11 June 2024, i got accepted into buildspace nights & weekends s5, the last season for buildspace (unknown at that time). how u may wonder? all thx to dreamskrin
going in, i didn't have any crazy expectations, but what was i building? it was IndieLettr, the idea of a platform that allowed you to send bulk emails to your contact list always lingered in the back of my mind, however i never really got the motivation to actually start working on it (i had literally started and quit 2 times previously), until now.
week 1 - crafting the idea
the first week kicked off and since i already had my idea ready i got started with the development, i pitched the idea to my friend aditya (digital marketing specialist), and he was generous to buy me a domain and also give me an outline to approach the application.
week 2 - build the toy version of your idea
i know what you must be thinking... i had the idea ready and refined, i had started with the development and everything was perfect, but this was really where things started getting worse. u see indielettr's mvp wasn't something that i could've shiped solo within a week's time, so i decided to launch a waitlist to attract people.
scraped up the site within 1.5 days, made it live and guess what? the mail that i sent to the people who registered for the waitlist wasn't rendered properly on gmail client (i had tested it on proton mail). moment of realisation: "moving fast is great but improper workflow can break things exponentially".
cc: alpastx <3
week 3 - the launch
"Sometimes you gotta close a door to open a window"
- New Magic Wand - Tyler, The Creator
*spoiler alert: i quit*
week 2 had me on my knees, one of the most humbling experience that i've had in the paradigm of software development. i couldn't keep up with buildspace's agenda for week 3 and thus i withdrew.
did i really quit?
"These dreams be wakin' me up at night"
- I Wonder - Kanye West
while i did withdraw, i didn't stop the work on indielettr, i drafted a todo list, with backlogs and features that had to be implemented, i made it my goal to cross those list items one by one as soon as possible.
the actual launch
fast forward to 28th August, 2024... yea it was my birthday, but also my DSA exam and most importantly, the launch of indielettr. the day before (27 aug) i took on the task of finishing off (perfecting it here and there) indielettr for its launch, started at 10 am with the goal of completing everything at 1 pm so that i can study later. but things never go as planned, i logged off at 5.30 pm with no desire to start studying
(sounds crazy, but i aced the exam by scoring 28/30, the teacher wasn't satisfied :) she expected more out of me, but i respect my grind)
key takeaways
for me, buildspace wasn't just a platform to build my idea and get it in front of the world, i learnt a lot through the journey and had the amazing opportunity to meet new people.
to be specific here's what i benefitted:
- landed an internship. (opted out of it... a story for another day)
- got the opportunity to work on rift. (yet another story for another day)
- connected with a web3 & ai content and marketing specialist
- connected with a design agency based in jammu (huge shoutout to them for designing the logo)
moral of the story
Motivation is the driving force that pushes you towards achieving greater heights, but it is scarce in nature; thus, one shall learn to cultivate and sustain it independently.