When I created Show [your] Notes, I had yet to make a plan to acquire users (free) or customers (paid). It's not that I don't want them; I built ShowNotes primarily for myself. I needed a note-sharing solution I loved. I tried powerful note-taking products like Notion and built-in apps like Notes on the Apple platform, but I wanted more. That doesn't mean these aren't great products; they didn't work well for me.
So, I scratched my itch and built ShowNotes, a web-based note-sharing platform where users control creation. AI agents assist with publishing tasks, including proofreading, SEO, classification, tagging, link safety, and recommendations.
User of One
I built ShowNotes on a straightforward foundational platform I've developed over the years. From concept to initial version, completed in a few weeks, I've been continuously improving it. January 11, 2024, is the first real version, and since then, I've been creating daily notes on countless topics.
So far, I have over 120 ShowNotes shared with friends, family, staff members, and the public (via Twitter and ProductHunt). My notes have garnered 8K unique sessions totaling over 70 hours. You can see my ShowNotes profile here:
https://shownotes.app/@mjkabir
My friends and I used travel research notes I created to plan a massive Yellowstone trip. Some friends printed the note – it was 19 PDF pages long. Others loved my notes on my 6th-grade son's summer activities, mimicking the educational aspects and informing me about courses they purchased for their kids based on my recommendations.
I created a show-note for a multicultural parent presentation at an elementary school and shared it with the principal. She distributed it to many teachers, and I received excited feedback from several. Sharing notes has been an excellent experience, which justifies creating this platform.
Getting Users and Customers
Although I didn't initially consider other users and customers, I've decided to open ShowNotes to the public for free in July/August 2024. I built it for everyday internet users who research, learn, and want to share knowledge on any topic with friends, family, and the world. Users can build an organic following they control with no platform lock-in; data ownership remains with the creator.
However, everyday folks won’t actively seek my tool, and it's not easily discoverable yet! So, I must narrow my audience to a smaller niche—low-tier content creators who struggle with social media or are frustrated by how it handles their data and followers. When I experimented with YouTube, I realized they must provide a subscriber list. Losing my channel meant losing all subscribers. The same applies to X/Twitter and Facebook. None of these platforms give creators ownership of their data and followers.
Creating a new social media platform wasn't my goal. I wanted to share everyday research on various topics and build a valuable email list for direct audience communication.
Since most topic research is ongoing, blogs aren't ideal for sharing such information. I wanted a note-sharing communication form. I continuously add and rearrange notes as I learn, benefiting recipients by saving them time.
ShowNotes – a web app – allows note creation on any topic. I can write code snippets, share research on camera equipment, or discuss summer programs for my kids. Built-in AI agents handle proofreading, categorization, tagging, and link safety. They flag potentially dangerous code snippets, harmful links, etc. These AI agents perform all publishing checks and provide creators with information to improve their notes.
Given my B2B background, I incorporated analytics to track note views (clicks and time spent) and added social media features (comments, likes, etc.). Since January 11, 2024, I've written hundreds of notes using ShowNotes. These have been read by friends, family members, and the public for over 70 hours across 8K+ unique sessions.
Narrowing My Initial Target Audience
My vision of widespread daily ShowNotes use is ambitious but needs to be narrower. Given my budget, targeting low-tier content creators seeking organic growth is a more realistic goal. Even better, it focuses on startup founders eager to share about their products and industries through the note series. I've joined ProductHunt, IndieHackers, and relevant subreddits to engage with founders and marketers in this niche.
My First Target Users: Solo Startup Founders Needing Exposure
I can help startup founders create off-site content highlighting their products and services. They can share industry expertise as notes, benefiting them through (a) increased credibility, (b) backlink/SEO advantages, and (c) expanded reach.
I've implemented an intelligent daily digest email for all users. Rather than sending identical content to everyone, it delivers unseen public and new notes to recipients, increasing visibility for user-generated content.
My Offer to Solo Startup Founders
If you share notes about your product/service and target industry and provide valuable insights from your experience, I'll upgrade your account to PRO-level for free for one year.
Sign up, create public notes, and identify yourself as a founder in your profile. Our system will automatically upgrade your account once you have at least three public notes with 5+ minutes of viewing time by others.
How to Reach Solo Founders
I'm active on ProductHunt and IndieHackers to connect with solo founders. I'll provide value by creating notes about your products, ranging from brief overviews to in-depth reviews, depending on the product category and my interests.
I'd greatly appreciate it if you created your entries, gaining exposure through consumer-friendly, easily digestible note-sharing with safe links, images, videos, automated classification, tagging, and SEO optimization.
About Kabir
I'm proud to be part of the American immigrant success story. After high school, I came to the US to study computer engineering. In my second year of college, I developed my first shareware, selling it for $25/license through CDROM.COM. I also built DSP benchmark software for a UC Berkeley startup, collaborating with brilliant UCB hackers who inspired me to believe in my potential.
This led me to start my entrepreneurial journey with a financial product and a web programming book contract. I have authored a dozen books on web programming and infrastructure, secured VC funding, and found myself at the top of the World Trade Center. Today, I run a 22-year-old niche B2B company that operates almost on autopilot with a small team. This freedom allows me to explore B2C tools, learn from new challenges, and share knowledge with my sons and the wider community.