App Rebrand
My partner suggested rebranding the app to something catchier. We decided on "Room4Rent," which we believe is an improvement over the previous name. I also considered "RoomPal" but didn't give it much thought. I bought the new domain on porkbun.com and replaced all the old parts.User Engagement and Feedback
This past week has been a mix of testing and customer feedback. It was encouraging to see one of my users incorporate the app's link into their Facebook bio and use it for managing new listings. However, several bugs were identified, particularly related to state management issues.
Technical Roadmap
To address these challenges, I plan to rewrite the app entirely using the Mantine UI library. The current Shadcn/UI library is starting to feel more tedious, and a fresh approach with a new UI framework could streamline the development process. Additionally, while the app's performance has improved significantly since implementing indexing in the MongoDB backend, it still feels sluggish at times, requiring further optimization.
I know a Vietnamese version can be handy, so I also tried to play around with i18n this week but kind of messed up after going too fast. I had to rollback and I’m writing this to myself to do it again with a more careful approach.
User Acquisition Efforts
In an attempt to expand my user base, I reached out to potential users via cold DMs, mostly on Facebook. Unfortunately, these efforts did not result in any conversions. Moving forward, I plan to prioritize email channels and focus more tightly on the core target audience: serviced apartment owners, small hotel business owners/marketers/managers responsible for managing multiple rooms/bedrooms units.Value Prop Refinement
Through these interactions, it has become clear that the app's primary value proposition lies in enabling users to quickly update room/listing availability. This is particularly important for those working closely with real estate professionals, as is often the case in Vietnam and potentially other regions where informal agent operations are common.Coming up Next + More thoughts
- Customer feedback: SHOW HN/HackerNews, IndieHackers, Reddit, Twitter, more cold DMs (the only goal being = validate ICP!!)- Consider Mantine UI rewrite post ICP/further idea validation