Apps that failed: No Distribution

2 postmortems where the primary reason for failure was no distribution. Learn what went wrong so you can avoid it.

A local events app that discovered the hard part was venue supply, not the feed UI

R.I.P.

JUL '2024 – DEC '2024

AbandonedComposite exampleNo Distribution

WorkedThe UX was good. The 'tonight' feed with category filters was clean and fast.

NeedsRebuild thesis: A general local-events app is too broad for an indie builder.

Revenue

Users

~500 downloads, ~80 opened the app more than once, peak DAU of 12

Built in

3 months

Has usersDomain includedOpen to saleNeeds marketer

A lightweight Chrome tab snoozer that worked well but had no distribution engine

R.I.P.

APR '2024 – SEP '2024

AbandonedComposite exampleNo Distribution

WorkedThe user experience was tight. Right-click, pick a time, done.

NeedsRebuild thesis: Tab snoozing solves a real micro-pain, but it is too small as a standalone…

Revenue

$0 (planned to add a paid tier, never reached the user threshold to justify it)

Users

~380 installs, ~90 weekly active users at peak

Built in

5 weeks

Has usersDomain includedCodebase includedOpen to sale