Indie Interviews
Can you tell us more about yourself and what led you to become an indie maker
I always loved to have a side project going on. Not only to scratch that itch of manifesting ideas but also to keep growing and maintaining my abilities to code.
How did you come up with the idea? How do you generate ideas for your apps or projects, and how do you identify the problems or needs your app can address?
WishKit. It probably started around 2014 when I was just starting to learn to code at a company when I had the idea of a feature request list.
I said to the CEO that I believe every product should have a feature request list with voting ability. Not only to enable users to share what they are missing but especially for us developers to know what's most important to work on next! The CEO never really did anything about it. It was only at the beginning of 2023 when I realized this can be a stand alone product. How? Because when I tweeted about it that tweet went viral!
How is your day-to-day app development workflow look like?
I have a family and a 9-5 day job as an iOS Engineer at Alaska Airlines. My day is by default dedicated to family and work and so the only time when I can code on a side project like WishKit is at night. I wake up at 7am. Family walk. Start my 9-5. Spent after work time with my family. After my son goes to bed around 8pm, I spend some time with my wife. And once she goes to bed around 10pm and midnight - I stay up - often until 3am to work on WishKit.
How do you launch and market your app?
I try to find diverse ways to put the word out there like: DevHunt, Twitter, Reddit, Youtube, Alternative.to, etc. Just to create a footprint in the world wide web.
What are the future plans for your app?
For WishKit to become the number one SDK to add to your iOS or macOS App that you aim to generate revenue with. It's easy to come up with a feature idea yourself but it's hard to know what will convert a user to a customer. I want WishKit to solve that problem.
Do you have any interesting lessons learned or tips for other indie makers?
Be as much MVP as you can be and get your idea out the door! You can always start working on v1.1 the same day you released your idea! WishKit at the beginning was literally only a website with a Hero section and a login button. No footer, no Privacy Policy or Terms of Service, no password change feature, just really 1 thing - you could see a list of feature requests. MVP at its best.
Looking back, are there any decisions or actions you regret not taking before or during the development and launch of your apps? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Don't pay for advertisements until you've used all the free things available to you (ProductHunt, own Blog posts, DevHunt, Reddit, Twitter, etc.). I tried to run an Ad for $750 in July on a very popular iOS blog for 1 week with exposure to 1.5 million views. I thought since it's the exact target market I should see great growth! After 1 week I had maybe 20 sign ups and 0 conversions. I had better sign up and conversion ratios doing free things like documenting the development journey on twitter!
Are there any other products that you are particularly proud of? Could you share some details about them
My biggest and proudest product is WishKit and there's so much more to come for it!
Are there any indie makers or creators whose work you admire and follow closely?
Absolutely and I am sure I won't be able to mention all of them but just to name a few: @KSlazinski, @Emin_UI, @Matteo_Spada, @Timb03, @AdamLyttleApps, @Emcro, @Levelsio | and more.
Could you recommend any specific tools or resources that you believe are helpful for other indie makers, especially those just starting out?
I think following a lot of indie makers like the ones above will expose you to so much! They will share tools, tips, experience - all which lead to their success.
Other than that I would recommend ahrefs.com to make sure your website is healthy and the google search console to index your website and sub-pages!
Thanks for reading til the end. Hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did. Below are some useful links mentioned throughout the interview
Indie Interviews by Indie Goodies is all about discovering and showcasing indie makers. We firmly believe that behind every app, there's an inspiring tale of passion, creativity, and perseverance. We're always on the lookout for aspiring indie makers to feature in our series, and if you have any suggestions or recommendations, we'd love to hear from you.
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