When I started building Web2Phone, I thought the hard part would be technical: infrastructure, edge cases, deliverability, security, GDPR… all the stuff that can quietly ruin your week.
Turns out I was wrong.
Building the product was the part I understand.
Marketing is the part that makes me feel like I’m guessing in public.
I’m a solo founder and fullstack developer. I can ship features, fix bugs, and make a system reliable. But the minute I need to explain what I built — clearly, consistently, and in a way that makes strangers care — I start hesitating.
And I think a lot of devs hit this wall.
The weird emotional gap between “done” and “distributed”
When you’re building, progress feels obvious:
- feature shipped
- tests passing
- user flow improved
- bug fixed
- server stable But marketing progress is… foggy. You can write a post and get no response.
You can record a video and feel cringe the whole time.
You can message people and worry you’re being annoying.
And the worst part is: silence doesn’t tell you what’s wrong.
Is the product unclear?
Is the audience wrong?
Is the message boring?
Is the channel wrong?
Did you post at the wrong time?
Or did you just not do enough reps yet?
The trap: “I’ll market it when it’s ready”
I kept telling myself I’d market Web2Phone “properly” once it was ready.
But “ready” is a moving target.
There’s always another improvement you can justify:
- onboarding could be smoother
- dashboard could be nicer
- docs could be clearer
- one more feature would make it easier to sell The truth is: sometimes “not ready” is just a socially acceptable way of saying: I’m not comfortable being seen trying.
What I’ve learned (so far) as a solo dev trying to market
I don’t have a big audience. I don’t have a budget. I’m not naturally salesy.
So I’m trying to treat marketing like development: small experiments, tight feedback loops, and shipping consistently.
Here’s what’s helped:
1) I stopped trying to sound like a company
Founder voice > brand voice (at least early on).
People don’t connect with “We are excited to announce…”
They connect with: “I built this because I got tired of missing enquiries.”
2) I’m focusing on one clear outcome
For Web2Phone, it’s simple:
When someone fills your website contact form, you get a WhatsApp message instantly.
That’s the whole pitch. Everything else is supporting detail.
3) I’m aiming for conversations, not virality
I used to think marketing meant “big posts”.
Now I’m trying to win smaller:
one useful comment
one DM conversation
one beta user who actually uses it
one piece of feedback that changes the product
Because one real user beats 1,000 impressions every time.
4) I’m learning that marketing is a skill, not a personality type
I used to think some people are “marketing people” and I’m not.
But marketing is just:
clarity
repetition
empathy
distribution
iteration
It’s awkward at first because it’s unfamiliar — not because you’re incapable.
Where I’m at right now
Web2Phone is in beta. I’ve got my first five active users, and I’m trying to onboard a few more.
And honestly, marketing still feels like the hardest part.
But I’m trying to show up anyway — even when it’s messy — because building something useful isn’t enough if nobody knows it exists.
If you’re a dev who’s built something and now feels stuck at the “how do I get users?” stage…
You’re not alone.
And if you’ve got any advice (or hard truths), I’d genuinely love to hear it.
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