8 Lessons I learned from Tally

Tally is the simplest way to create forms. It makes it simple for anyone to build free online forms. No need to code; just type your questions like you would in a document.

Amidst the platform being great, I took time to study their process by reading most of their articles on how they bootstrapped Tally from $0 to where they are today (>$60k MRR).

In this article, I will only discuss a few points gathered from my study. it will not be extensive.

Let's get started.

Lessons

One major thing I noticed is that they used Notion a lot, which is nice. I think the idea as an indie hacker is to not build everything but to make use of the tools available to you to arrive at your desired outcome.

This would help you ship faster and focus more on the idea you want to build or the problem you want to solve.

1. Ship it and tweak it

It's important to get your product or service out into the world as quickly as possible, so you can start getting feedback from users and make improvements.

Don't misunderstand this concept, then ship a product that is full of bugs. Just don't get caught up with the idea of shipping a perfect product.

2. Keep it simple

When you're starting out, it's easy to get caught up in trying to build the most feature-rich product or service possible. But the truth is that most users only care about the core features that solve their problems.

No complex stuff; keep it simple and easy to adopt.

3. Building in public

Building in public is a great way to get feedback, build a community, and attract attention to your product or service.

However, be strategic with what you share in order not to give out too much information.

4. Learn more about growing and other things as you are building

This is great advice for indie hackers. It's important to have a general understanding of marketing and other essential topics, but you don't need to be an expert in everything before you start building.

One of the best ways to learn is by doing. As you build your product or service, you'll naturally learn more about what works and what doesn't. Also, consume resources you find related to what you are learning, free or paid.

5. When it is ripe, launch!

When your product has passed all required validation or is market-fit, launch it without hesitation, then follow the first lesson mentioned.

6. To grow, add more necessary features

Having lots of features is great, but it gets easier to deviate from the goal if the features are not properly weighed against the desired outcome before being added, especially when you get a lot of feedback from your users.

Growth-oriented features are important!

7. Look for more ways to grow

Do you want to make more money? To do that, you need more paying users or businesses (depending on what your target is).

In the case of Tally, the free tier consists of a water-marked form. Anyone who comes across it automatically sees the source, and if they are interested in it, they click to go to the site.

8. Measure product-market-fit

You need to ask yourself questions like:

• What are you doing better than your competitors?
• What features are profitable?

Questions like these are the only way for you to know if what is being developed is a need.

Key Takeaways

• It is okay to say no.
• Master the art of persisting.
• Don't be afraid to ask.
• In order not to spread yourself too thin, you have to double down on what brought you here instead of taking on new challenges.
• Yes, you need to steal users.
• A road map is important and helpful, but when it gets tough, consider effort versus outcome.
• When launching something new, the outcome (what percentage will use the feature and will it make us grow?) always needs to balance out the effort (is it something we can ship in minutes, hours, days, or weeks?).
• The best advertising is done by happy users.
• The product can also be a form of advertisement. Find out how it can be done.

Link to Tally: https://tally.so