I Got Zero Paying Subscribers

This week I launched a website and got 3 signups. 0 paid.

And I'm honestly okay with it.

The Loop

Like most people, I was stuck in a cycle:

1. Have an idea

2. Buy a domain

3. Build 50-80% of it (or 0% of it)

4. Never touch it again

I have nearly 20 unused domains and 5-10 unfinished projects sitting on my computer. Does that sound familiar?

Why Shipping Is Hard

You can code most of a project pretty quickly. But then there's everything else:

• Setting up and testing payments

• Adding email sending

• Configuring your domain

• Finalizing OAuth platforms

• Bug after bug after bug once you're ready to release

Each of these feels small. Together, they're why most projects never launch. The other main reason is the "1 more feature" loop. You keep telling yourself "1 more feature and then I'll launch", and it keeps going and going, until you give up and never launch. You have to sit down and think about what your MVP really needs first and get the product out there.

Not only that, you have to somehow find users - which I just learnt is the hardest part. Your product also has to quickly convince people to use it over everything else, then convince them to pay, and also convince them to keep paying each month.

That's a lot of convincing!

What I Actually Launched

This week I launched Puzzle Time, a daily puzzle games site, which was my first real website with payments.

The result? 3 signups. Zero conversions.

By most metrics, that's a failure. But here's the thing - I don't see it that way.

Why I'm Happy Anyway

For the first time, I shipped something real. Not 80% done. Not "almost ready." Actually live, with working payments, auth, and a real product people can use.

That feeling of finally deploying my own real production app is worth more than the metrics right now. I feel like I've gotten over the mental barrier that was stopping me from deploying my projects.

I also learned more in this launch than in any of my abandoned projects combined. Real users clicking around your app teaches you things no amount of local testing ever will.

What I've Learned

Distribution matters more than building. There's at least 100 puzzle sites out there. How and why is anyone going to use mine over anyone else's? The same will apply to most product ideas. I can build the best app of all time but if no one knows about it, then who cares.

Don't over-engineer at first, focus on the MVP. I spent a decent amount of time ensuring security was built in. I added tRPC rate limiting, magic link rate limiting, and more, just to get 3 users. Don't focus on problems before they can even possibly occur!

Small numbers aren't zero. 3 real people took time to sign up for something I made and are enjoying it - I'm pretty happy about that! Also I play the puzzles everyday and have fun :)

What's Next

I'm not giving up on Puzzle Time. My girlfriend and I still play the puzzles everyday so I make improvements everyday to make it a better experience.

The muscle I needed to build wasn't coding - it was shipping. Now that I've done it once, the next one will be easier.

I have HUGE plans for 2026, more soon 👀

Check out Puzzle Time below: