u/crack-dev

I’ve been thinking about this a lot.
There are two completely different approaches:
Approach 1: Build an MVP, validate demand organically, talk to users, iterate, and only then start spending on Google Ads, Meta Ads, X Ads, etc.

Approach 2: Launch quickly, spend money on ads from day one, and let the market tell you whether people actually want it.
Which approach has worked for you?
If you’ve built multiple products:
Did you validate first?
Or did paid marketing become your validation?
At what point did you decide it was worth spending real money?
Looking back, what would you do differently if you were starting from scratch today?

Most local cricket scoring apps (CricHeroes being the big one) lock basic stats — your own batting average, strike rate, wickets — behind a paywall. That's insane for casual players who just want to track their gully cricket league.

So I built Cricko: free stats, no paywall on the basics. The hard part isn't the product, it's the classic two-sided marketplace cold start — players won't join without organizers, organizers won't switch without players already there.

My current approach: skip the marketplace pitch entirely at first. Go direct to tournament organizers, get them scoring their matches for free, let the stats hook bring players in organically. Marketplace features come later once there's actual usage.

Curious if anyone here has cracked cold-start on a two-sided product — what actually got your first side to show up?

I've been talking to a lot of people lately about interview prep and honestly the answers are all over the place.

Some people grind 200+ LeetCode problems. Some watch YouTube videos. Some just wing it and rely on their experience. Some buy courses.

But I keep wondering — what actually moves the needle?

Specifically curious about:

- How did you figure out *what* to study for a specific role/company?

- Did you follow a structured plan or just go day by day?

- How much time were you putting in daily?

- What would you do differently if you had to prep again from scratch?

Would love to hear from people who've cracked roles at competitive companies — what was your actual process?