I was building a social media platform with a special algorithm to make engagement better for new users and communities instead of being judged on ...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
When you hit the stage that you're 'done', you step back and watch it flourish. That's the stage where you need to focus more on feedback and ergonomics, keeping and making people comfortable using it, instead of feature chasing. It's the long-term maintenance of a project. I mean when I made Doccit, it was 6 years of ongoing refinements. Then suddenly, it hit a wall, nothing else was needed and it's been half a year since I had to even look at it, cuz it just runs and it works, the client is happy, no need to do anything to it? That's the stage after maintenance, scale. Where you explore how you can expand the market for it, in my case, I added new regions and localizations to it, so it's not just usable in Namibia, but across the globe.
6 years of ongoing refinements is crazy! That's a lot of patience and dedication. I'm still at the stage of trying to get people to discover and actually use Crowdwide, so this is really helpful. When you were growing Doccit, how did you approach expanding into new markets and getting your first users in those regions? 🙌
Doccit started with a customer, my father, who has a bookkeeping firm, he needed automation, so I built it, worked with him to refine it and scale it to where it can run operations for him. Expansion, I looked at what's the barriers, accounting is very regional, so you need compliance framework that's adjustable per-region. Sometimes clients operate in 1 country, but pay taxes in another, etc. so it needs to be very fluid and configurable, with templates for the various regions. That way it's easy to set up and maintain
That makes a lot of sense! Building around a real customer's needs first and then making the system flexible enough to expand sounds like a solid approach. Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm still figuring out how to get Crowdwide in front of the right people, so learning how you approached things is really helpful.
Go check out YC's startup school, you're clearly not getting into software to work a day-job, so better to learn young, so you know how and when to start. I think you'll find the course really enlightening and alot of what they say answer the questions you likely have. So I'd say give it a go, it's like 2h of reading and 10 hours of videos, but you learn ALOT from the people who actually did it. They arent so much focused on 'this is how you make world-class software', more like 'is this actually something you have a market for, how do you market it, who is your target audience, is your product unique enough to stand out, yet familiar enough to get picked up easily, etc.' Definitely worth going through, if even just to learn a bit more
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely check out YC's Startup School. Honestly, figuring out the market, target audience, and how to get Crowdwide in front of the right people is exactly what I'm struggling with right now. Learning from people who've actually built startups sounds really valuable. Appreciate you taking the time to guide me!
i start the painfull but realistic seo and publication proccess
That's actually interesting! How do you go about the SEO and publication process? Like, what do you actually do step by step when you're trying to get people to discover your project? I'd love to learn from your experience!
I woudnt use any of the paid seo websites because most of them are just cashgrab versions of google search console. i would also recomend online communitys that allow project sharing
I've already set up Google Search Console! 😄 Which online communities or platforms would you recommend for sharing Crowdwide and getting it in front of the right audience?
Facebook is a good one, aswell as stack overflow however make sure you check policies
I'll check out relevant Facebook groups and Stack Overflow's policies before sharing Crowdwide. Are there any specific types of Facebook groups you'd recommend for a project like mine? I want to make sure I'm reaching the right audience rather than just promoting it randomly.
Oof, the line about failing to distribute is the whole game and most of us learn it way too late. 14 members isn't dead, that's just where everything starts. The building part was fun because you could see progress daily, but now it's the boring grind of seeding topics yourself and finding the few people who'd actually care. What kind of communities is Crowdwide actually for?
Crowdwide is actually built around communities, creators, and discovery!
The main idea is to give smaller and newer communities a fair chance to get discovered instead of letting community size and existing followers decide who gets visibility. I'm also experimenting with the feed algorithm so smaller communities can get that initial exposure, and then engagement can help their content reach more people.
It's not limited to one type of community either. Developers, artists, writers, bloggers, YouTubers, and basically anyone building something or sharing content could have a place there.
And yeah, you're right about distribution. I've spent so much time building the platform that now I need to figure out how to get the right people to discover it.
With 14 members, I think the question is not what to build next, it is whether anyone comes back. One thing you could try: pick one number, such as how many people post in a week who you did not personally invite, and watch it for 4 weeks. Ask 3 or 4 of the 14 what made them come back, or why they did not, in a short chat. If the number stays flat, then pausing the project is a fine choice, but you will know why. I would not post to many places at once. Find one small group that has the problem your algorithm solves and invite 10 people there.
Actually, I just got a new user, so it's 15 now! 😭
I initially invited just one person when I started Crowdwide, and everyone else came through my public posts.
Out of the 14 users, around 8–10 return within a week, and according to my stats, 3–4 are regular returning users. Most seem to come back through notifications or email newsletters.
I also ran a survey, and around 70% of respondents said they found the content less interesting. That's something I really need to work on.
The other challenge is that I don't have a big circle in the development community. I'm a student, and I usually build projects solo. I don't really have experienced people around me to collaborate with or even ask for suggestions, so figuring everything out has been difficult.
Honestly, I'm starting to question whether I should continue Crowdwide or just stop working on it. I'm not looking for sugarcoated advice here. If you genuinely think the idea isn't worth pursuing, tell me. If you think I should continue, I'd like to know why and what you'd do in my position.
I'd genuinely appreciate honest opinions, even if they're difficult to hear. If most people think I should shut it down, I'll seriously consider that too. What would you do if you were in my position?
I'd keep going a bit longer. 8-10 of 14 returning within a week is a real signal, and the survey tells you exactly what to fix: the content. Try rewriting it for the 3-4 regulars, ask them what they come back for, and give it a month before deciding.
Thanks for the honest advice! I think giving it another month and talking to the regular users is worth trying. I hadn't thought about focusing on the 3–4 people who already come back and understanding exactly what they like or what they feel is missing.
The survey results were honestly a bit discouraging, but maybe they can help me figure out what needs to change instead of giving up immediately. I'll try to understand what these users actually want before making a final decision.
Congrats on reaching "done", that's rarer than shipping. What I learned after putting a small app on the Play Store: done is when the work switches from building to listening. The first week of real user feedback changed my plans more than the month of coding before it. I'd pick one number to watch for two weeks before starting the next thing.
Thank you! That's a really good point. I think I've spent so much time building Crowdwide that I haven't focused enough on listening to users and understanding what makes them come back. I'll try to focus on one meaningful metric for the next couple of weeks instead of jumping into more features. By the way, what metric did you find most useful when you launched your app on the Play Store?
First of all, huge congratulations on reaching V2 and shipping all those features! Building a full-stack platform with custom algorithmic logic in less than two months is a massive technical accomplishment.
To answer your main question: don't abandon it just yet, pivot your mindset from "builder" to "community host."
Right now, 14 members and 70 posts means you have a seed community. Distribution isn't a one-day launch event; it's seed posting, inviting niche communities (e.g., indiemakers, webdevs), and hosting discussion threads yourself. Give it a dedicated 30-day marketing/distribution push before putting it into maintenance mode. Even if it remains a showcase piece on GitHub, you'll have mastered the hardest part of software engineering: product distribution!
Thank you so much for this! I really like the idea of shifting from builder to community host because honestly, I've been so focused on building features that I haven't given distribution the same attention.
I'll try giving Crowdwide a proper 30-day push before making any decision. The hardest part is figuring out where to find the right people and how to get them interested enough to stay.
I really don't want to abandon it without giving it a fair chance. Thanks for the advice and encouragement!
Honestly, "done" is when the real work starts. I'd pick one small group, like a club or a class, and get them using it every day for a month. You'll learn more from that than from another feature list.
Honestly, that's a really good point! 🔥
I think getting a small group of people to actually use Crowdwide every day would teach me a lot more than just adding new features. Real users always find things you don't even think about while building 😂
That's actually one of the reasons I've made the repo public and started building in public. A lot of the improvements in Crowdwide have come directly from user suggestions, and I want to keep that feedback loop going.
Now the real challenge is getting people to stick around and make it part of their daily routine!