I have been working on this web app for a few years, that I started as a coursework project when I was in school. It is a quiz app that makes assessment more fun and engaging for students.
After 1 year of working on it full time, I'm now starting to make £1-£2K per month (£500-£1K profit). There are some problems though and I'm starting to wonder how feasible this really is and whether I'm better off doing something else:
There are good things though:
You might be wondering why I have been working on it this long if I think this. Well, it's mostly because I have mistakenly followed vanity metrics. I have only looked at things like signup numbers and thought I had something of real potential when I hit 10K users and quit everything to pursue it (LOL).
Now I'm trying to look at things a bit more objectively and examine the probabilities. I am leaning towards doing something else and keeping it alive as a side project, but I think it would be a good idea to get others viewpoints on it.
Thank you for reading!
After 1 year of working on it full time, I'm now starting to make £1-£2K per month (£500-£1K profit). There are some problems though and I'm starting to wonder how feasible this really is and whether I'm better off doing something else:
- It is in a high competition industry where the problem is already solved
- There are several big players, VC funded and offer free versions of their software: Kahoot, Quizizz, Socrative, Gimkit (not VC funded, started by a high school student but I honestly think their product is awesome and better than mine which is why it has grown so much)
- It is hard to see how I can compete with these
- The target market is mostly teachers
- If you want to get a teacher to pay for something, often it is like trying to draw blood from a stone. They mostly look for free tools - which is fair since they don't get paid much. I find it ridiculous that they often need to pay for things out of pocket - the school systems are messed up.
- Free is the expectation
- Teachers are always looking for free tools to use and I have made mine paid so it can be sustainable without funding. I had it the standard freemium model for several years which never worked out, but since changing I've made more income (still nothing substantial) but there's always a few get pissed off about having to pay for it and leave.
- It isn't niche
- Linked to high competition, my app can be used by all kinds of teachers which is a problem because I know it's better to be a big fish in a small pond if you're a solofounder with no team or funding.
There are good things though:
- I have done barely any marketing, but still get plenty of users (100-300 signups per day)
- I'm making some money, so in theory I can make more (but will be a challenge)
- I have a few loyal users
You might be wondering why I have been working on it this long if I think this. Well, it's mostly because I have mistakenly followed vanity metrics. I have only looked at things like signup numbers and thought I had something of real potential when I hit 10K users and quit everything to pursue it (LOL).
Now I'm trying to look at things a bit more objectively and examine the probabilities. I am leaning towards doing something else and keeping it alive as a side project, but I think it would be a good idea to get others viewpoints on it.
Thank you for reading!
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