I thought I was building a product. Turns out, I was also building a habit.
Once I committed to building Lightswap, I knew I had to speak with people who’d give me the raw truth, not friends who would inflate my ego.
After announcing Lightswap, I committed to posting for 21 days straight, sharing what I worked on each day and how things were going.
The first week was relatively easy, I had a backlog of things I wanted to say. But then I hit the wall. Some ideas felt half-baked, others I wanted to hold back, and I started overthinking. That’s when I wrote The Hardest Part of Launching: When Signups Stop, as my early surge of signups slowed down.
By then, though, a small community had formed around my posts. People I didn’t know showed up every day, read, commented, and even zapped me sats. Stacker News has built an excellent community: curious, open, and genuinely supportive.
Over those 21 days I learnt a lot:
- how to write a hook
- how to be vulnerable with strangers about something you're building
- how to handle haters
I also learnt that people don’t just want words, they want to see progress. Screenshots, diagrams, Figma mock-ups. They want to be part of the refinement and discovery. Sharing the things you’re still figuring out makes them feel like they’re building alongside you.
Most of all, I learnt that people will love what you’re building if you explain it clearly, present it well, and keep iterating. Posting 21 days in a row forced me to be consistent, to clarify my thoughts, and to keep moving forward.
I'll now be posting twice a week as I shift my focus more towards building the product, fixing bugs, and getting ready for our beta launch next month.