Got my app live, but I'm realising the hard part isn't the tech, it's fully committing to selling it. Anyone else felt this?
Spent the last couple of months building and shipped my first app, plenti, an AI shopping list that learns what you actually buy and builds your weekly list for you. Sole trader, built it solo, live on the App Store.
Here's the bit I didn't expect: I've been finding it genuinely uncomfortable testing this and asking for feedback from people I know well and speak to often. I'll mention it, half-jokingly, almost leaving myself an exit if it doesn't land. I think part of me is protecting myself from fully committing, like if I don't put my full weight behind it, it not working out won't sting as much.
I know logically that real feedback from people who'll be honest with me is exactly what I need right now, and that finding actual paying customers means actually asking, clearly, not hedging. But there's a real gap between knowing that and doing it.
I'm deliberately staying away from paid acquisition for now, partly budget, but mostly because I genuinely believe this is a good enough product that it can find its first real users through word of mouth and honest feedback loops. I'd rather prove that than throw money at ads to mask whether people actually want it.
For anyone who's been through this stage: how did you get past the discomfort of properly asking people you know for feedback or to pay? And separately, what's actually worked for you in finding first paying customers organically, versus what just felt productive at the time?