u/alireza_azp

Hey everyone,

I started a new YouTube channel about 3 weeks ago, and I'm trying to understand if my channel has some kind of visibility issue.

The strange thing is that almost every video I upload only gets around 30-40 views, and it feels like YouTube is barely showing my content to anyone.

A few things that might be relevant:

- This Google account was not previously active on YouTube.

- I created this account mainly for this new channel.

- The channel is only around 3 weeks old.

- I don't have any strikes or policy issues.

I'm wondering:

Could this be some kind of "shadowban" or is this just normal behavior for a brand new channel?

For those who started new channels recently, how long did it take before YouTube started pushing your videos more?

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

I'm preparing a landing page for a new project and I want to start collecting early users through a waiting list.

For now, I'm thinking about hosting it on Vercel with a free subdomain:

myproject.vercel.app

Do you think this affects how people perceive the product?

I'm wondering if visitors will see it as a "side project" or something less serious compared to using a custom domain like:

myproject.com

For the early validation stage, would you launch with the Vercel subdomain first, or would you buy a custom domain before sharing it publicly?

Would love to hear what other founders did when they were validating their ideas.

I'm preparing a landing page for a new project and I want to start collecting early users through a waiting list.

For now, I'm thinking about hosting it on Vercel with a free subdomain:

myproject.vercel.app

Do you think this affects how people perceive the product?

I'm wondering if visitors will see it as a "side project" or something less serious compared to using a custom domain like:

myproject.com

For the early validation stage, would you launch with the Vercel subdomain first, or would you buy a custom domain before sharing it publicly?

Would love to hear what other founders did when they were validating their ideas.

I'm building a small SaaS/app and I want to create a waiting list landing page before launch.

If I host it on Vercel using a free subdomain like:

myapp.vercel.app

does that hurt credibility or trust from a marketing perspective?

Would users see it as less professional compared to having a custom domain like:

myapp.com

For early validation (collecting emails, testing interest), is a Vercel subdomain acceptable, or should I invest in a custom domain from the beginning?

I'd love to hear your experience, especially from people who launched products with waiting lists.

I'm curious how indie developers approach marketing when they are building in a crowded space.

I'm working on an app in a category where there are already many competitors that have strong branding, good reviews, and a lot of users.

The challenge is that I don't have a meaningful marketing budget, so I'm trying to figure out what channels are actually worth investing time into.

Some ideas I'm considering:

Short-form content (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts):

It seems like the best free opportunity because one good video can potentially bring a lot of users. But the downside is that success feels random. You can create dozens of videos without knowing if any of them will reach the right audience.

Building a waitlist before launch:

I'm unsure about this approach. When someone discovers an app through content, they usually have a specific moment of interest and want to try the product immediately. Asking them to leave an email and wait might reduce conversions.

Organic communities:

Sharing value in places like Reddit, Discord, niche forums, and communities seems more realistic, but I'm wondering how scalable it is.

For people who have launched apps with limited resources:

What was the first marketing channel that actually brought you users?

Did you focus on audience building before launch or getting downloads as soon as possible?

How did you compete against apps that already had more money and attention?

Would love to hear real experiences from founders and indie hackers.

I'm curious how indie developers approach marketing when they are building in a crowded space.

I'm working on an app in a category where there are already many competitors that have strong branding, good reviews, and a lot of users.

The challenge is that I don't have a meaningful marketing budget, so I'm trying to figure out what channels are actually worth investing time into.

Some ideas I'm considering:

Short-form content (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts):

It seems like the best free opportunity because one good video can potentially bring a lot of users. But the downside is that success feels random. You can create dozens of videos without knowing if any of them will reach the right audience.

Building a waitlist before launch:

I'm unsure about this approach. When someone discovers an app through content, they usually have a specific moment of interest and want to try the product immediately. Asking them to leave an email and wait might reduce conversions.

Organic communities:

Sharing value in places like Reddit, Discord, niche forums, and communities seems more realistic, but I'm wondering how scalable it is.

For people who have launched apps with limited resources:

What was the first marketing channel that actually brought you users?

Did you focus on audience building before launch or getting downloads as soon as possible?

How did you compete against apps that already had more money and attention?

Would love to hear real experiences from founders and indie hackers.

I'm building an app in a category where there are already many strong competitors with good marketing and established user bases.

The biggest challenge right now is not building the product, but getting the first users without a real marketing budget.

I've been thinking about a few approaches:

1. TikTok / short-form content

It seems like one of the few free channels with a chance of reaching a lot of people, but the problem is that virality feels unpredictable. You can spend weeks making videos and still get almost no traction.

2. Waiting list / pre-launch landing page

I'm not sure if this works well anymore. When someone discovers an app through a video, they usually have high intent at that moment and want to download it immediately. Asking them to join a waiting list might create unnecessary friction.

3. Community-based marketing (Reddit, Discord, niche communities, etc.)

This seems more sustainable, but it feels slower and harder to scale.

For those who have launched apps before:

What free marketing channels actually worked for you?

Would you focus on building an audience before launch, or push for downloads immediately?

How do you compete when similar apps already exist and have more resources?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences, especially from indie developers who started with little or no budget.

I'm interested in hearing how people validate AI app ideas.

Building an AI prototype has become much easier, but figuring out if people actually need it still seems difficult.

Sometimes people say an idea sounds interesting, but that doesn't always mean they will use the product regularly.

For people who have launched apps before, what signals convinced you that an idea was worth continuing?

Was it user retention, people requesting features, willingness to pay, or something else?

Especially curious about AI products because the technology can be impressive, but the real challenge seems to be finding a problem that users truly care about.

I'm interested in hearing how people validate AI app ideas.

Building an AI prototype has become much easier, but figuring out if people actually need it still seems difficult.

Sometimes people say an idea sounds interesting, but that doesn't always mean they will use the product regularly.

For people who have launched apps before, what signals convinced you that an idea was worth continuing?

Was it user retention, people requesting features, willingness to pay, or something else?

Especially curious about AI products because the technology can be impressive, but the real challenge seems to be finding a problem that users truly care about.

I've been thinking about something while building AI-based applications.

A lot of new AI products today are basically wrappers around existing models. They use APIs from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, open-source models, etc., and build a workflow or UX on top.

On one hand, this makes building AI products much faster than before.

On the other hand, I wonder how defensible these products really are.

If someone can recreate your product by connecting to the same model APIs and copying the workflow, what becomes the actual moat?

Is it:

1. proprietary data?

2. better UX?

3. domain expertise?

4. distribution/community?

5. fine-tuned models?

6. something else?

For people who are building or researching AI products, what do you think makes an AI startup genuinely difficult to copy in 2026?

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some advice from founders who have been in a similar situation.

My team and I have built an AI healthcare product, and we're very close to launching our MVP. Technically, it's almost ready.

The problem is that I know launching alone isn't enough. To actually get users, we'd need a solid marketing strategy—Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, paid ads, content creation, and other channels. Unfortunately, neither I nor my team can afford that level of marketing right now.

So I'm stuck between two options:

• Launch the MVP with almost no marketing budget and hope to grow organically.
• Start talking to investors first, raise funding, and use part of it for marketing and user acquisition before or right after launch.

I've heard many investors want to see traction before investing, but getting traction without a marketing budget also feels incredibly difficult.

For those of you who have built startups:

• What would you do in this situation?
• Would you launch first anyway?
• How did you get your first users when you had almost no marketing budget?
• Is it realistic to approach investors before having meaningful traction?

I'd love to hear your experiences or any advice you think could help.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm using Reddit on Desktop.

My account is about 4 weeks old and has around 100 karma.

I'm trying to understand what factors can affect whether a post is visible right away in some subreddits. Sometimes my posts seem to get caught by filters or don't appear as expected.

I'm not trying to spam or promote anything, and I've been reading each subreddit's rules before posting.

Are there common requirements newer accounts should know about, such as account age, karma, or post formatting? I'd appreciate any general advice on how to improve my chances of posting successfully.

Thanks!

I've seen a lot of advice for ADHD productivity:

​

- To-do lists

- Calendars

- Time blocking

- Pomodoro timers

- Habit trackers

- Accountability partners

​

Some people swear by them, others say they stop working after a week.

​

What's something you've tried that sounded promising but ended up not helping you?

A lot of people here seem to agree that starting is the hardest part.

Something I've noticed is that many ADHD-friendly strategies reduce the first step to something ridiculously small:

Open the laptop

Open the document

Read one paragraph

Write one sentence

I'm curious:

What's the smallest action that helps you get moving when you're completely stuck?

A lot of people here seem to agree that starting is the hardest part.

Something I've noticed is that many ADHD-friendly strategies reduce the first step to something ridiculously small:

Open the laptop

Open the document

Read one paragraph

Write one sentence

I'm curious:

What's the smallest action that helps you get moving when you're completely stuck?

I think productivity advice focuses too much on finishing tasks.

But for me the real problem is starting.

Am I alone in this, or is “starting” actually the hardest part for you too?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]