Building My First Product in Public: TripTales India 🇮🇳

PRATHAM SHARMA — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 11:01:40 +0000

Hello everyone,
I’m Pratham Sharma, a full-stack software developer and currently in the final year of my Master’s in Computer Applications.

For a long time, I wanted to build something of my own—not just side projects, but a real product that solves an actual problem. Like most developers, I spent weeks brainstorming ideas, discarding them, and second-guessing myself.

Eventually, I noticed a very common problem around me: travel planning in India is still fragmented. People love to travel, and India offers everything from popular tourist destinations to hidden gems, but planning a trip usually means jumping between blogs, maps, videos, and notes. There wasn’t a single place that brought everything together in a simple and practical way.

That’s when I decided to start building TripTales India.

At the beginning, the idea was small. I just wanted to showcase popular Indian destinations with useful, well-structured information. But as I kept building, the product evolved naturally. New ideas came up during development, and instead of locking myself into a fixed scope, I let the product grow alongside my learning.

One major addition was an AI-powered trip planner. The goal was to let users enter a few basic preferences and receive a realistic, day-wise itinerary they could actually use while traveling. To make it practical, I added options to share the plan on WhatsApp or download it as a PDF.

While working on this, another idea clicked. India is one of the biggest film-making hubs in the world, and many people want to visit places where famous movies were shot. This led to a separate content section focused on movie shooting locations, which later became one of the most interesting parts of the platform.

To make the platform more than just a tool, I also wanted to build a small community. So I added a blog section where users can share their own travel experiences and write about hidden destinations across India.

What TripTales India Offers Today

After about 2–3 months of building, the platform now has four core features:

Popular Destinations of India

Explore well-known Indian destinations with descriptions, best time to visit, travel tips, map locations, and images.

Cinephile Destinations (CinePlaces 🎬)

Discover places across India where popular movies were shot, along with film details, travel tips, and location information.

AI-Powered Trip Planner 🤖

Fill out a simple form and get a personalized, day-wise itinerary that can be shared on WhatsApp or downloaded as a PDF.

Your Trip Tales (Community Blog ✍️)

A space where users can write and read travel blogs, especially about hidden or lesser-known destinations.

Why It Took Longer Than Expected

Some people might say this could have been built faster—and that’s fair. But I didn’t have a finalized feature list from day one. I was learning new technologies while building, experimenting with ideas, and improving the product step by step. This project wasn’t just about shipping quickly; it was about learning deeply.

Current Status (Honest Numbers)

I launched TripTales India in November 2025. As of now:

Around 50–100 monthly visits

Roughly 2–5 new visits daily

Most content is accessible without signup

Signup is required only for using the trip planner or writing blogs

This is one of the reasons sign-ups are still low, which I’m planning to improve gradually.

Monetization & Growth

I recently introduced a freemium model:

First 5 AI trip plans are free

After that, users can pay ₹50/month to continue using the AI trip planner with sharing and download features

So far, I don’t have any paying users. I believe this is mainly because the domain is new, has low authority, and very few backlinks. Right now, my focus is on improving SEO, publishing quality long-form content, and working on programmatic SEO to grow traffic organically over time.

Why I’m Sharing This Here

This is my first serious attempt at launching a product in public. I’m not chasing viral growth; I want real feedback and honest insights from people who’ve already been through this journey.

If you have suggestions—whether about the product, pricing, SEO, or growth—I’d genuinely appreciate them.

🔗 Website: TripTales India

Thanks for reading. Still building, still learning—one step at a time 🚀

DEV Community: PRATHAM SHARMA

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