When I started this newsletter, only a few people read it. Now there are so many of you. If you’re new here, hello and welcome.
Maybe you’re at the start too. You have 8 people on your email list. Your app has 12 users, and 3 of them are your friends. And there’s a voice in your head that says, “I’ll put in real effort when more people show up.”
Don’t wait. Put in the effort now.
When only a few people are there, you can get to know every one of them. You can reply to each person. You can see what they like. You can make your next thing with one of them in mind. And when new people do come, it’s often because one of those first few told a friend.
It won’t always grow fast, and that’s okay. Staying small for a while doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
Now think about the people who are already there. One of them probably reads everything you send and never says a word. They didn’t have to stay.
They did.
So this week, pick one of them. Make your next thing just for them.
Big things start with a few people who stayed.
Worth a look
A few apps and sites you might like, picked each month.
- magpie. Everything you saved on X, TikTok, Pinterest and Reddit, in one place you can search.
- Ellipsus. Write a story with a friend in the same document.
- Instant. Find any file on your Mac by typing what’s inside it. Works offline.
- Savor. Say, snap or type something you need to do, and it reminds you later. iPhone and Android.
- SlideBySide. Send your slides as a link, and everyone sees the same slide as you.
- Hacker Books. The books people on Hacker News recommend most, sorted by topic.
- TitleArt. Make old-school 1997 WordArt text, right in your browser.
- PowerShips. Battleships, but every ship has a special power. Send a friend the link to play.
Made This Month
In October I started a small website called Made This Month. Each month I pick apps, websites, games and tools that people made or updated, and I share the one thing each of them did really well. Did you make something this month? Send it in. If I pick it, it gets its own page you can share.