FounderSignal: a micro-validation platform for testing startup ideas (archived)

FounderSignal let founders test a startup idea before building it. A founder posted an idea card, built a simple landing page simulator, and watched how real people reacted. The product is archived and the website no longer works.

FounderSignal was my own product. I designed and built it myself, and it was not client work.

At a glance

Year
2024
Status
Archived
Role
Design and development, all done by me.
Stack
Next.js 15, TailwindCSS, Clerk, Go, Gin, PostgreSQL, WebSockets
Links

I archived this project. The backend ran on the free tier of a paid platform, the free tier expired, and there were not enough active users. There is no live website.

What I built

A web front end, a Go backend, real-time interaction tracking and the audience testing pool. The code is open source under the MIT license.

My role: Design and development, all done by me.

How it works

  1. A founder posts an idea card with an elevator pitch.
  2. The founder builds a simple landing page simulator for the idea.
  3. Real people interact with it, and the platform tracks clicks, time and scroll in real time.
  4. An audience testing pool supplies the visitors. Tests can be public or private.
  5. The goal was to test an idea within 72 hours.

AI summaries and parts of the Go backend were marked as 'to be implemented later' in the README, so I do not count them as part of what shipped.

What I learned

I archived FounderSignal because the free hosting expired and I could not get enough active users. Next time I would find the first users before building more of the product, and I would pick hosting I can leave running at near zero cost.

Want something like this built?

If you need this kind of work, see my page on MVP development for founders. You can also see all my projects.