DEV Community: MC Naveen

5 Critical Mistakes Indie Developers Make When Gathering User Feedback

MC Naveen — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 06:30:51 +0000

👋 Hey Dev.to community!

As an indie hacker or solo developer building your SaaS or side project, you've probably poured countless hours into coding, debugging, and launching. But what happens next?

Users come, they try it, and.. often disappear without a trace. No rants, no requests. just radio silence.

You hop on Reddit's r/indiehackers or r/SaaS, or even X, asking "How do I get real feedback from quiet users?" The advice pours in. surveys, emails, calls. You try them, but end up with fluffy responses like "it's okay" or "add more stuff."

The real issue? It's not your users, it's your feedback strategy.

After digging through tons of threads on Reddit and X, I've pinpointed the top 5 mistakes that sabotage growth, waste time, and lead to unnecessary features. Fix these, and feedback becomes your secret weapon for building what users actually want

Let's break them down.

Mistake 1: Delaying Feedback Until After Launch ("Build It and They Will Complain")

The Pitfall

You hide away for months, coding in isolation. no beta users, no early chats, no validation. Launch hits, you promote on Product Hunt or Hacker News, and users arrive.

Then, a comment: "Neat, but I already use [rival tool] for this, and it's better."

Oof. You've just reinvented the wheel, but worse.

Why It Hurts

Early input is low-cost; building blindly is pricey. Devs often postpone because "it needs to be polished" or "people won't get the idea from a mockup."

But as developer Cory House shared on X: "Feedback from non-users reveals why they wouldn't touch your product. that's pure gold."

A Reddit thread on r/indiehackers echoes this: Founders wasting months on unwanted tools, wishing they'd checked demand first.

How to Fix It: Validate Early

Spin up a quick landing page (try Carrd or a simple HTML setup).
Reach out to 20 potential users via Reddit, X, or LinkedIn DMs.
Request a short chat: "I'm working on [tool] for [problem]. Mind sharing how you handle it now?"
Probe for real pain: "What bugs you about your current setup? Would you pay for a fix?"
Only build if most show interest and willingness to pay.

Real win: A dev interviewed 30 peers pre-code, pivoted from deployment to monitoring based on complaints, and hit $10K MRR fast.

Mistake 2: Not Truly Listening (Or Defending Your Choices)

The Pitfall

A user says: "Onboarding feels off."

You think: "What? I perfected that!" And respond: "Did you see the hints?"

Congrats, you've shut them down.

Why It Hurts

Defensiveness blocks insights.

Why It Hurts

Defensiveness blocks insights.

As indie dev Javi Lopez tweeted: "Listen, question, thank. Never debate."

Users might say "needs dark mode" but mean "UI strains my eyes at night." Dismissing or arguing misses the core issue.

A r/indiehackers post asks how to spot "misleading" feedback.

How to Fix It: Be the Empathetic Listener

Respond gratefully: "Appreciate the input, tell me more about the confusion."
Use the 5 Whys: Keep asking why to uncover roots.
Always thank, even for tough feedback.
Evaluate privately later.

Example: A user called pricing "pricey." Asking "What did you expect?" revealed hidden annual only options. Added monthly, problem solved.

Pro tip from Julie Zhuo: Ask "What were you doing? What did you expect? How to improve?"

Mistake 3: Making Feedback Hard or Unrewarding

The Pitfall

You slap a "Feedback" link to a form and... crickets. Maybe one response, from yourself.

Why It Hurts

Users are swamped. Your app isn't their priority. If it takes effort (switching tabs, long forms), they'll skip it. A r/SaaS thread tells more about low email responses from 200 users.

Solution? Rewards and ease.

How to Fix It: Simplify and Sweeten

In-app tools: Use widgets for instant input with auto-screenshots (e.g., similar to FeedbackJar).

Incentives: Offer discounts, beta perks, or swag for responses.

Timing: Ask post-success (e.g., after a task) or at churn.

Saber Amani on X got 50+ pre-launch responses via polls and DMs. Another founder boosted conversions 18% with post-purchase questions.

Mistake 4: Missing Patterns in Feedback

The Pitfall

Feedback piles up: integrations, UI tweaks, imports.

You freeze or chase one loud voice, building for nobody.

Why It Hurts

Without spotting trends, it's chaos. r/indiehackers discusses distinguishing opinions from needs, patterns are key. Varied wording hides common issues.

How to Fix It: Organize and Score

Tag items: Bug, Feature, UX, etc.
"Rule of 5": Act on 5+ mentions.
ICE score: Impact × Confidence × Ease.
Ignore outliers unless widespread.

Example: Built a feature for one big client, flopped.

Lesson: Check user impact. Do this easily with our feedback tool

Mistake 5: No Feedback Follow-Up

The Pitfall

You act on input but don't update the user. They feel ignored and bail.

Why It Hurts

One-way feedback erodes trust. Dave G on X calls broken loops the top reason for wrong builds. A r/indiehackers playbook stresses updating users.

How to Fix It: Always Circle Back

Acknowledge fast.
Notify on launches: Emails, in-app alerts.
Explain nos politely.
Public roadmap for transparency.

A founder cut churn 15% with "You Asked, We Built" updates.

Bonus: Poor Questions Yield Poor Answers

Skip "Do you like it?" for "What frustrated you? What would you replace us with?"

Your Action Plan

Pre-launch: Interviews and pages.
Ease: In-app, rewards.
Listen: No debates.
Patterns: Tag and prioritize.
Loop: Notify always.

Collect User feedback in 30 seconds with Feedbackjar

As solo devs, feedback is your edge, act fast on direct insights. Treat it as fuel, not a task.

What feedback mistakes have you made? Share in the comments!

Deploy Express API with Docker

MC Naveen — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 05:49:51 +0000

Docker is a cross-platform virtualization technology that provides OS-level virtualization to run applications on the cloud. It enables developers to ship their apps as containers and avoid system conflicts.

Docker containers can be published via DockerHub or can be distributed locally using zip files. As of writing this article, DockerHub hosts more than one million public docker containers and images.

Setting up our Express API

Our Express API is pretty simple and contains only one GET route which says hello message.

This is what my index.js file looks like.

Now, create a new file called Dockerfile and paste the below code inside it.

FROM node:16

# Create app directory
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy package.json
COPY package*.json ./

# Install dependencies
RUN yarn install

# Copy all files
COPY . .

# Expose port 3000
EXPOSE 3000

# Run app
CMD [ "node", "index.js" ]

Breakdown of the Above file contents.

FROM Node:16 will pull the Node v16 image from the DockerHub
WORKDIR /usr/src/app — Here is where our app lives inside the container
COPY package*.json ./ — Copy the package.json from local dir to docker image.
RUN yarn install — This will install all the dependencies.
COPY . . — This will copy all the project files into the Docker image.
EXPOSE 3000 — This will allocate a docker container to use port 3000
CMD [ “node”, “index.js”] — This will start the Node JS app.

The Dockerignore file:

Now create a .dockerignore file and add the below content inside it.

node_modules
yarn*.log

Similar to .gitignore this will ignore the below-mentioned files when building the docker image.

Building the Docker Image:

Once the above process is done, We have to build our project as a docker image to use it.

Docker image can be built using a single line of command.

docker build . -t="timeless-hello-world"

Running the Docker Image:

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name my-app timeless-hello-world

Breakdown of the above command:

-d will detach the terminal after the successful run. Otherwise, the server will stop if we close the terminal.
-p 3000:3000 is the port we want our application to run.
--name my-app is the name of the container.
Finally, timeless-hello-world is the docker image we built in the above step.
Once you press the enter key. You’ll be prompted with the container ID.

We can also verify whether the container is running using the docker ps command.

If you open http://localhost:3000 in the browser, You’ll get an API response like this.

That’s it for this article. Hope this will be helpful to deploy your Express API using docker.

Feel free to comment your thoughts and let me know if you face any difficulty.

Blazing fast comment system with Sveltejs and Supabase

MC Naveen — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 03:22:11 +0000

Hey There,

MC.Naveen here. Developer of SupaComments. A simple open-source comment system for JamStack websites.

Built with Sveltejs and Supabase

For a long time, I wanted to build my own comment system. Finally had an opportunity when I found Supabase.

This doesn't have a lot of features at the moment. But I'm happy to improve based on your suggestions.

Feel free to check the demo
You can find the source code here

Supacomments is the #3rd Product of the day in ProductHunt

If you're a developer, Feel free to contribute.
Thank you.

Displaying numbers as k,M values in Reactjs

MC Naveen — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 05:34:22 +0000

SI Prefixs are everywhere. Facebook Likes, Twitter Reweets YouTube Views etc. See the example below to understand what I mean.

Example:

Before	After
1000 Views	1k Views
25000 Likes	25K Likes
30000 Retweets	30k Retweets

In this post we will see how we can convert the numbers to shortern numbers.

🎉 Make sure to bookmark this for later

We are going to use React for this example, But this works on all nodejs projects

Create a react app

npx create-react-app numbers

Wait until the project gets created.

cd into the directory

cd numbers

Install the required dependency

yarn add numify

or

npm install numify --save

Now in the `App.js` file paste the below code.

import "./styles.css";
import { numify } from "numify";
import { useState, useEffect } from "react";

export default function App() {
  const [number, setNumber] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Change the Number as per your choice
    setNumber(numify(2700000000));
  }, []);

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>2700000000 will be rendered as {number}</h1>
    </div>
  );
}

Then, Run the Project using the command

npm run start

Once the project is started, You'll see this in browser.

I hope you find this useful, Please drop a heart and leave your comments.

🎉 Make sure to bookmark this for later

How to Generate License Key with Node.js

MC Naveen — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 17:30:20 +0000

This post will help you to generate License keys with Node.js

I'll walk you through step by step process

Create a directory

mkdir license-key

cd into the Directory

cd license-key

Initiate Yarn

yarn init -y

Install the required dependency

yarn add @mcnaveen/license-gen

Create a new file called index.js and paste the below code.

const licenseGen = require("@mcnaveen/license-gen")

const key = licenseGen(32)
console.log(key)

Now Save the File
Then Run node index.js
You'll get the license key in console like below

TPL5-IAQV-TUCR-8N7A-AQBW-EFSQ-HLK7-BND6

You can alter the license key as per your need.

If you want more characters, change the value from 32 to something else.

Or if you need pair of 8 values with the same 32 characters modify the code like this.

const licenseGen = require("@mcnaveen/license-gen")

const key = licenseGen(32, 8)
console.log(key)

Then you'll get the output like this

BONP7PMW-2T4CTB58-9EOJT7CU-Q72TVKGL

This module as supports ES6 imports

If you like this post leave a heart, or Bookmark it for later.

Please comment your thoughts

Links:

Module Link: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@mcnaveen/license-gen
Example Repo (ES6): https://github.com/mcnaveen/license-gen-example

ShowDev: I made an Random Words API with Pronunciation

MC Naveen — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 17:03:34 +0000

Hi All,

I created a simple API which returns Random English Word along with the Definition and Pronunciation.

Pronunciation is generated on the fly with NLP.

Stack used

NodeJs
Express

Demo: https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word

RapidAPI: https://rapidapi.com/mcnaveen/api/random-words-with-pronunciation/

mcnaveen / Random-Words-API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

Random Words API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

🚀 API

Free API - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word
Dutch Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/dutch
PWA Demo - Check Here

🎛 Route Options

Base URL: https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word

- /noun
- /sentence
- /question
- /adjective
- /idiom
- /verb
- /letter
- /paragraph
- /vocabulary
- /1-word-quotes
- /2-word-quotes
- /3-word-quotes
- /affirmation

🌐 Sample API Response

[
  {
    "word": "Exactor",
    "definition": "One who exacts; extortioner; claimer of rights  ",
    "pronunciation": "Eksaktor"
  }
]

🌐 Sample Dutch Response

[
  {
    "word": "Perfect",
    "definition": "Perfect",
    "pronunciation": "Perfekt"
  }
]

💡 Learn New word

✨ Installation (Development)

# Clone the Repo
git clone https://github.com/mcnaveen/Random-Words-API random-words
# Cd into Directory
cd random-words

# Install Dependencies
yarn install

#

…

View on GitHub

If you found it useful. Please give a star.

Thank you.

No More Zero Days - Achieve Great things

MC Naveen — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:44:55 +0000

⚠️ This Post is not related to Zero Day Vulnerability. It's about staying on track and productivity.

I Know, lot of you might start working on a project. In the Beginning your energy levels will be so higher. There will be some kind of fire inside you.

But when the day passes, you'll slowly start losing interest on that thing and immediately start working on something else.

At the end, There will be no positive result for your time spent.

Here is where no more zero days comes in. Let me explain this.

It means, if you didn't even made a small progress on that project it'll be counted as zero day.

Our goal should be doing something on that project which can improve piece by piece daily.

Make progress every single day never stop doing it.

I read about this somewhere on Reddit and found it useful. So I shared it. I don't have link to the original post.

Edit: I found it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/cdah4af

I made an Free API to get random words and Generate pronunciation on the go

MC Naveen — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 08:16:30 +0000

The Story

From long time I want to learn a new word everyday. But I'm not fond of reading or going through the dictionary every single day. I wanted to do something technical.

So I created this API.

Tech Stack

NodeJS with Cheerio, Express
Compromise-pronounce for generating pronunciation

mcnaveen / Random-Words-API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

Random Words API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

🌍 Languages

English
Dutch
Spanish
French
Chinese
Japanese

🚀 API

English Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word
Dutch Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/dutch
Spanish Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/spanish
French Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/french
Chinese Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/chinese
Japanese Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/japanese
Turkish Random Words - https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/turkish
PWA Demo - Check Here

🎛 Route Options (English Only)

Base URL: https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/english

- /noun
- /sentence
- /question
- /adjective
- /idiom
- /verb
- /letter
- /paragraph
- /vocabulary
- /1-word-quotes
- /2-word-quotes
- /3-word-quotes
- /affirmation

🌐 Sample API Response

API: https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/
Method: GET

[
  {
    "word": "Exactor",
    "definition": "One who exacts; extortioner; claimer of rights  ",
    "pronunciation": "Eksaktor"
  }
]

🌐 Sample Dutch Response

API: https://random-words-api.vercel.app/word/dutch
Method: GET

[
  {
    "word": "Perfect"
    "definition"

…

View on GitHub

It fetches the word from the web and generate pronunciation on the go.

Feel free to use it. PRs are welcome.

Thanks to @mskian for Progressive Web App.
https://wordsonrandom.netlify.app/

Why I Love Docker as a Newbie 🐋

MC Naveen — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 15:16:52 +0000

Hola, Hope you guys are doing great. 💖

Why I love docker and Why you should switch to Docker.

What is Docker?

Docker is a Platform as a Service, Which lets you to use OS level virtualization to Deliver software in Packages called containers.

Best thing about Docker is, Each container is Isolated. Means, One container won't mess up with another one.

My Story

I'm a Big fan of Open-Source and I love to try running new Open Source stuff either in Raspberry Pi or Laptop.

One thing I hate running in the Current system is dependencies issue. Yes, Installing one package will broke another existing dependency package.

Using Ubuntu in my Laptop and Raspbian in Pi

Yes, It's painful, I have faced this issue many times. Luckily, All the Stuff I picking have Docker Container.

But I keep ignore. Yesterday I planned to give Docker a try in my Pi.

Trust me. It solves Dependencies issue. And Very low CPU usage as compared to Native Script.

How it's Possible with Docker?

Docker container is a standard unit of software that packs up code and all dependencies, so the application runs quickly and reliably without messing with other container. Also, Docker uses the Original Kernel of Main Operating System to fulfil the system level needs.

Most of the Codes/Stuff now supports Docker. They are delivering Docker container which contains everything to run out of the Box.

I'll leave all the Links to get started with Docker

Installing Docker: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-use-docker-on-ubuntu-16-04
Find Docker Container: https://hub.docker.com/

That's all for this Post :)

DEV Community: MC Naveen

5 Critical Mistakes Indie Developers Make When Gathering User Feedback

Mistake 1: Delaying Feedback Until After Launch ("Build It and They Will Complain")

The Pitfall

Why It Hurts

How to Fix It: Validate Early

Mistake 2: Not Truly Listening (Or Defending Your Choices)

The Pitfall

Why It Hurts

Why It Hurts

How to Fix It: Be the Empathetic Listener

Mistake 3: Making Feedback Hard or Unrewarding

The Pitfall

Why It Hurts

How to Fix It: Simplify and Sweeten

Mistake 4: Missing Patterns in Feedback

The Pitfall

Why It Hurts

How to Fix It: Organize and Score

Mistake 5: No Feedback Follow-Up

The Pitfall

Why It Hurts

How to Fix It: Always Circle Back

Your Action Plan

Deploy Express API with Docker

Setting up our Express API

The Dockerignore file:

Building the Docker Image:

Running the Docker Image:

Breakdown of the above command:

Blazing fast comment system with Sveltejs and Supabase

Displaying numbers as k,M values in Reactjs

Create a react app

cd into the directory

Install the required dependency

Now in the App.js file paste the below code.

Then, Run the Project using the command

How to Generate License Key with Node.js

ShowDev: I made an Random Words API with Pronunciation

mcnaveen / Random-Words-API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

Random Words API

🚀 API

🎛 Route Options

🌐 Sample API Response

🌐 Sample Dutch Response

💡 Learn New word

✨ Installation (Development)

No More Zero Days - Achieve Great things

I made an Free API to get random words and Generate pronunciation on the go

The Story

Tech Stack

mcnaveen / Random-Words-API

🦄 Get Random Words (with pronunciation) for Free using this API

Random Words API

🌍 Languages

🚀 API

🎛 Route Options (English Only)

🌐 Sample API Response

🌐 Sample Dutch Response

Why I Love Docker as a Newbie 🐋

Why I love docker and Why you should switch to Docker.

What is Docker?

My Story

How it's Possible with Docker?

Now in the `App.js` file paste the below code.