1) Turn off any explicit advertising/marketing/drip/promotion systems, even if they’re automated and profitable — they’re hacks that distort your view of the product. Let people sign up, but organic word-of-mouth only.
2) Consider a more relaxed pace of life. Travel widely. The startup world is a microcosm, and if you haven’t personally experienced and understood how people live outside of it for several months or years, it’s easy to overwork yourself and think it’s completely normal. There’s a reason “digital nomad” is a thing — a recurring story is that people try it out on a whim or by chance and then get absolutely hooked.
3) If you still want to invest time, what are you personally interested in building into the product?
I think the traditional “talk to your customers” is great for staying grounded and understanding pain points, but you can get stuck in a local maximum. As an engineer/product person, you have a unique insight into what is technically possible in your space, which new technological capabilities will become relevant as time progresses, and the general direction of the market over longer time spans. This is an opportunity to be a long-term thinker and focus on building features or related products that are specifically targeted at highly technical early adopters, so that by the time the idea becomes mainstream, you’ll have a substantial head-start.
Be a craftsman and use your skill to more deeply address the problem space.
If you’ve hit sustainability, are as lean as most bootstrapped lifestyle companies, and churn is not a major issue in general, I think the risk of being replaced by new contenders is actually a very slow-motion risk — people are not so good at changing their habits. :-)
2) Consider a more relaxed pace of life. Travel widely. The startup world is a microcosm, and if you haven’t personally experienced and understood how people live outside of it for several months or years, it’s easy to overwork yourself and think it’s completely normal. There’s a reason “digital nomad” is a thing — a recurring story is that people try it out on a whim or by chance and then get absolutely hooked.
3) If you still want to invest time, what are you personally interested in building into the product?
I think the traditional “talk to your customers” is great for staying grounded and understanding pain points, but you can get stuck in a local maximum. As an engineer/product person, you have a unique insight into what is technically possible in your space, which new technological capabilities will become relevant as time progresses, and the general direction of the market over longer time spans. This is an opportunity to be a long-term thinker and focus on building features or related products that are specifically targeted at highly technical early adopters, so that by the time the idea becomes mainstream, you’ll have a substantial head-start.
Be a craftsman and use your skill to more deeply address the problem space.
If you’ve hit sustainability, are as lean as most bootstrapped lifestyle companies, and churn is not a major issue in general, I think the risk of being replaced by new contenders is actually a very slow-motion risk — people are not so good at changing their habits. :-)