“Build it and they will come” is allegedly what God told Noah when he wondered how all the animals would find the ark.
As builders, we often fall into the same trap — assuming that once the product is done, users will magically appear. And when they don’t, it’s not just disappointing — it’s exhausting and demotivating.
Turns out, even launching something small (like poketto.me) requires way more go-to-market work than expected. And honestly? That part’s less fun than building.
Here’s just a partial list of what I’ve wrestled with over the last few weeks:
➡️ *Value propositions:* What resonates better? "A worthy successor to Mozilla's Pocket" vs. "Mobile-friendly PDF reading"? Does privacy-centric still matter to users? Does anyone care that their data is stored in Europe? What about indie tools like poketto.me as a counterweight to centralization by Google, Meta, and OpenAI?
➡️ *Copywriting:* The landing page layout came from an AI — but the tone, structure, and wording? All hand-tuned.
➡️ *Press kit:* Screenshots, demo videos, feature descriptions in different formats and voices. AI helps, but not without serious fine-tuning.
➡️ *Store listings:* From the Chrome Web Store to Google Play to AlternativeTo, each platform has different requirements, formats, and editorial rules. Even screenshots need to be tailored.
➡️ *Social media:* Setting up and maintaining accounts on X, Bluesky, etc. is work. I’ve not done nearly enough of it yet.
➡️ *Journalists 🙄* Even getting a free, useful tool in front of someone with a platform is really hard. Unless you’re in the club, it’s often radio silence. I must have sent 20+ emails, LinkedIn and DMs on X and Bluesky over the last weeks, and got literally zero responses. I guess the only healthy approach to this is Stoicism. Epictetus would say “Focus on what’s under your control,” and, alas, tech journalists are not under my control.
Lesson learned:
Building the ark is just step one.
Getting animals to board is a whole separate game.