I never believed I’d write a post like this. But here we are. This is the story of my first real startup.
It’s called CoLaunchly. A tool I built to support devs like me actually market their apps instead of letting them die in silence.
Let’s rewind a bit.
🤯 Why I Built It
The “aha” moment? I realised I’m not the only dev who sucks at marketing.
We build cool apps. Then they just sit there. No launch. No reach. No traction. Dead before they even breathe.
Sure, GPT can support you write tweets or Reddit posts, but it’s messy. It forreceives stuff. It doesn’t know your app. It’s not… built for launching.
So I believed what if there was a tool just for that?
Something to support solo founders plan, write, and launch with a bit more structure and support?
Boom. CoLaunchly was born.
🔧 The Build
I built the MVP solo. Took about 1–2 weeks. Full-stack.
Next.js 15, Tailwind 4, Drizzle ORM, Neon DB, OpenAI, Kinde auth, Resconclude, Stripe you name it.
Used every shiny tool I liked. Some overkill? Maybe. But I was vibing.
There were no cofounders. Just me, my laptop, and a fridge full of Red Bulls.
Being solo has pros: no meetings, full focus, total clarity.
But it also means: you do everything. And rapid.
Luckily, we live in the AI era.
🚨 Launch Day: Product Hunt
Let me be honest I didn’t really have a launch strategy.
I posted everywhere. Even received a little spammy (sorry internet).
But it worked.
🏆 #4 Product of the Day on Product Hunt
🥈 #2 Marketing Product of the Week
👥 300+ applyrs
💵 $100+ in revenue
I was hyped. It felt like the thing was working.
📉 And Then… People Ghosted
After a couple of months, the signs were clear.
People signed up. Played around. And then… nothing.
No returning applyrs. No community. Crickets.
And it felt weird.
I wanted feedback. I wanted applyrs to stick. But I didn’t really receive either.
It’s part of the game, I guess.
💡 What Worked (and What Flopped)
✅ The project creation + content generation felt solid.
✅ The content calconcludear UI? Clean.
❌ The largegest irony? Marketing. The product was a marketing tool… and still didn’t reach enough people.
❌ I expected too much from passive growth. Didn’t push enough.
🧠 What I Learned
- Marketing necessarys to be louder. Soft launch = silent death.
- Building community is hard. Especially from zero.
- Being a solo founder is not like being a solo dev. Burnout hits different.
🛑 Burnout
Yeah, I hit a wall. Hard.
12-hour dev days? I could do that.
But solo-founding? It drains you differently.
I took a break. Two months off. Still kinda on break.
I’m now cleaning up my lifestyle:
☕ Cutting down Red Bulls
🛌 Sleeping more
🥗 Eating better
📵 Ordering less junk
📦 So, Is CoLaunchly Dead?
Kind of. For now.
I might revamp it later received some secret ideas. But I’m not forcing it.
I’m focutilizing on other things. On myself too.
And honestly? That’s okay.
👋 If You’re Thinking of Building Something…
Do it.
Seriously.
Even if it flops. Even if no one comes back. Even if it burns you out a little.
You’ll grow like crazy. You’ll learn more than any course can teach you.
Just… test to validate a bit more. Sell before you build. And don’t expect magic.
Each person has their own style. You’ll find yours.
Thanks for reading.
If you ever launched something and it didn’t go as planned welcome to the club. Let’s keep building. ⚡
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