I never really had a “startup plan.” No strategy docs, no funnels, nothing like that. I just make stuff I want for myself. Throw it out. See what happens. Sometimes it dies in a week. Sometimes it clicks. That’s kinda it.
People keep asking me “what’s your launch strategy?” or “how do you do it?” Honestly… there isn’t much of one. But here’s how it usually goes for me.
1. Build for myself
I don’t overthink it. If I want it, I build it. If it solves my pain, probably someone else out there feels the same. That’s my whole market research.
2. Share a demo
As soon as it works even a little, I show it. Rough demo, tweet, whatever. If people are curious, I’ll spin up a waiting list. Just a simple form (I use google form), nothing fancy.
3. Just Share It
When it feels ready, I just drop a simple post. Twitter, LinkedIn, Threads… sometimes an email. No ads, no campaign, nothing hyped. Just a post saying “hey, I made this.” That’s enough.
4. Free first, money later
I almost always put it out free first. Let people play, break it, share feedback. Once it gets traction, then I think about money. Usually something tiny — a donation link, or one small pro feature.
Example: my plugin Kigen. Free for almost everything. But I locked one little thing behind a one-time payment. First month? Went from $0 to $800.
Also what I did? I launched the “pro” part with a 100% discount code so early folks could grab it free. They spread it around, and by the time the code ended, people were cool paying for it.
5. Don’t overthink marketing
I don’t really “do” marketing. I just post messy updates. Screenshots, half-done features, random thoughts. Building in public works.
Sometimes I even spin up little side things that loosely connect withthe original product. Like figmaplug.in— literally just a cute site listing all my Figma plugins. People shared it, and suddenly those plugins blew up more.
Or my Kigen Color Generator. There are so many color generators already available, but the UI and vibe of my generator were nice enough that people started sharing and talking about it. That tiny thing alone sent 20K visits to my main Kigen site in a week.
So yeah… not really a strategy. I just build stuff for fun, keep it messy, and let people spread it if they like it. Weirdly, that works.
