Why Most Founders Stay Broke — And The 5 Lessons That Finally Made Me Money

It will make you money. Guaranteed.

My last 2 years of building products, summarized.

I spent 600 days building 12 products and made exactly $0.

Sounds like hell, right? That was my reality during the first 18 months of going all-in as an indiepreneur.

I’d come up with a “genius” idea, grind for weeks, launch it… and nothing.

Rinse. Repeat. Burnout. Depression. Thoughts of quitting.

Fast forward to today: I’m scaling WriteStack to $100k/year. Currently at $1.5k MRR (~$18k/year). 18% of the way there.

And in this article, I’m breaking down the 5 biggest lessons I learned from turning zero into something real.

Lesson #1: Don't fixate on the first version

This is a very common problem I see with starting founders, and it happens time and time again.

And that’s why it’s the first lesson.

They think that building an MVP that looks like a polished product is important, otherwise people won’t use it.

Let me tell you something.

People don’t buy from you because they do not know you and therefore do not trust you.

I mean, would you pay 15 bucks a month to a product you know nothing about? To an unestablished brand with 0 social proof?

Hell nah. You’ll close it faster than you opened it.

It doesn’t matter how good it looks or how polished the copy in the landing page is.

You need to earn people’s trust first.

See Tibo, for example, the founder of Taplio and TweetHunter.

Form Tibo’s X account

SuperX was in development and beta for almost a year.

During this year he managed to stay around $1.5k MRR from people who just wanted to test the product.

And the moment it was out of beta, people just rushed into it.

And it’s not because it’s a superb product. It’s because people trust Tibo and his work.

They know that he will bring value and deliver quality products.

Now let’s see how we can do it:

Lesson #2: Ask for feedback

You know, I used to think most founders are terrified of this one.

Looking back on my journey, it’s not about about being scared of what people would say.

It was just ignorance and lack of knowledge.

For almost 18 months, it didn’t occur to me once that I need to spend time asking for feedback.

I didn’t know that marketing is a must and not a nice to have.

I build something in a vacuum, polish it for weeks, and then pray people will magically love it.

That’s a rookie mistake.

You’re not building for yourself. you’re building for people who don’t think like you, don’t care like you, and don’t see your product the way you do.

And the only way to close that gap is to ask them.

Asking for feedback does two things:

1. Helps you build a better product

2. Builds trust in your users.

It also shows them you actually give a damn.

When people see you listening, tweaking, and improving based on their input, they start rooting for you.

They become invested. Not just in the product, but in you.

And guess what?
That’s how early users turn into loyal customers.

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Pro tip

Don’t look for compliments. Look for the things that bother your users the most.

Pro tip #2

The faster you take care of their problems, the more trust you build, the more loyal your customers will be.

Pro tip #3

Give your product for free in the beginning. The feedback you’ll get is worth FAR MORE than a few bucks.

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Every time you fix something based on your users feedback, your product gets sharper, stronger, and more likely to survive.

Lesson #3: The landing page is *not important

*In the beginning

My first product that saw the light of day and was published on ProductHunt was PinkyPartner.

An accountability app that helps you build new habits, with a partner.

The idea was really good.

You would build a contract with a partner to do something daily. Whenever you mark the habit as completed, your partner gets a notification.

That’s a powerful motivator that helps both you and your partner build the habits easily.

I spent two weeks perfecting my landing page before knowing if it’s even something that people want.

Complete waste of time.

I spent a few days writing one section of the landing page that honestly explained the entire app with one animation.

This didn’t help anyone and it caused more confusion.

A MUCH better use of my time would be to find users who would be interested in using PinkyPartner and giving me feedback.

Remember:

It doesn’t matter how beautiful it looks if nobody sees it.

Lesson #4: Give products more time—don't pray that it'll work

For the first 600 days of my journey, I built over 12 products.

Most of them didn’t last more than a week after publishing them. Some died even sooner.

My typical launch cycle looked like this:

1. Build for weeks

2. Launch with excitement

3. Get disappointed by initial traction

4. Abandon and start something new

Out of 12 products that I built, I made $0 in total.

And some of the ideas were extremely good. Honestly.

But here’s the truth: it doesn’t matter how good the idea is if you don’t stick around long enough to prove it.

Execution always beats ideas. Every. Damn. Time.

The internet is noisy. People are skeptical. Even if your product is gold, it takes weeks or months before anyone cares.

Users need to see you show up again and again, fixing bugs, answering emails, improving the thing, and pushing it forward.

That’s how they know you’re not just another weekend hacker who’ll disappear.

Look at successful entrepreneurs. There’s one thing that’s common to all of them.

They spent A LOT of time before their first break through.

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Pro tip:

This is what has changed everything from me and turned me from a desperate founder to a scaling founder.

Whenever you land on a good idea, give yourself at least 3 months to execute.

That way you’ll force your brain to come up with ideas to promote it further and keep doing things besides writing code.

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Now let’s explore one more way to build trust and even gain customers on the way.

Lesson #5: Build in public

This one separates the hustlers from the hiders.

Most founders keep everything behind closed doors. They want to look perfect, drop a “surprise launch,” and pray people will show up.

In reality, nobody gives a damn about your launch if they never saw the journey that led to it.

When you build in public you’re building a story.

Every bug you fix, every milestone you hit, every screw-up you admit to gets people invested.

They root for you. They want to see you win, because they’ve been along for the ride.

And that’s how you build trust at scale.

Here’s what you need to remember:

• Attention beats polish. A rough sketch shared today is worth more than a polished launch nobody sees.

• People love underdogs. Showing the messy middle makes your eventual success 10x sweeter for your audience.

• You attract believers. The ones who see your journey will become your earliest, loudest supporters.

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Pro tip:

Don’t overthink it. A screenshot, a short update, or even “shipped this today, it broke, fixing tomorrow” is enough.

Pro tip #2:

Celebrate small wins publicly. Your first user, your first $10, your first 100 email signups. These moments feel tiny now, but they’re the foundation of your story.

Pro tip #3:

Don’t fake it. People can smell bullshit. Be honest, be raw, share the real stuff. The ups AND the downs. That’s what makes people trust you.

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Final Thought

Every successful founder I know started with the same messy journey.

They built in public, asked for feedback, gave their products time to breathe, and focused on trust over polish.

The difference between my first 12 failures and my eventual success wasn't that I suddenly became a better developer or designer.

It was that I finally understood the game I was playing.

You're not competing on features. You're competing on trust.

So stop hiding behind your perfect product plans. Start building, start sharing, start asking.

Your future customers are waiting to see the real you. Not the polished version you think they want.

So start building, sharing and talking to people, today.

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P.S.

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And you can try it today, for free!

And if you sign up in the next 48 hours and send me a message, I’ll give you a special gift.

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