hey,
this week has been slower on the building side, mostly because i’ve been buried in studies - but even with less time, a lot still happened.
on drinkie, water tracking is now fully working. i’ve been using it myself for the past week, and honestly, it actually works pretty well. even though i didn’t get to build as much as i wanted, seeing the core loop function in real life has been motivating. someone also requested dark mode, so i added that too - small feature, but makes the app feel more complete.
as for the always-on startup school idea, i spent some time refining it, and the vision still feels strong. but i also realised something important: to make this work, i need to get much better at marketing. not in a theoretical way - in a real, distribution-first way. so i’m shelving the idea for a few years, until i’m actually ready to execute it at the level it deserves.
the biggest part of this week, though, was my first proper attempt at market research. i had an idea: a rewards system for students, like dojo points but turned into collectables. i started by targeting parents - b2c felt easier - but most said they either use small physical rewards or prefer not to reward behaviour at all. so i moved to b2b, and asked teachers. they told me they use raffle tickets or simple praise, and behaviour apps aren’t something they really want.
it was the first time i tried to speak directly to a target audience and honestly… i felt pretty lost. market research feels messy. is it always this negative? or was reddit just the wrong place to find tech-leaning teachers and parents? classdojo is huge, so clearly some people want this - but going through reviews made one thing really clear: the problem isn’t lack of enthusiasm. it’s that the points system itself feels too competitive, and many teachers want behaviour to be intrinsic, not gamified.
that alone taught me more than any tutorial could. market research matters. and sometimes, the conclusion isn’t “build it” - it’s “not now” or “not like this.”
the upside is that it made one thing very clear: until drinkie is fully finished and shipped, i’m not touching any new products. i haven’t unlocked the full potential of app development until i’ve actually published something - and drinkie is the project that’s going to get me there.
thanks for following along,
vulcan