Building Select in Public: Month 1 Retrospective

One month ago, Select was just an idea in a Notion doc. Today, we have 500 users, a working product, and zero dollars spent on advertising.

Here's the full story.

The Problem I Kept Hitting

I've built three SaaS products before Select. Every single one hit the same wall: distribution.

Building the product? Fun. Finding users? Brutal.

I tried everything:

• Product Hunt launches - One day of traffic, then silence
• Cold outreach - 2% response rate, 0.1% conversion
• Content marketing - Great for SEO, but takes 6+ months to compound
• Paid ads - $50/day burn rate with mediocre results

The only thing that consistently worked was when existing users told their friends about the product.

The "Aha" Moment

I was looking at my analytics one day and noticed something weird. Our highest-converting traffic source wasn't Google or Twitter—it was "direct."

But not just any direct traffic. These were users coming from specific referral links that existing users were sharing in Slack groups and Discord communities.

The conversion rate? 47%.

Compare that to:

• Google Ads: 3%
• Twitter: 8%
• Product Hunt: 12%

These referred users weren't just converting better—they were sticking around. Their 30-day retention was nearly double our average.

Week 1: The MVP

I decided to build a referral system. Not as a side feature, but as its own product.

Day 1-2: Sketched the core flow

• User gets a unique referral link
• Link tracks clicks and conversions
• Both parties get rewarded

Day 3-5: Built the MVP

• Simple API: generate link, track click, record conversion
• Basic dashboard showing referral stats
• JavaScript SDK for easy integration

Day 6-7: Integrated it into my own product

Total time: 7 days.

Week 2: First Users

I posted on Indie Hackers with a simple message:

"I built a referral system in a week. It's free while in beta. Anyone want to try it?"

23 people signed up that day.

The feedback was immediate:

• "Can I customize the reward amount?"
• "Do you support webhooks?"
• "Can I see which pages referrals come from?"

I shipped all three features in the next 48 hours.

Week 3: The Viral Loop

Here's the meta part: I used Select to grow Select.

Every new user got a referral link. If they brought in 3 users, they got a free month of the Pro plan (once we launched it).

The results:

Week-over-week growth of 232%—with zero paid acquisition.

Week 4: Scaling the System

With more users came more edge cases:

• Fraud attempts (people referring themselves)
• High-volume users needing higher rate limits
• Requests for white-label SDK

I spent Week 4 hardening the system:

• Added IP-based fraud detection
• Implemented rate limiting tiers
• Built a customizable SDK option

What I Learned

1. Distribution IS the Product

For most startups, the product is 20% of success. Distribution is 80%.

I spent years perfecting features nobody asked for. This time, I built distribution into the core product from day one.

2. Two-Sided Incentives Work

Our best-performing campaigns give rewards to both the referrer AND the referred user.

One-sided rewards feel like you're asking for a favor. Two-sided rewards feel like you're sharing something valuable.

3. Speed > Perfection

I launched with bugs. The dashboard had layout issues on mobile. The SDK threw console warnings.

Nobody cared.

Users care about whether the product solves their problem. Everything else is fixable.

4. Build in Public = Free Marketing

Every retrospective, every update, every honest admission of mistakes—it all builds trust and attracts users.

This post will probably bring in 50-100 new signups. That's the power of transparency.

What's Next

Month 2 goals:

• Launch paid plans (Pro at $15/mo, Premium at $25/mo)
• Add A/B testing for referral rewards
• Build Zapier integration
• Hit 1,000 users

The Numbers

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Want to follow along? I post weekly updates on Twitter. Or just try Select yourself—it's free to start.