Software is harder to sell because it has the burden of being useful, at least in the way I try to look at it. My mom just bought a 90 rupee bird that holds your toothpick and it looks so fucking goofy looking. Bright colors, off-centered eyes, and it looks very fragile, like it might break after 2-3 uses. It solves no problem but still it appealed to the B2C market and a lot of people are buying it. Make a software equivalent of it that might be equal in utility, value, or aesthetic. I don’t think it is going to get much traction, so it’s like the button of software to be useful, and the way I think about it is holding me back. I think physical product could be good, but I don’t want to make the commitment of holding up inventory or the logistics of delivery.
I’m good at this certain distribution channel, but I can make products for this other thing, not for the distribution channel I’m good at. And I don’t see a way to conduct commerce in the products my distribution channel might be interested in because I don’t have that kind of capital or labor commitent to it right now.
I think right now what I am grappling the most with is the mismatch between the manufacture/creation ability of mine and the distribution ability. There is a channel mismatch. The distribution channel that I’m good at is not compatible with the products that I am able to build. And the product that I am able to build for it, the type of capital commitment I might need (even if it is very small) – I don’t have it right now. And for the type of distribution channel I am good ad, I don’t have the capital to hold the product for it. Of course, both of these things can be solved by having some type of capital backing me, but I don’t know where it is coming from, and for now, I do have to be bootstrapped. So, what does one do in this situation? Right now, I do see a gap between my capabilities and the success that i want. A gap that can be bridged using capital. The lack of capital is what is staring at me right now. But they atleast it is not something that is a permanent, money flows. I can have capital backing me in many of the future ventures that are to come
Well, I do see that I can duct tape open source software together to create web apps. Can I do the same for mobile apps? Can I create at least progressive web apps that people can use on their phone, if not full-fledged iOS or Android apps?
What might be standing between me and creating another PWA is the idea for it. I am being a bit hypocritical here because I have said that product is the most irrelevant thing – you are supposed to connect with the people, make them feel good, and they’d buy anything. So, being clueless right now is an admission of inability to implement my own thoughts right now. But I will develop that muscle it is the gap showing between the theory and practice. As I said, product is the most irrelevant thing. So, it can be anything, but for a product to BE, it has to have a form, it has to have constraints, it has to be very specific, or how are you going to write code about it or how are you going to put it through a plastic mold to get its shape. My idea calls it something that is shapeless or irrelevant or that can be anything. My mental model to boost my ability to sell anything calls “product” that can be anything, but act of creation requires you to make a thousand specific decisions. It’s like saying “the specific words in a pickup line don’t matter, it’s all about confidence and delivery” – okay, but you still have to say actual words when you approach someone.
I need to figure framework out to give shape to the shapeless so i can bring it into existence. A machine where whatever goes in and comes out something that can be sold
From claude
You’re good at Instagram/short-form content and branding. You can build software by duct-taping open-source tools together (which, honestly, is a legitimate skill). But you’ve discovered a painful mismatch: the products that sell well through your distribution channel (B2C, impulse-driven, mobile) require either capabilities you don’t have yet (mobile dev, payments) OR they’re physical products with logistics you don’t want to deal with. Meanwhile, the product you can make (dev tools) needs a completely different distribution strategy you haven’t cracked.
You’ve identified the core constraint really clearly: channel-product mismatch with no capital to bridge the gap.
Here’s what I want to ask you:
Given that you can build web apps and potentially PWAs, and you’re good at Instagram marketing, what’s stopping you from building something simple and goofy that people would impulse-buy through your channel? Like, I’m talking really simple – a $5-10 tool that does one specific thing people already want to do on their phone. Not a dev tool. Not something “useful” in the traditional sense. Something that scratches an itch.
Me: My philosophy always has been that you use as much open-source software as possible because they have all the edge cases embedded in them. And its minimal coding for me, and I’m not a builder, but just a plumber connecting things. So, what can I do to bring that mindset to PWAs? Like it needs to be for the mobile factor, right? I usually build for PC, in fact I avoid making UIs. My previous application was the CLI because it doesn’t have any UI.
Claude:
For the mobile UI problem you’re avoiding:
- Use a component library that’s already mobile-optimized:
- Shadcn/ui or DaisyUI or Chakra UI – these have pre-built components that are already touch-friendly
- You just import buttons, cards, inputs that already work on mobile
- Minimal custom CSS needed
- Use a mobile-first template:
- There are hundreds of open-source PWA templates on GitHub
- Clone one, gut the functionality, keep the UI shell
- Replace their logic with your duct-taped libraries
- The template already handles responsive design, touch targets, mobile navigation
- For layout, use Tailwind CSS utility classes:
- Tailwind has mobile-first breakpoints built in
- You’re just adding classes like
text-lg md:text-xl(bigger on mobile, bigger on desktop) - No custom CSS needed, just copy patterns from examples
The plumber approach for PWAs:
- Find a PWA template with UI you don’t hate
- Swap out their backend logic with your open-source libraries
- Keep their entire frontend/UI as-is
- Add your branding/copy on top
- You’re connecting: [UI template] + [functionality libraries] + [PWA boilerplate]
Example flow:
- Search “React PWA template mobile” on GitHub
- Clone one with clean UI
- Strip out their todo app or whatever
- Plug in your duct-taped libraries for actual functionality
- Change colors/copy/branding
- Deploy
You’re not building UI from scratch – you’re connecting someone else’s UI to someone else’s functionality.