I'm at the beginning of my career as a software engineer and already know I will eventually try to build my own products so these videos have been very inspiring. I really wish you the best 🙏
I truly love these takeaways. This is the type of advice that is lacking in the app building space. In a YC video, one of the dudes said that the most valuable advice you can ask from them is about how you should manage your feelings. Thank you for giving ur your unique perspective and keep on building!
thank you! im really glad i went through the process and all things considered it was great practice and experience. for anyone even considering it, i would encourage them to apply for the same reasons!
I applied to YC for summer '24. My application is still "in review" as of today, so I'm thinkin' I didn't get in (not even an interview). Congrats on getting an interview. That's HUGE!! Don't give up on your products and dreams!! WRT wedding industry from a man's perspective: for the most part, we just show up, whereas our dear spouse to be sweats everything! Case in point: Me to my daughter-- "baby girl, have the wedding you want. My job is to pay for shit and show up."
sorry to hear that but hopefully you can continue iterating and apply again! and haha thanks for the perspective on weddings, definitely a very female centric product! will have to think more about how to communicate value prop to male investors
@enggirlfriend I'm not surprised. The idea is sound. My application was rushed, I had two co-founders flake out on me, then one came back... and I could update the application, so it was just a giant mess. Lol. We're going to move forward, complete the mvp, make the website better, and re-apply.
I relate to everything you’re saying so much 😭 I always liked art and design as a kid and now my websites are also my form of creative expression. And I also don’t get why every app has to be a “billion dollar app” like some of my favorite apps serve a simple niche interest and that’s fine!
hehe the artsy stem girl experience xD and totally i feel youuu. i'd rather build a bunch of small and useful apps than trying to force one to become more than it should be
Just catching up. The billion dollar valuation goal is not for me either. My main goal of my app/business development is financial freedom & location freedom. That said I think I might apply for the winter YC batch just as another way to learn from the process
Absolutely love this. Thank you so much for making this! Always wondered what i would be like to apply to YC. How many times can you apply? Also, the background music was a little too loud imo. Great video!
I completely agree on what you said about mixing design and engineering. I feel the trend right now is to be vertical in one technology or in one field. I am majoring in communication and i started learning to code 2 years ago, now I'm receiving job offer that I keep decline since i reckon once i get my degree i could be a more versatile developer .
My wife really likes your wedding planning app idea and she could definitely see users willing to pay for it. One thing to be cautious is falling into the same pit as 23andme. While many are willing to buy their service, most people only buy it once instead of paying a subscription and therefore the business model is not sustainable. Similarly, I think most people (at least they hope) will only marry once in their lifetime, how can you iterate your idea to make it more sustainable?
thank you for asking your wife for her thoughts! yeah you're spot on about building a product for one time events. i think the most important thing is knowing what scale of business you're targeting like i talked about in the video! 23andme has almost a thousand employees and are publicly traded, so the pressure is really high for them to make tons of revenue. for me with inkberry, i'm targeting something much smaller so hopefully it will be less of an issue. but we'll see and i'll keep everyone updated in the series!
Hey love your videos.i dont know how you managing everything together its inspirational....i wanted to ask about your app they look so good how do you design your apps..and also can you tell me you use firebase isn't that costly how do you manage that?please reply
aw thank you! i design my apps using figma - i've been practicing designing apps for many years! as for firebase, it's actually not that crazy. it only gets super expensive at really big scale (think millions of users). at my scale with Todewy, it actually only costs me $3-5/day which the app generates enough revenue to cover. also you can apply for startup credits with google and they are quite generous with them!
Thanks a lot for clearing my doubts.yeah your app is small but you working hard to make it big I am damn sure it will get bigger then will you change firebase from another server cuz in this process you have to write backend or hire people to write ??
I kind of feel that it was better for you to not get into the whole VC trap, you've been an artistic person and their rapid growth mentality must be a hinderance to you. Also i doubt if you could run the app passively, after getting a funding because then you'd have to focus on the next funding round and then the another...
we actually recently decided to go our separate ways :) super amicable and we're good friends. just at different points in our lives and mitchie just moved to NYC and wanted to experience working at a company in the city!
@@enggirlfriend fair enough - that’s how it goes haha. I was jw cause you mentioned we at one point but didn’t mention here. Congrats on getting a yc interview even getting that far is no small feat !
Nice update :) I am in a somewhat similar situation but still working a full time job from home, so I get the loneliness part, and also working on multiple apps at the same time, plus other side projects on the side. I work in the cryptocurrency industry, so I don't know anything about mobile development but would like to learn eventually. I find the variety very fun even though it can get overwhelming sometimes, but it is nice to be able to work on your own terms. I am sure everything will work out for you.
yeah totally agree with you on everything! it can still get overwhelming here and there but i've found that as long as i make a bit of progress each day, it helps to provide structure to my projects. good luck on all of your projects!
Here I am trying to gain inspiration from you and have my own product. Please know that people are looking up to you.
thank you! :)
me: struggles to even live
Asian women: "I'm stuck, 6 months it feels like I have velocity but not acceleration"
hahahaha 😂
I'm at the beginning of my career as a software engineer and already know I will eventually try to build my own products so these videos have been very inspiring. I really wish you the best 🙏
that’s awesome and i wish you luck on your journey! building apps is incredibly fun and fulfilling :)
I truly love these takeaways. This is the type of advice that is lacking in the app building space. In a YC video, one of the dudes said that the most valuable advice you can ask from them is about how you should manage your feelings. Thank you for giving ur your unique perspective and keep on building!
thank you! im really glad i went through the process and all things considered it was great practice and experience. for anyone even considering it, i would encourage them to apply for the same reasons!
For what its worth, your content is excellent!
thank you :)))
I applied to YC for summer '24. My application is still "in review" as of today, so I'm thinkin' I didn't get in (not even an interview). Congrats on getting an interview. That's HUGE!! Don't give up on your products and dreams!!
WRT wedding industry from a man's perspective: for the most part, we just show up, whereas our dear spouse to be sweats everything!
Case in point: Me to my daughter-- "baby girl, have the wedding you want. My job is to pay for shit and show up."
sorry to hear that but hopefully you can continue iterating and apply again! and haha thanks for the perspective on weddings, definitely a very female centric product! will have to think more about how to communicate value prop to male investors
@enggirlfriend I'm not surprised. The idea is sound. My application was rushed, I had two co-founders flake out on me, then one came back... and I could update the application, so it was just a giant mess. Lol. We're going to move forward, complete the mvp, make the website better, and re-apply.
I relate to everything you’re saying so much 😭 I always liked art and design as a kid and now my websites are also my form of creative expression. And I also don’t get why every app has to be a “billion dollar app” like some of my favorite apps serve a simple niche interest and that’s fine!
hehe the artsy stem girl experience xD and totally i feel youuu. i'd rather build a bunch of small and useful apps than trying to force one to become more than it should be
Just catching up. The billion dollar valuation goal is not for me either. My main goal of my app/business development is financial freedom & location freedom. That said I think I might apply for the winter YC batch just as another way to learn from the process
Absolutely love this. Thank you so much for making this! Always wondered what i would be like to apply to YC. How many times can you apply?
Also, the background music was a little too loud imo. Great video!
you can apply as many times as you want! and thanks for the feedback, will definitely watch the volume more next time :)
I completely agree on what you said about mixing design and engineering.
I feel the trend right now is to be vertical in one technology or in one field.
I am majoring in communication and i started learning to code 2 years ago, now I'm receiving job offer that I keep decline since i reckon once i get my degree i could be a more versatile developer .
yeah intermixing disciplines is not super common in industry, especially at bigger companies! good luck on your degree and job search :)
My wife really likes your wedding planning app idea and she could definitely see users willing to pay for it. One thing to be cautious is falling into the same pit as 23andme. While many are willing to buy their service, most people only buy it once instead of paying a subscription and therefore the business model is not sustainable. Similarly, I think most people (at least they hope) will only marry once in their lifetime, how can you iterate your idea to make it more sustainable?
thank you for asking your wife for her thoughts! yeah you're spot on about building a product for one time events. i think the most important thing is knowing what scale of business you're targeting like i talked about in the video! 23andme has almost a thousand employees and are publicly traded, so the pressure is really high for them to make tons of revenue. for me with inkberry, i'm targeting something much smaller so hopefully it will be less of an issue. but we'll see and i'll keep everyone updated in the series!
Hey love your videos.i dont know how you managing everything together its inspirational....i wanted to ask about your app they look so good how do you design your apps..and also can you tell me you use firebase isn't that costly how do you manage that?please reply
aw thank you! i design my apps using figma - i've been practicing designing apps for many years! as for firebase, it's actually not that crazy. it only gets super expensive at really big scale (think millions of users). at my scale with Todewy, it actually only costs me $3-5/day which the app generates enough revenue to cover. also you can apply for startup credits with google and they are quite generous with them!
Thanks a lot for clearing my doubts.yeah your app is small but you working hard to make it big I am damn sure it will get bigger then will you change firebase from another server cuz in this process you have to write backend or hire people to write ??
Also you are damn good in design please when you make video on apps add your tips too it will us(new people like me)
Is there a ink berry demo video or how it works video?
there are a few posts about it on my tiktok!
I kind of feel that it was better for you to not get into the whole VC trap, you've been an artistic person and their rapid growth mentality must be a hinderance to you. Also i doubt if you could run the app passively, after getting a funding because then you'd have to focus on the next funding round and then the another...
yeah so true! thanks for the supportive words :) i’m definitely not heartbroken over the rejection - like you said i don’t think im the perfect fit
what's the app's mrr?
i share todewy's revenue in the previous episode!
Are you still working with misomelon?
we actually recently decided to go our separate ways :) super amicable and we're good friends. just at different points in our lives and mitchie just moved to NYC and wanted to experience working at a company in the city!
@@enggirlfriend fair enough - that’s how it goes haha. I was jw cause you mentioned we at one point but didn’t mention here. Congrats on getting a yc interview even getting that far is no small feat !
Nice update :) I am in a somewhat similar situation but still working a full time job from home, so I get the loneliness part, and also working on multiple apps at the same time, plus other side projects on the side. I work in the cryptocurrency industry, so I don't know anything about mobile development but would like to learn eventually. I find the variety very fun even though it can get overwhelming sometimes, but it is nice to be able to work on your own terms. I am sure everything will work out for you.
yeah totally agree with you on everything! it can still get overwhelming here and there but i've found that as long as i make a bit of progress each day, it helps to provide structure to my projects. good luck on all of your projects!