The Reason Behind My 12 Startups in 12 Months Challenge
"Why do you want to do this? Isn't it too much to handle?" It is difficult - but I have a plan.
Hello friend,
Seeing others build their own startups inspired me. I've always admired the entrepreneurs who tried to find their path. I've dreamed that one day I could build my own products and make a living from them.
But time flew by and nothing changed. Suddenly, I realized I'd been writing code for about 10 years for various customers and on a multitude of projects. So, I thought I should change my strategy. I came up with a plan.
Starting in November 2024, I've switched careers. From a freelancer / contractor, I became an aspiring indie maker. I didn't know how hard it would be. I tried building one app, putting everything together on a portfolio page, defining personal branding, but nothing worked well. Then I saw a challenge taken by one of the indie makers I follow took: he challenged himself to build "12 startups in 12 months".
"That's such a cool idea", I thought. At the end of 2024, I decided to start this challenge and here I am today. There's still more than half of the year to go, but so far, I've managed to navigate through this thick fog.
Many have asked, "Why do you want to do this? Isn't it too much to handle?" Someone even said I couldn't properly work on 12 products in such a short period of time.
They were right. It is difficult, but I'm trying to lay out the reasoning behind taking on this challenge:
1. Even though I was excited about some startup ideas, I had a feeling they weren't going to make it
When you build a product, you tend to fall in love with that. You spend too much time refining every little detail. And you end up with a perfectly polished product that no one uses. So, I thought I had to get rid of those startup ideas as soon as possible. I'll try to build them, put them out there. I won't spend too much time on them, just test them and see if I'm capable of building and shipping a proper product, and whether there's traction. Of course, I failed, but that's part of the process. I've started having better ideas.
2. I knew I have to learn way more than I knew
I'm currently reading a book called "Traction - A Startup Guide to Getting Customers" by [[Gabriel Weinberg]] and [[Justin Mares]]. Somewhere in the first chapters, the authors mention that you have to split your focus: 50% of your time should go to product development, 50% should go to promoting your product. I've been building products for years. I know how to develop apps. But I had zero clue about how to promote them. Even now, I'm still figuring things out.
3. If my app fails, I'll have a better chance next month
Repeating process over and over helped me solidify certain things. I now do some tasks much faster than I did at the beginning. That's also one of the perks of writing code compared to manual labor: I can reuse my code from older projects for new ones. This speeds up the process significantly. I have to say, I probably repeated my own mistakes without realizing. But this challenge gives me a blank canvas each month to experiment. That motivates me.
4. One app per month
12 apps in 12 months equals 1 app per month. That's a reasonable time frame to test an idea. It's not a lot, but it's enough for me to create a rough version and to publish it. In one month, I don't have time to get bored of the app. I probably won't be able to promote it properly, since I'm still learning, but in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense.
5. What are my future plans?
I wanted to get started. There were many things I didn't know about this path I chose. To get answers to as many of my questions as possible, I decided dedicate this year to learning. At the end of 2025, I'll have (at least) 12 apps up are running. I hope all of them will be functional. Most (if not all) may not be interesting, but I believe some will be. So, next year I plan to regroup, take each one, evaluate what worked, and either reuse, transform, promote or shut down what's necessary.
What I've discovered over the past four months is that I'm truly excited about the creation process. I enjoy it and I've learned quite a lot. There's still so much more to tackle, but so far, the journey has been pleasant.
I've met amazing people, and I'm grateful for each one of them. I'm in a fortunate position where I can take couple of years off from client work and chase my dreams. I'm thankful for that, and I hope I can inspire you to grow and build things too.
See you soon!
I love this story I had to read it again!