I've been building stuff in on the web since about 2020. ScrollJail is the first one where I'm doing everything differently and I actually have real daily active users, real feedback and real signals that people will pay. Hers's what changed:
1. Ship a version of your product you are still uncomfortable to share
This actually is YC advice and that’s generally good advice.
When I build my very very first real B2C web application (JobBot) in 2022 I literally spent MONTHS coding and perfecting it before even taking it live and having first users try it. I was optimising something nobody had validated. Rookie mistake.
With ScrollJail (what I am currently building) I took a totally different approach. I had the idea to build an app that helps to spend less time on your phone and be intentional about it earlier this year. I had the problem myself and tried a lot of apps out there. Instead of spending at least 2 months shipping a native iOS app I launched with an iOS shortcut, a lean website and a Cloudflare worker. 0€ monthly spent and I had my Friends test the first PoC within a week!
Was I uncomfortable to share? Absolutely. Am I still? Sure. Worth it? YES.
2. Your assumptions are trash. Stay close to your users.
This is the most important lesson and the hardest one to actually internalise.
If you’ve ever worked at a startup or tried building your own thing with actual customers your should already know that from your experience. The assumptions you make as a founder/builder are always biased by your POV, background, education, peers… The only right way is to put your assumptions to side and stay close to your users.
What I am doing with ScrollJail specifically: I build a quick dashboard using Claude to monitor daily active users. People who have been inactive get an automated retention mail (using Resend and a cron job on Cloudflare). I opened a WhatsApp group for users to opt-in to share feedback and get updates. I personally write my users via email asking for feedback/what made them churn.
The thing I am most proud of: the Warden. He is the AI that judges your reasons for opening a blocked app. He sometimes prompts you for feedback when the session goes well (you get access to the blocked app or his deny is funny). The Warden asks, in character, when the moment is right.
None of this scales - but that's the point! “Do things that don’t scale” is YC advice for a reason. And that’s also sth I had to learn the hard way.
In B2B, doing things that don't scale always means doing the things your customers are doing TODAY because if they already had a scalable automated solution they wouldn’t need you (and that also sth you only figure out by doing their work for them for some time) In a B2C context that means doing what I do. Talk to users. Offer support and… TALK TO USERS. Do that until you can't anymore.
3. Test payment incentive before you think you're ready
Don’t spent half a year building sth nobody will pay for.
I know testing payments can feel scary. The classic fear is: What if my users are only on here because it’s free? If that's true, you either have the wrong users or the wrong product. Both good lessons to be learned early than late.
With ScrollJail I am doing three things:
1. I ask users to support me on @buymeacoffee as a start. If you get unprompted donations this is a good signal that they value what you built.
2. Fake door testing. I built an offer, put a price on it, track who clicked. Tell them it’s coming soon and have them join a waitlist. Even message people who clicked individually.
3. I directly ask users to pay. Since I am already taking to them regularly for feedback, I just offer the early adopters a live time subscription at a price below what the actual subscription is going to be (and access to all payed features in the future). Then I sit back, take a zip of my coffee and watch what happens.
None of this requires you to setup and code a proper payment system or finished product. It just requires a little courage and asking.
4. Don't let competition scare you
This one still is hard for me and I have to remind myself of it regularly.
The longer I build ScrollJail, the more content I post, the more content I see about similar people building similar apps. Is that a bad thing? If your market is big enough it probably isn't.
It means that there actually IS a market and that people are actually PAYING for a solution to their problem. Does that sound bad to you? It doesn't to me and I still need to remind me of that every week.
It can happen quickly that you feel like your are lacking behind, that the market is already saturated and that you should quit.
Here is the reframe: There is one very important reason that speaks against quitting, especially if you are building sth that you use yourself (not would use but USE): there are other people like you who know about the existing apps but aren't satisfied with them. That's the exact case I have. I knew about ScreenTime, One Sec, Opal, ScreenZen, ... (can continue this list) and tested many of them - did it solve my doomscrolling? Partially. Did it reduce my screen time? Yeah a little maybe. Was sth bothering me? Always. If you had the problem, knew existing solutions (competition) and still say: "I am going to build my own" then keep going. Don't let competition scare you.