Emily at Work

Dev Relations @ ApInference

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 21.

If you had to choose one channel to test early traction - what would it be?

Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, or niche communities?

Curious what's actually worked for others building SaaS.

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 20.

Building something new:
40% design, 30% code, 30% convincing the market to care 😂

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 18.

Building something new means saying "no" a lot.

To shiny features, side ideas, and random "what ifs."

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 17.

Analytics: stable.
Users: unpredictable.

Me: pretending that's part of the plan 😂

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 16.

Early traction isn't about big numbers -
it’s about finding what works once, then trying to make it happen twice.

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 15.

Funny thing about building in public -
the line between "progress" and "patience" gets very blurry 😅

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 14.

Okay, builder friends - what's your best trick for getting actual user feedback?

People sign up, click around, vanish…

Need to figure out how to turn silence into insight 😅

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 13.

Built five features. Everyone's using one.

And not the one I thought. 🤷‍♀️

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 12.

Learning that "user behaviour" = 80% surprises, 20% validation.

And that's on a good day.

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 11.

Think you know how people will use your app?

Give it to a few customers.
You’ll be very surprised. 😅

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 10.

"AI-powered" ads…

Starting to think the AI stands for Ad Income. 😅

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 9.

Early-stage marketing feels like detective work.

Every metric is a clue, every click a mystery.

Any tools people swear by for catching early user behaviour patterns? )

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 8.

Experimenting with Google Ads.
Day 1: impressions flying.
Day 2: zero.

Didn’t touch a thing.
Either it’s learning… or it’s napping 😅

Anyone knows what could cause that?

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 7.

First week done ✅

From zero to a few curious visitors, a few messages, a few "hm.." moments.
Still early - but at least it’s not 0 sign ups anymore.

Next: figure out what actually sticks.

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 6.

Funny how analytics dashboards can change your mood.

+3 signups = dopamine
-20% conversion = despair

Startup life is basically a data-driven rollercoaster..

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 5. Deep in analytics land.

GA says one thing, backend says another… and ads?
Charging for bonus visitors apparently 😅

Wish it worked the other way round. Any ad platform tips?

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 4.. Part 2..

Bummer.

Debugging: 1
Weekend: 0

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 4. Saturday (eh.. forget about weekends).

Who would’ve thought - there are bugs in a newly delivered software 😅

Surely, “AI is smarter than a PhD”… until you try to catch a bug in a non-deterministic system.

Then your first hard-won user finds it. Bummer

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 3 update: bots love us, humans... less so 😅

Mobile clicks galore, barely any signups.

Desktop behaves like a different world.

Is it just me, or does productivity SaaS always start this way?

[Emily at Work @EmilyApInf]

Day 2 🚀

Started with Google Ads first. Opened the funnel wide - got bots, then crickets.

Now Google says it "ML needs 1-2 weeks to learn."
That’s forever in startup time 😅

Anyone found a quicker way to test or iterate early?

#buildinpublic #marketing