u/MikeLittorice

So I'm building a product comparison tool that automatically extracts product info from the product pages, and then structures it so the products can be compared without the need for webshop owners to enter this info separately.

I saw one product, a padel racket, that my tool would label with game type "All round" but the page had a specifications table that clearly said "Offensive". I thought my data extraction might remove too much context so the value couldn't be found properly by the AI calls I use to extract the data, but it turns out the table was just wrong: In the text on the product page it's clearly described what kind of players the racket is for, and it basically says it for everyone EXCEPT offensive players.

One hour down the drain, and the realisation I might need to add the option to warn webshop owners of inconsistent data on their pages...

Hi all,

As long as I can remember I have always wanted to create a SaaS that would make me money without a boss or managers telling me what to do every day. A little over a year ago, I got a bit lucky with a good investment so I decided it was time to finally realize my dream and I quit my job to start building. Aside from that, I would do some freelance work to prevent my backup funds from draining too fast, and to keep my connection with the outside world.

I was over ambitious, and thought I could build anything with the time I had ahead so I just started without ever really validating the idea I had. This idea was so vague I couldn’t even really explain it to friends or family, and I didn’t have a clue what my ideal target audience would be when it was finished. This should have been a pretty big red flag in hindsight.

After months and months of building and pretending it was going to be alright in the end I finally came to the conclusion this wasn’t going to work. Every single day I had to struggle to find the energy to keep building, and every single day I had less hope that it was ever going to work. So finally I did the thing I had been delaying for way too much time: I decided to abandon my project altogether. A lot of time wasted, but several valuable lessons richer.

What really helped me to finally decide to quit my first project, was actually a new idea that had been growing in my mind for a while. I started thinking what would be the best way to go from here, considering the lessons I had learned from my previous failure, and decided to build an MVP so I could first convince myself this was a good idea, and then hopefully some brave potential clients that would want to try it out.

I started building, and pretty quickly I had a working prototype of my vision: A smart product comparison widget that can be added to any existing webshop, regardless of the platform it was built on and would just work out of the box without extra work for the shop owner. Smart in the sense that it doesn’t just show product specs side to side, it also provides custom buying advice with every comparison and adds more information about differences in the compared specs. 

A few weeks ago I was meeting with a potential client who was looking for a freelance PHP developer, and I had just finished a working demo of my project. I had a setup of 3 different demo stores, each with about five products in them that my tool had extracted from random webshops and I had them set up in a way everything would work and would show the value of the widget. 

Seeing it work myself was what gave me the courage to show it to the client, and getting enthusiastic feedback from this stranger is what gave me back a lot of the energy I had when I started a year ago. This is how I found the motivation I needed to continue building and to finish the MVP. 

So this is where I am now. The MVP is finished, and the tool is already live on its first production store. I’m currently looking for a few more brave webshop owners who’d like to try it out and provide me with some feedback before going all out and start the marketing machine. 

So, if you are a webshop owner or if you know someone who is and you are interested in a few months of early access: Please let me know and I’ll set you up for free!

Of course I’m also here to answer any questions you might have about the widget or about my journey.