Finally, I Got My First Sale on My AI Product 🎉 What’s Next?
After last week’s announcement expressing my disappointment with the sales of my recent product CoMaker.ai...
Hey Entrepreneurs and Solopreneurs! After last week’s announcement expressing my disappointment with the sales of my recent product CoMaker.ai, I am thrilled to announce that a few days after that, I received my first subscription on the platform.
Interestingly, the customer subscribed to the highest-tier plan. In fact, there has been a significant increase in new user traffic recently, possibly due to organic mentions on various AI websites. This sale marks the first time I have ever sold software I created, as my previous products were mostly monetized through advertising.
Does this mean I have a real business?
Not quite. Nothing changes, and my perception of the AI platform market remains the same, especially in the content creation space with AI/ChatGPT. The truth is, there are more AI solutions for content creation than ever before, many of which are available for free. I believe the real value in the market lies in solutions that use AI as a complementary tool. For example:
Automated video creation (write the script -> generate AI-powered voice-over -> select royalty-free videos based on the script -> allow users to manually adjust the content)
Creation of advertising banners
Landing page generation for websites
Email template creation
And more…
These AI tools should be included as features within existing SaaS solutions, rather than being the primary focus. For this reason, I will keep the CoMaker.ai platform online, possibly adding a few more content generation templates, but I won’t invest much more time in its development.
What’s Next on the Horizon?
After working on various software projects, I realized there’s something missing that is crucial for my success as a solopreneur. The process of developing as a solo developer is slow, complex, and frustrating when it comes to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We have to make all decisions ourselves, from conceptualizing the product and designing it to creating mockups, choosing colors and branding, and ultimately developing the product. It’s a complex process, and often we find ourselves taking shortcuts that compromise the quality of the product just to deliver it as quickly as possible (so that we can finally gauge interest from potential customers). But the worst part is that after launching the product, it takes a long time for users to start using it. Even worse, sometimes they start using it but simply don’t make any purchases. It’s a slow and frustrating journey for someone working on these projects alone.
Therefore, I have a new strategy. Let’s address the needs I have to fulfill:
Launch my ideas more quickly
Generate regular traffic
Gain a better understanding of the market and the needs of potential customers before developing a solution
Have traffic to redirect immediately after launching a new product
Generate revenue more rapidly
After considering the best strategy, I’ve decided to:
Create YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram channels
These channels will be dedicated to specific niches (for example, for the SideHustlify.com project, we already have a YouTube channel: link to the channel)
Create short/reels videos to engage new users
Generate revenue through the videos and redirect it to newly created products that are related to the content on these channels
Why Did I Decide to Pause Software Development for Now?
As I’ve explained in previous articles, my goal is to remain a solopreneur. No partners, no investors, no dependencies. I know it’s not easy, but I believe I was taking a step forward. I need to build the the foundation first before diving into complex product development. I need to fail quickly, understand the market and the interests of potential users as soon as possible. And to achieve that, I need to generate traffic and build a community of users.
Software should be at the bottom of the funnel, but first, I need to create the top of the funnel. After experiencing some platform failures, I realized that creating software without this top of the funnel and without initial investment will likely result in failure, unless it’s a truly groundbreaking solution that captures media attention (which is increasingly difficult for a solopreneur).
So, for the time being, I’ll focus on creating content, particularly through videos (I’m still learning how to create this type of content). I will provide updates on the progress of these developments. One of my goals is to create content every single day.
Now I’m curious about your experiences. How have you been generating traffic? What’s your strategy? Do you develop the software first and then worry about traffic? Or have you already built the traffic and are now channeling it towards your new products? Let’s start a discussion in the comments.
Remember, as solopreneurs, we’re constantly learning and adapting. Let’s support each other on this journey of entrepreneurship.
Have a nice week,
David, the @JourneyPreneur
Follow me on: Twitter, Substack, IndieHackers and Medium