I have a product exactly on these lines and infact it was in HN where I got my first customers as well but the current situation looks like the market is not solution aware and hence finding repeated customers and channels gets difficult.
the solution awareness problem is real and honestly undersold as a challenge. you spend half your energy explaining why someone should practice a skill before they're in the situation, not just selling the product itself. would love to compare notes, checking out getsimul now
In the age of AI, a good PM is one who is
- clear thinker and great problem solver
- strategic ( execution chops is now taken care )
- Good at handling stakeholders ( this is least talked about. The industry jargon for this is high agency )
I’ve spent the last 14 years in PM and Engineering roles. One thing I've consistently seen is that the technical skill of fixing a P0 is often undermined by the 'soft skill' of reporting it to leadership.
Engineers often over-explain, while CEOs just want to calculate business risk. I’ve been using these two frameworks (SIR/SIEN) to decouple technical investigation from executive communication. I'm curious if other teams have formalized communication protocols, or if it's mostly handled by a 'shield' person (like a Director or Senior PM)?
You are right! My costs are negligible and I just shipped the parity pricing feature hoping to do more sales as currently the count is less from these regions.
Thanks for the heads up on the code reselling risk. That was my biggest worry with generic coupon codes too.
To solve this, I decided against just using a 'coupon' on the main checkout. Instead, I set up a completely separate payment flow (Topmate) specifically for India that requires local UPI payment methods.
My theory is that the requirement to use a local Indian payment method acts as a 'natural geoblock' against arbitrage. Interesting to hear that India didn't convert well for you even with PPP—I'll keep my expectations in check.
This is going to be very personal opinion but I’ve bought many digital products when I’m either not thinking too much about the price or find that it has a much cheaper Indian version. Many times, have I done it just so I could help out another founder.
The most recent one I remember was some tool (Show HN) that searches the Mac with a local AI. I’m yet to start using it. I like the idea, and I might use it someday. It was beta-discounted
Appreciate the honest perspective! As a founder from India myself, I’ve definitely bought tools just to support the maker. I’ve set the PPP price to ₹999 to make it a 'no-brainer' for folks here. Glad to know I'm on the right track.
Optionally perpetual or subscription, niche software, B2B, more expensive than mass market / commodity software. Nonstop lying / scamming behavior.
You get funny things that happen like when a rep from a company will call you and warn you not to do a deal with another rep from the same company, then 2 hours later we get a call from the other rep.
I’m eventually going to go subscription only, people from Asia tend to really hate that and refuse to pay for subscriptions but we make so little money from them that it’s not worth catering to them, we’re better off dropping that entire region.
Which one you tried?
The level is easy for most of it except for one Product Management scenario.
Even otherwise based on your experience and skills, you can find the optimal path on first play. Nothing wrong about it. All good!
Sharing the link for reference:
https://getsimul.com/
Happy to discuss further if interested