This didn't start as a startup idea or a side-hustle plan. I just wanted a simple app to track my flights and see how they look on a map. That's it.
I know there are already a lot of apps that do this. I've tried most of them. And almost every time I ended up frustrated for the same two reasons:
- Loading flights was slow and clunky
- I had to create an account just to do something that should take a minute
I only wanted to see some routes on a map. Why did that require signing up?
The specific things that kept annoying me
What I really wanted was something closer to a calculator than a platform.
Most of the time, I don't want to:
- Set up a profile
- Import a full itinerary
- Add airlines, dates, seat numbers, loyalty programs, etc.
I just want to answer questions like:
- What does this route look like on a map?
- How far is this flight?
- How does this connect with my other trips?
And I want the answer now, not after creating an account and clicking through five steps.
So I built the simplest version possible
When I started building my own tool, I focused on two rules:
Only ask for what's absolutely mandatory
Origin and destination. That's it.Everything else should be optional
If you want to add more details later, great.
If not, you shouldn't have to.
The goal was simple:
- Add flights quickly
- See them instantly on a map
- Use it offline if needed
- Download an image of the map if you want to save or share it
Basically, something you could open, use for one minute, get what you need and leave.
No commitment.
Accounts are optional (on purpose)
This part was important to me.
You can create an account if you want to save things long-term, but for most people, you don't need one.
I've lost count of how many times I've gone to a website thinking:
"I'm going to use this once, why do I need an account?"
That friction alone is often enough for me to close the tab.
So I tried to design this tool for people like me.
Building it was the easy part
Technically, it's a pretty straightforward web app. I built it with React + Vite and kept things intentionally simple.
What I didn't fully expect was how different building and getting people to notice would feel.
I launched it, shared it a bit, even submitted it to Product Hunt.
And then… not much happened.
A few visits. Some clicks. Very slow growth.
Interestingly, Bing picked it up much faster than Google, while Google barely showed it at all at first. That was confusing, and honestly a bit discouraging.
What I've learned so far
A few things became clear pretty quickly:
- Shipping something is only step one - Distribution is a whole separate problem.
- SEO takes time (especially for new sites) - Even if you do things right, results don’t come fast.
- Reducing friction really matters - Forced sign-ups lose people.
- Building something you personally want is still a good idea - At least you know the problem is real.
Where things are now
I'm still improving the app, slowly.
Still trying to make it faster and simpler.
Still figuring out how to help the right people discover it.
No big growth hacks. No viral moment.
Just iterating and learning as I go.
If you're curious, this is the tool I've been working on: My Flight Routes
Final thought
If you're building something because a bunch of small things annoyed you, that's a perfectly valid reason to start.
Sometimes you're not trying to change the world.
You're just trying to remove a little friction.
And that's enough.
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