I Released My App - Now What? I'm Figuring It Out Too

My wife asked me a simple question last week:

"How do you get the product to the people that could use it?"

I didn't have a good answer.

Not because I'm being coy or strategic. Because I genuinely don't know yet.

I've shipped two products—Mory and offer.guide. Both solve real problems I've experienced. Both are live and working. Both have zero traffic.

Here's what I'm learning about launching products before you have an audience.

The Mistake I Made (That You Might Be Making Too)

I built the products first. Then I tried to find users.

This is backwards, and I knew it was backwards while I was doing it. But I did it anyway because:

I had problems I wanted solved
I enjoy building
I convinced myself "if I build something great, people will come"

Narrator: They did not come.

Current stats across all my properties:

SelfCEO Strategy website: ~0 visitors/day
Mory (SMS accountability): 0 active users
offer.guide (real estate tool): 0 active users

I'm not sharing this to complain. I'm sharing it because this is the reality most solo builders face, and nobody talks about it honestly.

What I'm Doing About It

I made a decision: instead of building more features or launching more products, I'm building the distribution channel first.

Here's my actual strategy. Not the one I wish I had. The one I'm executing right now.

1. Creating SEO-Optimized Content

I'm publishing 2 blog posts per week on this site.

Every post targets problems my potential users are searching for:

"Why I quit print-on-demand"
"What to do after launching your app"
"My criteria for moving ideas to production"

The goal isn't viral traffic. It's showing up in search results 3-6 months from now when someone googles the exact problem I solve.

Reality check: This takes time. I won't see meaningful traffic for months. That's fine. I'm building the bridge as I cross it.

2. Being Active on Reddit and Twitter

I spend 30 minutes daily:

Answering questions in relevant subreddits
Replying to tweets in my space
Sharing what I'm learning

Not spamming links. Just being helpful and visible.

The hard part: I'm uncomfortable self-promoting. I'm working on it.

3. Building in Public

This blog, my Twitter (@SelfCEOstrategy), everything I do is documented openly.

The wins, the failures, the "I have no idea what I'm doing" moments—all of it public.

Why this matters: People follow journeys, not just products. Maybe someone relates to building products solo. Maybe someone is curious about my house-hunting tool. Maybe someone just appreciates the honesty.

I don't know what will resonate. But I know staying invisible definitely won't work.

4. Focusing on One Thing at a Time

Right now, my focus is offer.guide.

I'm house hunting. I built a tool to help me make data-driven offers. I'm using it myself, validating it works, and is launched. Mory is paused. Not abandoned, just not the priority. I learned trying to grow two products simultaneously with zero audience is a recipe for burnout.

The Question I Still Can't Answer

"How do you get the product to the people that could use it?"

My honest answer right now: I'm building that bridge as I cross it.

Here's what I think will work (but I'm testing, not guaranteeing):

Month 1-3: Create Content

Publish 20-30 blog posts
Answer questions on Reddit/Twitter
Document everything publicly

Month 4-6: SEO Starts Working

Google indexes content
People find posts through search
Some percentage discover products

Month 6-12: Compound Effects

More content = more entry points
Social presence = trust and visibility
Small audience = first users and feedback

After 12 months: Evaluate what worked, double down on it.

This isn't a growth hack. It's not a secret strategy. It's basic content marketing executed consistently over time.

What I'm Not Doing

Paid ads. I can't afford to buy attention before I've proven the product works and people want it.

Cold outreach. Sending "hey check out my product" DMs feels gross and doesn't work.

Waiting for virality. I'm not going to tweet my way into 10K followers. That's a lottery ticket, not a strategy.

Building more features. The products work. More features won't fix the distribution problem.

The Uncomfortable Reality

I have two live products and zero users.

This isn't a failure. It's just the current state.

Most builders are in this exact spot. They just don't talk about it because it's not Instagram-worthy to say "I shipped something and nobody cares yet."

But here's what I know:

The products are good (I use them myself)
The problems are real (I experienced them)
The solutions work (they solve my problems)

What's missing isn't the product. It's awareness.

And awareness takes time, consistency, and showing up when it feels like nobody's watching.

What Happens Next

I'm committing to 6 months of this strategy:

2 blog posts per week
Daily engagement on Twitter/Reddit
Public documentation of the journey
One product focus (offer.guide)

In 6 months, I'll write a follow-up post: "I Released My App 6 Months Ago - Here's What Actually Worked."

Maybe I'll have 100 users. Maybe 10. Maybe still zero.

But I'll have data, learnings, and a clearer answer to my wife's question.

If You're in the Same Boat

You're not alone. Most solo builders are here too—products built, audience nonexistent.

The difference between success and giving up isn't the product. It's whether you commit to solving the distribution problem with the same energy you put into building.

I'm not there yet. But I'm building the bridge as I cross it.

Follow along: I'm documenting this journey at @SelfCEOstrategy and right here on this blog. I'll share what works, what doesn't, and the messy reality of building products solo.

Current projects:

offer.guide: Real estate offer tool (launched)
Mory: SMS accountability partner (launched)
This blog: Building an audience through honest, helpful content

If you're in the same spot—products shipped, no users—I'd love to hear from you. Email me and let's figure this out together.