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u/ketansahu

r/SideProject r/chrome_extensions r/IMadeThis
▲ 7 r/IMadeThis+1 crossposts

I had 136 ideas in Notion and built none of them. So I built Tinder for my ideas.

I had 136 ideas rotting in a Notion page.

I’d been adding to it for a while, always thinking, “I’ll build one of these someday.”

Naturally, I built none of them.

Then I connected my Notion to GPT Dots, and it noticed the page. While going through it, it found one idea that was basically:

“Tinder, but for business ideas.”

It asked me: Should we just make this?

I said yes.

So, slightly ironically, an idea that had been sitting unpicked in a graveyard of 136 ideas became an app for picking which ideas are actually worth pursuing.

This is the result:
https://maybe-coral-iota.vercel.app/

Made mostly for fun. Curious what you’d swipe right on :)

u/ketansahu — 11 days ago
▲ 1 r/chrome_extensions

How are you getting people from free install to paid on a Chrome extension?

I shipped a Chrome extension that lets you mark the exact second on a YouTube video, add a short note, and tag it so you can find it later. It stays on your machine by default, with unlimited notes. Cloud sync is optional if you want the same marks across devices.

It has been live for a while. The store listing is over 600 installs, and about 60 people use it in a given week. Most of that is free local use, which is fine for how I built it. What I am still figuring out is the jump from “this is useful on my laptop” to someone who actually signs in or pays.

If you have shipped a free-first extension with a paid tier, what actually moved the needle for you? Better listing, something in the popup, waiting longer, something else?

Product is YouTube Timestamp, if useful: extension page

u/ketansahu — 1 month ago
▲ 2 r/chrome_extensions

Best architecture for a "Chat with YouTube Video" extension?

I am building a Chrome extension that features a "chat with YouTube video" as one of the functionalities. I’ve been mapping out the workflow for the past few days and want to make sure I'm architecting this efficiently.

I am building an MVP right now to validate the product before diving into an in-depth, complex backend. I want a testable architecture that minimizes API costs, requires very little overhead, but still delivers a solid user experience.

One approach I looked into is using the Gemini API by passing the YouTube URL (or fetching the transcript) alongside the user's question for every turn. However, sending the entire context repeatedly for every single follow-up question seems highly inefficient, slow, and expensive.

I have noticed a few existing extensions (like Kortex or "YouTube to NotebookLM") that seem to leverage NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook) as their backend engine. However, as far as I know, the official API is enterprise-gated.

For an indie hacker building a fast MVP:

  • How do extensions hook into NotebookLM? Are they just automating/scraping the web UI via a proxy, using undocumented wrappers, or is there a trick I'm missing?
  • What is the simplest MVP stack for this? If I avoid complex vector databases for now, can I get away with just fetching the transcript on the client-side and keeping chat history in the local state using the standard Gemini API?
  • Any tips for keeping token costs down on longer videos without over-complicating the system on day one?

Would love to hear how you would spin up a bare-minimum, cost-effective prototype for this!

reddit.com
u/ketansahu — 3 months ago
▲ 3 r/chrome_extensions

Nominated my Chrome Extension for the featured badge today. What next?

https://preview.redd.it/y4pww7xzr6eh1.png?width=1666&format=png&auto=webp&s=26d45e22e7405f511ad6b41ae644b44701c8a6f4

The extension currently has about 35 weekly active users, which doesn't quite give me enough validation yet to know if I can successfully monetize it down the line.

I know there is demand for the features I have planned for future versions, but I need to grow a solid user base first so a small percentage can eventually convert into paid users.

For those who have been through this process:

  • How long does it generally take to hear back or get the featured badge approval?
  • What other organic distribution channels or clever strategies worked best for you to get your first 100–500 users while waiting?

Appreciate any insights or experiences you can share!

reddit.com
u/ketansahu — 3 months ago
▲ 1 r/chrome_extensions

I launched and forgot about this chrome extension for a year and now it gets ~80 installs per month

https://preview.redd.it/aejkn88rdn9h1.png?width=1404&format=png&auto=webp&s=55d95411f3deb57e220d336e24c169faf3194ee3

I built a simple Chrome extension to save YouTube timestamps so that I don't have to go through the whole video to find that small portion of the video to revise for my studies. Timestamping was not enough, as searching those timestamps later became a problem, so I added a feature to add notes and tags with the timestamp that allowed me to search or filter the timestamps based on the notes or tags.

I launched this a year ago and completely forgot about it, and to my surprise, after a year, it has got 400+ installs in total with a current average of ~80 installs per month, and two 5-star ratings.

I'm thinking if there is a way I can monetize it with some really helpful features?

reddit.com
u/ketansahu — 4 months ago