this app is called “Richard” AI diary of successful icons, unraveling their stories in the format of diary posts based on known facts.

i carried this app around for a week and ultimately decided not to pursue because i couldn’t get myself intensely pulled to it naturally.

i archived it and arrived at my new app idea. having a blast and almost ready to ship it.

pivoting is a very personal choice.

here we go again.

what matters is the composure to navigate through the ups and downs, not to make every single day of my life an "up" day. that is not up to me.

i've flopped too many apps to preserve my pride, but i know that craft is not dead yet. i still hold the view that no matter how good the distribution, what works long term is product. i really don't need to prove it to anyone, but i will prove it to myself.

shining my pistol with this one. if i were a musician, let this become my platinum single. refreshingly original idea, fun mechanism, at the edge of controversy. built entirely alone line by line, pixel by pixel, by me. and one co founder (AI).

getting late, so getting delusional. nobody knows. i'll leave luck to heaven and shoot my verse to the void.

don't need testflight. go time

come on tim cook. approve and let me cook.

faith is the real moat.

not blind faith but faith in tune with the market and more importantly, with myself.

distribution can come and go. product can change.

in that rollercoaster ride, if faith gets derailed it is all for naught.

i dont mean religions, well, religion - where you believe in yourself.

finally launched Hailee.

i learned a lot about human psychology. i think i’ll stick a while around this one to iterate this time.



https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hailee-ai-girl/id6760208960

I've started 3 vc backed startups but I am not proud of any of the outcome.

~All of my past investors have been nothing but kind, empathetic, and helpful for me, fortunately.

I learned a lot, but for lack of better words, fucked them all up.

I don't intend to raise any external funding going forward. I will prove something that truly works to myself, then consider that path as one of the options.

Today's venture world - something is missing there the more I tune into the historical legends like rockefeller, carnegie and beyond. Something better become a business before leaning on other people's money.

you cannot forget:

- that first gaze on your eyes with curiosity and affection
- that first hands in the air as your music moves the crowd
- that first user in whose hands your product blooms

it is so hard to spark that "first," and even harder to make that last, but it is the very dream that makes it all worth it. i send my respect all those who relentlessly create despite the despair that lets them down.

we are all of one origin born to create. there's a reason why we feel so much better while creating compared to endlessly consuming.

two main school of thoughts as of today:

product-first:
'if the product is so good, they will come and stay'
this fits the artist type founders who would rather pull something out of their imagination and let it fly or die. products like snapchat belong to this category. there was not much of such product to "copy and scale."

distribution-first:
'i can sell anything, just name it'
this fits the hustler type founders who can spot and nail any rising trends. copy cat products belong to this category. there are plenty of products to copy and scale in today's world.

contrary to popular beliefs, there are cases of both directions working out, but only if they are done with speed.

i had a full week of feeling like shit, feeling like i have to pause and just get a job or do some part time contract work, and the ounce of doubt snowballed. day by day. the weight of it pressed my pride flat on the ground.

my head was about to explode from thinking about thoughts. the more i think, the more it complicates the obvious that is right in front of me.

i am making progress though. the AI girl app started converting paying users on its own so i resumed the marketing push, and also started working on one more app.

this one is to literally just help my fried attention span from constantly building on laptop/selling on phone. i just needed screen breaks and i gamified it this time.

new goal is to submit it to the store today and resume the marketing push.

just keep swimming. i sincerely want to make this work.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hailee-ai-girl/id6760208960

submitted the new app. felt good to push myself.

the more i move the more i believe.

motion is lotion my friends.

not sure why im so irritable today. not productive at all. 1% left til shipping the new app.

am i being lazy?
is the sleep affecting me?
family matters?

are these just excuses within my head that just forgot who i can share them with?

what is the point of sharing them?

unproductive days suffocate my soul. i have this undying thirst for greatness within to be written out but on many days, the ink implodes and spills to my guts.

i need a new outlet that is not conventional. this diary is the only spot where i get to vomit my raw thoughts. not the standup type of status where i post i ship this wdyt that, but just how i am feeling.

if it’s with people i’m not very close to, what is the point of showing my guts? they don’t care enough and i don’t care enough.

if it’s with people i love, why share the confusion and downward spiral with them? they will lose sleep worrying about me.

just rambling here is helping. gonna go for a walk then get back to wrapping what i started and think from there

submitted the update. gonna go for a long walk. don’t feel like doing much today but just walking to the coffee shop instead of driving to think along

ok just thought of a wacky idea.

cooking

my latest status:

2 apps on app store, 1 apple review pending.
7 apps prototypes and sitting on my home screen.

running 6 tiktok accounts, 1 insta, 1 youtube.

~$500 MRR on $0 marketing budget.

BUT it's flattening a bit already. mix of progress and frustration so hanging in there.

https://x.com/startupoppa/status/2075608957725597972?s=20