180 days of running a launch directory: the numbers, what's working, what isn't

Aayan sharma — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 07:50:12 +0000

Hi Everyone I am Aayan,
15 year old solo founder of buildrship.xyz

I launched Buildrship, a curated launch platform for builders, on 15th June, 2026.
Today the numbers keep moving themselves.

Every week the floor rises a little higher, and I want to show the actual curve not just the highlight reel because most “I launched X” posts skip the boring middle.

This is a build-in-public log, not a pitch. If something here is useful for your own launch, take it.

Ship log so far
Week Signups Products Listed DR Revenue Notes
~Week 9 310+ 255+ 45 ~$13 Steady climb
Week 10 330+ 270+ 46 $0 Flat revenue week
Week 11 370+ 294+ 45 $13 Growing again
Week 12 396+ 310+ 44+ $8 Slow week
Week 13 445+ 358+ 45 $18 Best week so far
Recent daily — — 45 Hit $79 total around mid-Oct Ended multi-day sales drought with 2 sales in one day; crossed ~450 total users

(Numbers pulled from the weekly updates I’ve been posting on X. Signups are cumulative.)
btw Today WE CROSSED OVER 480+ SIGNUPS , 46 DR AND 115$ IN REVENUE WITH OVER 700+ UPVOTES

A few things stand out when you line it up:

The flat day never came. I expected a launch spike then a long valley. Instead the weekly floor keeps stepping up.

DR moved into the mid-40s relatively quickly.
Mostly from builders linking back to their listing + the natural outbound from the platform.
Paid features (Plus launches, sponsored placements) layered on top of the organic curve instead of replacing it.
What’s actually driving it
Honest answer: it isn’t a viral loop, it isn’t SEO yet, and it isn’t one big post. It’s two unsexy things running in parallel.

Cold outreach on X every day.
I reply to builders who just shipped, DM people posting MVP screenshots, and quote-tweet launches with a soft pitch to submit. Most of it is one-to-one. It doesn’t scale, but it compounds — the people I talk to start tagging others.
Keeping the offer real.
The pitch is “submit and get real visibility + a permanent dofollow backlink.” If the platform can’t deliver traffic and attention to the listed products, supply dries up after the novelty wears off. So the focus stays on making sure listed products actually get seen (weekly leaderboard, verified visits required for votes, sidebar/featured spots, etc.).
The combination holds the curve: outreach brings supply, real visibility keeps the supply happy. Neither alone would be enough.

The free utility that pulls non-ready builders in
Not every visitor is ready to submit a product. So we shipped free tools adjacent to the core offer (SEO audits, AI readiness checks, DR tracking + shareable cards, chat-to-launch agent). You drop a URL or idea and get something useful immediately — no heavy signup wall on the first run.

The point isn’t tool revenue. “I need visibility / I need to understand my SEO / I need early feedback” is a problem every indie builder has, including the ones who aren’t ready to launch yet. The tools bring them in; the curated directory keeps them.

A meaningful chunk of recent signups has come through those utility pages rather than the pure homepage. Lesson: in a two-sided product, a free utility that solves a problem adjacent to your core offer is a better top-of-funnel than “here’s our directory.”

Things I tried that didn’t work
A generic “submit your product” post with no context. Flopped. Same offer reframed as a reply inside a relevant thread drove submissions.
Waiting for pure SEO. DR climbing is nice but it has driven almost zero conversions so far. Traffic is still overwhelmingly from X + direct/paid features.
Over-indexing on volume early. Curation (manual review) is the product. When rejection rate stays meaningful, quality holds.
Things I’d do differently if I started today
Set up the submission flow + tracking on day one, not later. Builders mention the ease of listing a lot.
Comp the earliest submitters harder with visibility from the start. The first builders who submit to an unproven platform are doing you a favor.
Run a tiny paid boost budget from day one to anchor the “we actually send traffic” promise. Even a small amount buys credibility.
Current offer
Free permanent listings + dofollow backlink are still open (manual review). Paid options exist if you want priority placement, custom launch week, extra visibility, or the higher-tier features.

Submit here: https://buildrship.xyz

If you want the full series of posts behind this, I’ve been logging the journey on X at @AayanShips / @BuildrShip.

Question for anyone who’s run a directory / marketplace / two-sided product
What metric told you supply quality was holding up as volume grew? Mine has been “rejection rate stays meaningful + votes still require real visits.” Curious what others use.

DEV Community: Aayan sharma

180 days of running a launch directory: the numbers, what's working, what isn't