Do you think I should focus more on the developer angle or integrating with (for example) Shopify?

Question

I've been building https://parrot.dev, and like all good software engineers, I just keep building it without actually focusing on trying to get people to actually use it.

It initially started as something that my brother needed for his clients (SMBs, that needed to send promotions to their customers). It's been churning along all right with him using it, but not really making any money (yay family).

Now I'd like to take it and really push it to see if it's worth continuing to invest effort into, but I'm not sure that the developer angle is the way to go, or whether it's worth trying to make a Shopify App and target the eCommerce directly.

I'm sure there are plenty of problems with the current website itself as well. This is not REALLY a roast my landing page request, though I'm always open to hearing a little feedback because I have a bad habit of operating in a vacuum.

Thanks everyone for your time :)

Luke Chadwick · Accepted Answer

@access24 thanks for the feedback. I'll have a think about how I might do a free tier.

Luke Chadwick · Answer

@lori_olson yeah, I get that the messaging is completely focused on developers currently. Thanks for the feedback, I'll take it onboard.

Lori Olson · Answer

I like the idea, but... the home page is entirely focused on developers, who, as you are probably aware, are notorious for NOT wanting to pay for things. At least, not until they are ready to push things out into production, and sometimes not even then, until they get enough traction.

I suspect, if you want to continue the developer angle, you need a way for developers to use "in development" for free, whatever that looks like.

If you are going with the ecommerce/Shopify angle, then you'll need to completely revamp the messaging on that landing page to target SMB-type customers. And you need to decide what message parrot needs to attract them. Is it making them more money? Solving a pain point?

That's my two cents worth 😉

Answer

Business Objectives Think about your immediate and long-term company goals. Do you want to set your product apart from the competition by offering special features that developers will find appealing, or are you trying to expand your audience by connecting with well-known platforms like Shopify?

Paolo Go · Answer

I like the idea, it looks a good project. I definitely suggest to create a plugin to integrate it with WooCommerce and Shopify, and if possible, to offer a free tier for those who just want to try it out

Do you think I should focus more on the developer angle or integrating with (for example) Shopify?

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