessons did you learn from this situation?

Rather than avoid failure, I have learned to embrace it. The only thing I would avoid doing is doing things in stealth. When you’re building something in stealth, the risk of you giving up is high. This is mitigated if you tell people what you’re doing.

“I’m gonna build a product this weekend” - go tell this to a person you respect/admire. It will motivate you to follow through.

One more thing — be loud about what you’re doing. Whether you’re building the next Facebook, or you just want to build small tools to help a niche group, people need to know about it.

I see amazing builders missing this piece entirely, and quitting altogether. That’s such a shame given the sheer talent these people have, that’s just hidden away. Get on social media > post away > learn how good posts works > iterate. If there’s one thing you take away, let it be this!

What happened next?

I've managed to scale my first real product to $600 a month and grown my followers to about 5K in just six months—huge thanks to the community! There's a massive announcement coming at the end of July (with a hint hidden in this article!).

Plus, I'm super excited to be launching a new product (check out the link to the waitlist here). And this tweet pretty much wraps up eight wild months of indie hacking alongside my day job!

Is there anyone you would like to tell about their failure?

Yes, I would like them to answer these questions:

• Pedro Ladeira (UPD: here is the link to Pedro's story)
• Elias Stravik (UPD: here is the link to Elias's story)
• Lera