monetize your product
"if i monetize my product, my users will hate me" — THIS WILL KILL YOUR PRODUCT
you built something good. many ppl are using it. you checked ur analytics dashboard "oh wow i got 200k visitors. fuck yeah! my idea is working".
im sorry. i don't think that's real validation.
same like getting 100k impressions on a twitter post doesn't always make you a great writer.
most of the world's population is on the internet and if a very niche subset of ppl tried your site, would you really count it as validation?
real validation comes from only one thing — money.
money is the ultimate validator.
is someone willing to put a dollar of their hard-earned money in your pocket?
everyone can try your site, like your post, leave a comment "damn bro!" with two fire and rocket emojis, but not everyone can put a dollar in your pocket.
because to make someone put a dollar in your pocket, you gotta show them value more than what a dollar holds.
i was getting more than 20-30k users on opensox.ai every week.
many were appreciating the idea. many liked the announcement post and many considered it a "million dollar idea" (before the pivot)
but i gain the courage to work on it full-time only the day a guy named Daksh from New Delhi paid $9.
that's the day i got real "Validation"
here im not saying you should have a full multi-tier, infant-to-enterprise level pricing from the day one.
all i mean is put a payment button on your site. just in any form. a crappy pro version (like i did in opensox), a donation button, a sponsor page, a simple /support page, buy-me-a-coffee. anything.
that's what validates your idea.
(obv im not talking about VC-backed businesses that take year/decades to think about profits. im talking about bootstrapped businesses that think about profits and sustainability from day 1)
also i don't mean that you have to rip off your users. keep the prices lower than you think ur product deserves. you goal initially isn't "profits" but "validation".
and always keep a no-BS, straight, and simple pricing. it helps!