Today I Deleted My Product (Well, Almost All)

I keep deleting features in indie10k.

UNTIL

One page.

One card.

One button.

That’s it.

And weirdly enough… user growth got faster.

Onboarding got simpler.

Feedback got better.

Writing copy got easier.

Actual quotes:

“Such a cool product. It is a solid tool with a unique approach.”

“I’d pay if u …”

Turns out, the foundation is solid. So now I’m being extra cautious about adding anything. Just watching how people use it, waiting for the next piece of feedback to smack me in the face.

Meanwhile, my wife looked at me and said:

“Didn’t you learn ‘less is more’ in your first year of work?”

Yeah, but apparently it took me 65 failed projects to actually believe it.

This is the beauty of a simple, lovable, complete product:

— Every feature you don’t build is one less reason for users to bounce.

— Every button you delete makes the one button left more obvious.

— Every line of code you don’t write is one less thing to maintain.

So today’s log: I didn’t build. I unbuilt indie10k. And somehow the product feels more alive and lovable.