Hey PH, solo founder who spent 8 months building an AI reading assistant. Finally here.
Hi Product Hunt community 👋
I'm Hiurich, a non-technical solo founder who learned to code by building. I'm based in Venezuela🇻🇪 and I've been lurking on PH for a while, finally decided to stop lurking and actually show up.
What brought me here:
I spent 8 months building IQPage, a Chrome extension that helps people read smarter. The core idea came from my own frustration: I was spending hours reading articles, reports, and papers for work, re-reading the same paragraphs because I'd forget what I just read, keeping 40 tabs open "to read later."
I wanted an AI assistant that actually lived in the browser and could summarize, answer questions about the page, and tell me when an article was framing things in a misleading way.
What I learned building it:
Getting a Chrome extension approved is genuinely hard, I got rejected 3 times before passing. And building alone means you wear every hat: product, backend, frontend, support, marketing. It's slower but you learn everything.
Happy to connect with:
— Other solo founders, especially those who built browser extensions
— People working on AI tools for knowledge workers
— Anyone who has launched on PH and has honest lessons to share
What are you all building? I'd love to hear what's keeping you busy. 🙌
Replies
Love seeing another solo founder grinding on a browser extension! I'm Rian, also building solo... The Sponge is an AI-powered flashcard app with a browser extension that turns any webpage into study material using spaced repetition. Will definitely check out IQPage.
If you're up for it, I'm launching on PH soon... would appreciate a follow (See "PRODUCT HUNT LAUNCH" Link in my profile)
@rianbrob Rian! The Sponge sounds genuinely cool, turning any webpage into spaced repetition flashcards is exactly the kind of thing I wish existed when I was studying. The overlap with IQPage is real; I'm helping people read and understand content faster, you're helping them actually retain it. Different problems, same user.
Followed you. Looking forward to your launch, drop the date here when you have it and I'll make sure to show up on the day.
Good luck with the build. Solo extension work is its own kind of suffering 😅
@rianbrob Hey Rian, hope you're doing well. My Chrome extension launch is set for May 13th. Honestly, I'm not really an expert at these Product Hunt launches—I don't even know how to add the launch link to my bio LOL. In any case, here it is. I hope you can support me on launch day, thanks! https://www.producthunt.com/products/iqpage?launch=iqpage
@hiurich followed...will support on launch day!
@rianbrob Thanks so much, What about your launch?
That’s actually really impressive, especially doing it solo from scratch 👏🔥 8 months + 3 Chrome rejections before approval is real founder grind 😭💻 respect for pushing through that. IQPage sounds genuinely useful too like a second brain inside your browser 🧠✨ especially the part about summarizing + spotting misleading framing… that’s a big deal for people drowning in info.
Also love that you didn’t just build it, but actually lived the problem first (40 tabs gang is too real 😂)
Rooting for you on PH launch 🚀 if you keep iterating based on real user behavior, this kind of tool can grow fast.
What’s been the hardest part so far getting users, or improving retention?
@hassan_ismail_rebe hi Hassan, Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I'd like to share a bit of my story and explain why I'm doing this. I'm 45, and up until four years ago, my life was great. I had a job that allowed me to make a living and support my small family, it was just my wife and me, no kids. In 2023, my wife got sick with cancer, and I dropped everything to take care of her. I dedicated myself to caring for her 24/7. In July 2024, my wife passed away, leaving me alone and completely broken, both mentally and financially. I have no experience developing these types of tools; I'm just trying to reinvent myself and move forward.
I'm from Venezuela, which poses an additional challenge due to the political situation my country is going through. Something as simple as integrating a payment gateway for IQPage was a real struggle.
How do I get users or improve retention? The truth is that IQPage just launched a few days ago, and I don't even have my first user yet. I have no marketing experience, nor do I have the financial resources to promote IQPage through marketing campaigns. In fact, I'm working on an iOS app that I haven't been able to launch yet for the exact same reason, lack of resources, so you'll be seeing me around here again soon with a new launch.
Once again, thank you for your support.
Here is the launch link in case you'd like to join: https://www.producthunt.com/products/iqpage?launch=iqpage