Three months ago, XLNavigator was just an idea scribbled in a notebook. Today, it's a shipping product with paying customers. Here's exactly how I went from zero to first sale in 90 days.

Day 1-7: The Idea

The idea came from frustration. I was working on a massive Excel workbook with 80+ worksheets, and the horizontal tab scrolling was driving me insane.

I thought: "Why isn't there a vertical sidebar for Excel tabs?"

I Googled. Nothing quite fit my needs. Most Excel navigation tools were either:

So I decided to build my own. Classic developer move.

Lesson 1: Build for yourself first. If you have a problem, others probably do too.

Day 8-21: Validation

Before writing a single line of code, I needed to validate that others had this problem.

I:

The response was unanimous: "YES, I hate horizontal tab scrolling!"

Lesson 2: Validate before you build. Enthusiasm doesn't count—specific pain points do.

Day 22-45: Building the MVP

I gave myself a strict deadline: Build a working prototype in 3 weeks.

The MVP features:

No fancy colors, no keyboard shortcuts, no date picker. Just the core value proposition: vertical navigation.

This was hard. I wanted to add features. But I forced myself to ship the basics first.

Lesson 3: Your MVP should be embarrassingly simple. If you're not slightly embarrassed by your first version, you waited too long to ship.

Day 46-52: Alpha Testing

I reached out to 10 power Excel users and offered free lifetime licenses in exchange for feedback.

The feedback was brutal and valuable:

I took detailed notes and prioritized fixes.

Lesson 4: Real user feedback is worth 1000 hours of your assumptions.

Day 53-65: Polish & Pricing

I spent two weeks:

Pricing was agonizing. Too cheap and I'd leave money on the table. Too expensive and nobody would buy.

I settled on:

Why these numbers? They felt right. No data, just intuition.

Lesson 5: Pricing is more art than science. Pick something reasonable and adjust based on feedback.

Day 66-75: Launch Prep

I built:

I also prepared for launch day:

Lesson 6: A perfect launch page is procrastination. Ship something decent and iterate.

Day 76: Launch Day

I posted to:

Then I waited. And refreshed. And waited. And refreshed some more.

The first hour: 50 visitors, zero sales. My heart sank.

Hour two: First sale! $29. I literally jumped out of my chair.

By end of day:

Not life-changing, but proof that people would actually pay for this.

Lesson 7: Your first sale will feel better than you imagine. Screenshot everything—you'll want to remember this moment.

Day 77-90: Post-Launch

The weeks after launch were a blur:

I also started tracking metrics:

Lesson 8: Post-launch is when the real work begins. Launching is 10% of the journey.

The Numbers

By day 90:

Not a rocketship, but sustainable. And more importantly: real.

What Went Right

1. Scratching My Own Itch

Building for myself meant I deeply understood the problem.

2. Simple MVP

By keeping the first version simple, I shipped fast and learned fast.

3. Alpha Testers

Getting real users early was invaluable.

4. Clear Value Proposition

"Vertical tabs for Excel" is easy to understand. No confusion about what it does.

What Went Wrong

1. No Email List

I should have built an email list before launch. Starting from zero subscribers was a mistake.

2. Underestimated Support

I thought I'd get 1-2 support emails per week. Try 1-2 per day.

3. Too Optimistic on Pricing

$29 might be too low. I'm experimenting with higher prices for new features.

4. No Analytics Initially

I shipped without analytics. Big mistake. I had no idea what features people actually used.

Lessons for Your First Product

If you're building your first product:

1. Ship Fast

90 days from idea to first sale is aggressive but doable. Don't spend 6 months "perfecting" things.

2. Start Small

Don't try to build the next Photoshop. Build something narrow and useful.

3. Validate First

Talk to potential users before building. "Would you pay for X?" is a crucial question.

4. Embrace Imperfection

Your first version will be rough. That's okay. Ship it anyway.

5. Expect Support

Budget time for support. It takes more time than you think.

6. Track Everything

From day one: analytics, revenue, user feedback. You can't improve what you don't measure.

What's Next

Now that XLNavigator is launched and generating revenue, I'm focused on:

The journey from idea to first sale was intense, but in the best way possible. If you're thinking about building something, stop thinking and start building.

90 days from now, you could have your first sale too.

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