I launched my side project two weeks ago. Here's what actually happened.

I'm a developer with 10+ years at a dev company, a singer-songwriter with 15 years of gigging, and a dad of two. At the end of 2025, I started building Fretlist — a web app to organize songs, chords and setlists for musicians. Two weeks ago I launched it. Here's the honest breakdown. The numbers 60 signups in 14 days 18 users have added at least one song 42 users signed up and did nothing 0 paying customers (not charging yet) 0 ad spend All growth from one Threads post, one WhatsApp message, and personal outreach What worked One Threads post changed everything. My first post — "I built a thing for musicians" — got 2.7k views and 35 signups overnight. I had no audience on Threads before this. The post was personal, not polished. I told my story as a musician, not as a founder selling a product. Local outreach outperformed social media. I messaged a local WhatsApp group with 61 musicians. 8 signed up within hours, and they were more engaged than any Threads signup. People who know your f