We spent months chasing users for interviews. Then we asked: why not just let them talk to us?
Hey PH — this isn't a launch post, it's the honest story behind why we built Knocket (https://trtc.io/solutions/knocket). I'd rather share it here than in a polished landing page.
I run trtc.io — a developer product site. And for the longest time, I've cared about every single real developer who lands there. I want to know what they're stuck on. I want to know what didn't click. I want to know why they closed the tab.
But here's what I actually had to do to find out:
Wait for someone to submit a form or email us — then chase them for a reply that usually never came.
Spend weeks recruiting users for scheduled interviews — offering incentives, coordinating time zones, prepping scripts.
Stare at analytics dashboards and "analyze" behavior paths — trying to guess what a real person was feeling from a heatmap.
One day it hit me: why am I doing all of this the hard way?
Every one of those developers was right there on my site. They had a question. They were confused. They wanted to talk. But the only channel I gave them was a form that emails me 6 hours later — by which point they've moved on, and any answer I give arrives in a void.
The most honest research method — actual real-time conversation with the person who's using your product right now — was the one I'd made hardest to happen.
That's absurd. And the more I looked around, the more I realized every founder-led product does the same thing. We all install Intercom (or don't, because it's $79/mo minimum), we all wait for tickets, and we all wonder why our "user research" feels detached from real users.
So we built Knocket — a free live chat widget, contact page, and unified inbox for founder-led products. It's the tool I wish I'd had two years ago:
One line of code — install on any site or mobile app
Every incoming message (web chat + email + Telegram) lands in one inbox
You reply from Telegram — no dashboard to babysit — and it routes back to the visitor in real time
Permanently free, no seat limits, no "upgrade to unlock replies" nonsense
Under the hood, it uses our own Chat SDK — which we've been battle-testing on trtc.io itself. Every real conversation on Knocket is one less user I have to chase for an interview. That, to me, is the whole point.
What I'm asking here:
If you're a founder / indie hacker / PM running a product where users leak out silently — what's the actual thing stopping you from talking to them in real time? Is it the cost of tools? The team bandwidth? Fear of being "always on"? Something else?
Genuinely curious. This is exactly the kind of conversation I don't want to wait to have.
Try Knocket if it sounds useful: https://trtc.io/solutions/knocket
Or just reply here — I'll be around all day. 🧭
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