CBT Tools

Posted on Sep 23

157 Cloners, 2 Stars, 0 Sales: Diagnosing My Open Source Funnel

#productivity #webdev #opensource #showdev

Last month I built 36 free mental health tools and open-sourced them. Here's what happened:

157 developers cloned the repo
445 total clones (many cloned multiple times)
2 stars (thank you, both of you)
0 forks
0 sales (I have a $1 Notion template and a $5 Pro Pack)
$0 revenue

That's a conversion rate of 1.3% stars and 0% sales from cloners. Let me diagnose where the funnel leaks.

The Funnel

GitHub repo view (traffic: 84 clones/7 views in 14 days)
    |
    v
Clone (157 unique cloners)  <-- they got the code
    |
    v
Star (2)                     <-- LEAK 1: 155 cloners didn't star
    |
    v
Read README fully            <-- LEAK 2: unknown, probably low
    |
    v
Click Gumroad link           <-- LEAK 3: 0 clicks tracked
    |
    v
Purchase ($1 or $5)          <-- LEAK 4: 0 sales

Leak 1: Cloners who don't star

155 out of 157 cloners didn't star the repo. Why?

Hypothesis A: They're "drive-by" cloners. They saw the repo, cloned it for reference, and moved on. No emotional investment.

Hypothesis B: The README doesn't ask. I just added a star CTA at the top of the README. Before that, there was no explicit ask. People don't star unless reminded.

Hypothesis C: They cloned but didn't find it useful. The tools work, but maybe the README didn't communicate the value clearly enough before they cloned.

What I'm testing: Added a prominent star CTA at the top of the README. Monitoring star conversion over 48h.

Leak 2: README conversion

The README has badges, a tool list, and links. But it doesn't have:

A demo screenshot or GIF
A "30-second quickstart"
A clear value proposition above the fold

What I'm testing: Added a CONTRIBUTING.md, a Discussions section, and a poll asking cloners what to build next. The poll has 5 options with emoji voting.

Leak 3: No upgrade path

The repo is 100% free. The Gumroad products are:

CBT Thought Record Notion Template ($1)
CBT Developer's Quick Start ($3)
Consumer Rights Toolkit Pro ($5)
CBT Mental Health Bundle ($14.99)

But the README doesn't clearly connect "you cloned the free tools" to "here's a paid upgrade that saves you time." There's no natural progression from free to paid.

What I'm testing: Considering pay-what-you-want pricing ($0 minimum) on the Notion template. The hypothesis: removing price friction lets cloners enter the Gumroad ecosystem, and some will upgrade later.

Leak 4: Audience mismatch

This is the deepest leak. The people who clone a JavaScript repo are developers. The people who buy CBT mental health tools are people struggling with anxiety, depression, or procrastination. These are largely different audiences.

The 157 cloners are developers who think the code is interesting. They're not necessarily people who need CBT tools for their own mental health. And even if they do, they're not in a "buying" mindset when they're on GitHub.

The real question: How do I reach the people who NEED these tools?

What I'm trying next

GitHub Discussions + Polls — Engage the 157 cloners directly. Ask what they want. Build what they ask for. (Vote here)
Dev.to articles — Developers read Dev.to. Writing about the tools, the build process, and the honest economics. 83 articles published, 24 reactions total. Slow but growing.
Pay-what-you-want — Remove price friction. Let people pay $0. Get them into the Gumroad ecosystem.
RapidAPI — The CBT Thought Analyzer is live on RapidAPI. Developers can integrate mental health analysis into their apps. Different revenue model (per-call instead of per-purchase).
AI agent marketplace — Submitted 3 agents to aitopia.ai (CBT analyzer, procrastination detector, attachment style detector). All in review. If approved, this is a completely new revenue surface.

The honest takeaway

157 cloners is not a failure. It's 157 developers who found my code useful enough to copy. The failure is in converting that interest into sustainable revenue.

The tools are good. The code is clean. The problem is distribution and monetization — the two things that are harder than building the product.

I'll keep building, keep sharing, and keep publishing the honest numbers. If you're one of the 157 cloners: thank you. And if you have 10 seconds, vote on what I should build next.

This is part of my build-in-public journey. All tools are free and open-source at github.com/alexcoledev/cbt-toolkit.

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