u/Ok-Tough-9310

After years of using Upwork, I think it’s finally time to say goodbye, you were great once but not gonna verify again, don't care anymore.

Not because I suddenly became too successful for freelancing, unfortunately. Mostly because finding a genuinely good project now feels like searching for a clean public toilet at a music festival.

You scroll through:

• “Expert developer needed”
• Budget: $50
• Estimated duration: three months
• Requirements: frontend, backend, DevOps, design, SEO, AI, blockchain, emotional support
• Client history: 47 jobs posted, 0 hires

Then, when a decent project finally appears, it already has 50+ proposals submitted by people offering to rebuild the entire internet for $8.

And naturally, you need to spend Connects for the privilege of applying. Sometimes more Connects to boost the application. Because apparently paying to apply for work is now part of the modern job-search experience.

Then there are the clients.

Some are great. Others disappear for two weeks, return at 2 a.m., change the entire scope, and ask why the work is not finished yet.

You can explain everything clearly, document every decision, follow the agreed scope, and still end up dealing with someone who believes “one small change” means rebuilding half the project for free.

And when a client is genuinely dishonest, tries to avoid payment, demands unpaid work, or runs an obvious scam, freelancer protection often feels more theoretical than practical.

The platform collects fees from both sides, but when something goes wrong, freelancers can still feel like they are on their own—trying to prove they completed work while worrying about disputes, refunds, bad reviews, or losing access to future jobs.

Upwork did help me find work in the past, so I won’t pretend it was always useless. I met some good clients and worked on real projects through the platform.

But lately, the combination of fewer worthwhile jobs, aggressive competition, fees, questionable clients, weak protection, and the constant Connects casino has made it feel like more effort than it’s worth.

I’d rather spend that time finding clients elsewhere, building my own products, or simply staring at a wall. The wall has not hired me yet, but it also hasn’t charged me 16 Connects, changed the scope six times, or threatened me with a bad review.

So, goodbye Upwork. Thanks for the clients, the experience, and the recurring opportunity to apply for a senior developer position paying less than a Netflix subscription.

I’ve spent the past several months building a web app for video transcription, subtitles and captioned video editing.

The original plan was to make money from subscriptions. The app works, but so far I haven’t managed to attract enough users, so it isn’t generating meaningful income.

Instead of waiting for people to discover and pay for the software, I’m now thinking about using it as my own internal tool to make money.

For example, I could offer:

Subtitle and transcription services

Captioned short-form videos for businesses or creators

Repurposing podcasts and long videos into social media clips

Translation and subtitling for multilingual content

Managing video content for clients as a service

Because I built the software myself, much of the work would already be automated. I could use the app privately, deliver the finished result to clients and charge for the service rather than the software.

I could also potentially use it to create and grow my own content pages, although I’m not sure what type of content would make sense.

Has anyone here done something similar—built a product that didn’t get users, then used the product themselves to create another source of income?

What would you do with a tool like this?

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I've built captn.cc, a browser-based subtitle and video workflow tool for creators, editors, and small teams.

The basic idea is: upload a video and turn it into usable captioned content without jumping between multiple tools.

Current workflow:

* Upload video

* Auto-generate subtitles

* Edit text and timing visually

* Use speaker-aware transcript blocks

* Style captions for short-form or long-form video

* Translate captions

* Reframe videos for social formats

* Generate smart clips from longer videos

* Exclude ad/sponsor sections from clips

* Export SRT, VTT, transcript TXT, CSV, green-screen captions, or burned-in video

The main difference I’m trying to build around is that it’s not just a transcription tool, and it’s not a heavy video editor. It’s more of a caption-first production workspace: subtitles, transcript, smart clips, styling, translation, and exports in one flow.

There’s a free plan, so people can try it before paying.

According to feedback i got from few users, app is great, saves great amount of time when it comes to caption work and preparing videos for the production. It comes realky close to existing popular app.

I've been posting here and there, on reddit when i can fit it somewhere. Made a bunch of seo pages, and posted it on few platforms like producthunt, peer push etc.

But other than that - potato. So i'd like to have eyes opened with a roast. Or it is me who shluld be roasted.

Cheers!

I’m building a SaaS and trying to see if it can become semi-passive income over time.

It’s called Captn, a browser-based subtitle and video workflow tool for creators, editors, and small teams.

The basic idea is: upload a video and turn it into usable captioned content without jumping between multiple tools.

Current workflow:

• Upload video
• Auto-generate subtitles
• Edit text and timing visually
• Use speaker-aware transcript blocks
• Style captions for short-form or long-form video
• Translate captions
• Reframe videos for social formats
• Generate smart clips from longer videos
• Exclude ad/sponsor sections from clips
• Export SRT, VTT, transcript TXT, CSV, green-screen captions, or burned-in video

The main difference I’m trying to build around is that it’s not just a transcription tool, and it’s not a heavy video editor. It’s more of a caption-first production workspace: subtitles, transcript, smart clips, styling, translation, and exports in one flow.

There’s a free plan, so people can try it before paying.

I know this is not passive yet. Right now it’s very active: building, fixing bugs, SEO, posting, talking to users, and figuring out what people actually need.

But compared to client work, SaaS is interesting because one product can serve many users, SEO can bring traffic over time, and subscriptions can stack slowly if the product solves a repeat problem.

The hardest part so far is not building the app. It’s getting strangers to care.

For people who built SaaS, content sites, tools, or other online products: what worked best for your first consistent traffic?

SEO, Reddit, YouTube, cold outreach, directories, partnerships, something else?

I’m a solo founder working on a browser-based video workflow SaaS.

The product is live, but still early. I have some organic traffic, a few real users, people testing it, and early qualitative signals that it solves a painful manual workflow. No meaningful revenue yet.

I’m trying to decide whether applying to YC now makes sense, or whether I should wait until I have clearer traction.

My situation:

- Solo technical founder

- Product is already built and usable

- Some users/signups from SEO and Reddit

- Early feedback is very positive, but positioning is still not fully clear

- I’m still figuring out the best ICP and go-to-market

- I’m based outside the US

For founders who applied to YC, got in, got rejected, or decided not to apply:

When is the right time to apply?

Is it better to apply early and use the process as forcing function, or wait until there is stronger revenue/traction?

Also, how much does being a solo founder hurt if the product is already built?

Zdravo svima!

Eto iz naslova, bio bih zahvalan za malo rostiljanja aplikacije koju sam napravio. Volim onako grubo al opet sa nekim smislom. Ne cisto app ti je sranje, dzaba pravis ta govna. Nego ako ima nesto konkretno.

Pre nesto manje od mesec dana sam postavio ovde da sam izbacio app, moj prvi.

U pitanju je app koji sluzi za sredjivanje titlova, stil, prevod, import/export srt i vtt fajlova, izvlacenje klipova za drustvene mreze iz originalnog videa. Srpski radi pristojno. Moze da snimi ekran i od toga napravi titlovan video i tako dalje. Jedan feature zahtev sam tada dobio i to je ubaceno: brisanje teksta obrise i deo video gde je taj text.

E sad ono zbog cega rostiljanje, broj korisnika: 1.

I to je drugar, kome zaista treba al eto. Znam coveka pa sam mu direkt pisao.

Zanima me, posto se sa time bas mucim, ako ima neko ko je izbacio app i napravio neku trakciju, sta da radim? Gde ste oglasavali? Jel ja nisam dobro objasnio sta app radi? Nesto sticem sliku da gresim u necemu.

Svako rostiljanje je dobrodoslo, a i savet.

Pozdrav!

captn.cc

Pozdrav ljudi!

Želim da podelim sa vama alat koji razvijam proteklih par meseci, zove se Captn. U pitanju je aplikacija za automatsko dodavanje titlova na video klipove.

Radi tako što se uploaduje video, app odradi transcript i prikaže u editoru. Odatle korisnik preuzima i može da stilizuje titlove, izmeni tekst i na kraju eksportuje video sa urezanim titlovima. Alat je primarno namenjen za kratke videe (reels, shorts, tiktok), ali sam dodao podršku i za duže formate poput podkasta.

Ono što alat radi:

• automatsko prepoznavanje govora iz videa, čak i kod muzike i težih snimaka
• eksport SRT, VTT i green screen subtitle videa
• automatsko prepoznavanje zanimljivih delova videa i export kratkih klipova
• prevođenje i generisanje titlova na drugim jezicima
• različit stil titlova za različite govornike
• animacije teksta i subtitle efekti
• dosta pažnje sam posvetio jezicima koji nisu engleski

Ideja je nastala jer tim za koji radim često ima problema sa alatima poput CapCut-a i Descript-a, posebno oko subtitle editovanja i stilizacije. Zato sam hteo da napravim alat koji je više fokusiran baš na titlove nego na klasičan video editing.

I dalje peglam razne bugove i stvari, ali sam odlučio da otvorim closed beta ako bi neko želeo da testira.

Ako nekoga zanima, slobodno pustite DM pa mogu da omogućim signup i pošaljem pristup.

Pozdrav!