2023 Recap

I turn 30, built a new app, and other updates in December 2023

Hello everyone, Tony here 👋

Here’s another update from me in December 2023.

Turned 30 years old

My career milestones in the last ten years (from 20yo to 30yo):

• 2013: studied software engineering

• 2014: graduated and worked as a software engineer

• 2018: relocate to Singapore, senior software engineer

• 2021: quit the job market and started working for myself

• 2023: first “startup exit” (Black Magic)

As with almost everyone else, the 20 to 30 period is probably the most “eventful” decade of my career.

Not saying it will be all boring from now on, but I have a feeling it’ll be hard to beat 😂

New app

In December, I built a new app for fun: voicedual.com

It allows you to change your voice using AI.

The demo tweet got 1000+ likes, which was a good sign! I was hoping this could be my next successful app, but it turns out not.

I built the initial version using a private API from ElevenLabs (speech-to-speech).

At the time, I tried the speech-to-speech feature and got the idea that ElevenLabs didn’t have a public API yet, but I decided to build the app anyway, hoping that they would release the API around the same time I finished.

Turns out they still haven’t released it. So, I modified the app to use another similar API from resemble.ai. The app is now live on voicedual.com. You can give it a try!

Later, I added payment. The business model was simple: $5 to remove the watermark.

In about a week, ~900 videos were created.

I made $0 😂

Actually, I’m at a loss of -$200 or something for API fees and servers.

(That $5 transaction is my test purchase)

I guess this app is fun but not quite enough for people to buy.

Anyway, I’ll keep the app running for a while more. I may still need it to impress my friends at the bar and library when needed 😂

I also learned a few more things building this app:

• First time using Next.JS app router. I have mixed feelings about the App router (compared to the pages router), but overall, I think I like it more. I’m not a fan of the caching behavior, <Image>, <Link>, etc., because it seems too vendor lock-in, but the good thing is I can just… not use it. I’m going to use App router for all my future projects.

• First time using Stripe for a “real” project. Right now, the problem with all Merchants of Record (Paddle, Lemon Squeezy) is that they require manual account verification, which takes 2-7 days. So, from now on, when testing out a new idea, I’ll use Stripe. Stripe also requires verification, but they do it later (when you start to have revenue), and most of them are automated, so I can just create a new account and start charging people in about 5 minutes!

• First time setting up a video processing pipeline. It’s not anything fancy, just a bunch of FFmpeg commands and a few API calls. But this will probably save me time next time I have similar ideas.

Updates in Typing Mind

Typing Mind remains my primary focus. In December, I cleaned up the UI, added new features, and fixed many bugs.

The B2B version (Typing Mind Custom) also received a lot of great features, like Single Sign-On (as requested by my business customers).

I’m thinking about being more aggressive with the marketing and could reach out for Typing Mind Custom. Like hiring salespeople and letting them get more business customers somehow.

Maybe I’ll do it myself first. There are some good learning opportunities in the process: generating leads, cold outreach, doing demo calls, following up, and closing the deal.

I’ve never done this myself, so part of me wants to do it. The only thing is that “doing a demo call” conflicts with my current “no meeting policy.” And I heard only 10% of the demo calls end up being a successful deal, so that’s discouraging.

2023 Recap

Only a few days left in 2023. Here is the recap with some highlights:

• 🤦 January: I got a $500K acquisition offer, and I rejected it.

• 🤩 February: joined Hackaigon in HCMC was fun!

• 🥇 March: Built TypingMind, which became super successful! Highlight of the year!

• 💸 April: Sold Black Magic for $128K. Pretty sad.

• 📆 September: marked 2 years after quitting my job. My solopreneur story goes viral.

• ❌ November: Built a new app speakdual.com (made $0, didn’t attempt to monetize).

• ❌ December: Built a new app voicedual.com (tried to monetize, made $0)

Overall, this was a great year.

• ✅ Financially ok. Typing Mind saved my ass. Otherwise, I would have been quite stressed after selling Black Magic.

• ✅ I met new indie hacker friends in real life, which was fun and I should do more often.

• ✅ A lot of surfing and boxing. Always do physical activities and exercise for a healthy body.

That’s all for now!

Thank you for reading my updates.

I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (soon)!

See you in 2024 👋

- Tony