jason_zig

i feel like when they style them all cute like that (see muse) it means they're problematic and invasive.

Couldn't agree more - feedback at the early stages is make or break for any new idea. I built Zigpoll to help with this: https://www.zigpoll.com/

I was just working on a zigpoll integration and thought it was me...

I've been working on Zigpoll[0] for ~4 years. AI has changed my trajectory dramatically where it's way more realistic to compete with the big players as a one man show. Trying to close out on 2M ARR this year and then maybe look to sell and ride off into the sunset.

[0] https://www.zigpoll.com

go bears!

Solo founder (and sole employee) getting to 2M ARR with Zigpoll[0]

AI is making it possible to go after bigger clients so the strategy is to focus on marketing and going upmarket. A lot of new features to add and things to learn as you move up to bigger customers with larger contracts!

[https://www.zigpoll.com]

Scaling Zigpoll[0] to 2M ARR as a solo founder (currently at 1.5 ARR). Each year you double ARR for a business it comes with a whole new set of challenges which are layered on top of the changes in the tech landscape.

Fortunately I think I've been bailed out by agentic coding the last couple months from a product perspective but I think the major gains so far have been due to marketing and exploring alternative growth channels. Even so, keeping momentum is never a given and requires constant output from all angles! Onward...

[0] https://www.zigpoll.com

seeing how far 1 person project can go with Zigpoll: https://www.zigpoll.com

Crossed over 100K MRR and I'm shooting for 2M ARR by the end of the year. Growing something in this stage is totally different from making it go from zero to one so it's an interesting learning curve. AI has also changed the calculus as well where it seems less crazy to try and do this sort of thing. Time will tell!

you can email me if you want: jason[at]zigpoll.com

Ideas came from building something that I wished existed. Honestly I didn't overthink any of them and I'm glad I didn't. If you do too much market research it tends to make your vision seem less exciting IMO.

Either way my whole point is to just iterate on your initial idea for long enough that it goes from being "your fun idea" to "your fun idea that people are willing to pay for". Then just repeat that loop until you retire :)

well they were all websites so they had that in common but not much else. I would recommend starting off with an app store of some kind since getting initial customers is a real pain unless you already have some lined up due to past work experience / networking. That said, with enough time and screaming into the void you will get someone to walk through the door. Best to ask them as many questions as you can while they are hanging around!

You should almost always stick with an idea for longer than you think. I've had 3 successful projects (one making over 100K MRR[0]) IMO the main differentiator between winning and losing is how fast you are iterating based on customer feedback.

I think about it like throwing a dart at the dartboard. You might hit the bullseye in one shot but usually you'll just hit somewhere random then it's up to you to iterate and find the version of your idea that the market will actually pay for. This is the feedback part of the equation and giving up and throwing random darts may never pay off.

[0]https://www.zigpoll.com

getting my 1-person business to 2M ARR[0]

the requirements for growth keep changing plus all the AI noise means that the playbook changes regularly. staying on top of the state of the market while improving/maintaining the product and understanding our icp + exploring new verticals is a tricky (but fun) task to manage!

[0]https://www.zigpoll.com

is evaluation that important? ultimately if you can't do the work you're only cheating yourself in the long run...

I'm not sure that's true - try getting someone to pull up an html5 file on their computer for a presentation...

Crossed 100K MRR as a solo founder for Zigpoll[1] - honestly I never thought I would get this far with the product so now it's all about trying to market and keep growth strong. Doubling YoY gets harder each year so you always have to find new growth channels (or ways to improve existing channels). This is an interesting task especially given the current environment.

I used to think "if you build it they will come" but, as it turns out, it's much more nuanced than that and requires a lot of iterating and stumbling along the way. I hope to break into another vertical this year!

[1] https://www.zigpoll.com

I think this was their business plan. See if it works and, if it doesn't, shut it down

I used the shopify app store to get the first customers - i think an app store is still the way to go since they handle a lot of the customer outreach for you. that said, there are a lot of other ways to niche down - discord communities, subreddits, private boards, etc... come to mind as good places to start

I agree there needs to be a way to fit it into the overall product direction. Solving these on a case-by-case basis is important and part of the job.

When I first started, getting customer reviews was my north star, so i would add any feature and hide them under "advanced" if they were ridiculously long-tail. Still worth it for the review and positive experience even if you hide the feature...

I solo founded a business and it just crossed 100K MRR (still solo). The trick is:

1. Don't give up after the first month of no traction, if you can get at least 1 customer at this stage that is a good sign.

2. Make contact with every customer you acquire, find out why they installed your product and what they want from it. Build any feature that they say is missing and offer the best customer support possible

3. Repeat this for a period of time. Once you have more customers the circumstances will change but this how you go from 0 -> 1 and get some runway IMO

I think you're ready to go to market!

I’m working on Zigpoll[https://www.zigpoll.com], a lightweight survey/feedback tool for ecommerce (mostly Shopify).

Built it because most survey tools felt overgrown for what I needed. It focuses on post-purchase and on-site surveys, attribution questions, and getting clean data out.

Lately I’ve been working on:

Simpler targeting + survey logic Exposing survey data to AI tools Improving response rates without nagging users

It’s bootstrapped, profitable, and built by one person (me).

My one-person project Zigpoll [https://www.zigpoll.com] I've cracked the eCommerce market (1M ARR as of a couple days ago) but want to spread out more broadly into other verticals (SaaS, Hotels, Restaurants, Home Services, etc...) to reduce sector risk. If anyone is cooking something up please reach out and I'll be happy to hook you up with the service for free. [[email protected]]

Am I the only one getting overwhelmed with all of these feature/product announcements? Feels like the noise to signal ratio is off.

I run a survey product for ecommerce stores [1]

A lot of our customers use post purchase surveys and on-site surveys to help with this sort of thing. For example a really common use-case is an attribution survey which appears after a sale is made. The survey will ask something like "how did you hear about us?" which helps determine what actually drove the sale so they can get some clear insights outside of Google and Meta. It's not perfectly reliable but it's an additional data point that helps with the mess out there...

[1] https://www.zigpoll.com/

Month 48 of my one-man project Zigpoll: https://www.zigpoll.com/

On-site surveys for eCommerce and SaaS. It's been an amazing ride leveling up back and forth between product, design, and marketing. Marketing is way more involved than most people on this site realize...

I've seen people post this same advice and I agree with you that it works but you would think they would absorb this common strategy and integrate it as part of the underlying product at this point...

Ah man... anyone remember JQBX?