Is Fail in Public Supposed to Feel Like This? My $750 Learning Curve

The Numbers That Hurt (But Taught Me Everything)

I burned $750 in a month and got exactly zero paying customers. Here’s why that’s the best thing that happened to my startup.

😂 Is fail in public supposed to feel like this?

Let me share the raw numbers:

2 weeks to ship MVP
Daily iterations based on feedback
$400/month infrastructure costs
$350 on X ads
7 registrations
0 payments

My guess: onboarding friction and unclear value proposition.

The Ad Campaign Disaster That Changed Everything

Started with $125 budget. Got ~10 registration attempts from a simple link-in-text tweet boost. That setup was actually working.

Then X changed the rules overnight:

Ads with external links got penalized
CPM jumped 5x
Impressions collapsed
New “AI autotargeting” burned $400 with almost no signal

The lesson? External links in ads are dead. The new meta:

Linkless creatives only
Site link in media attachment
Video > Image > Text

What Actually Moved the Needle

Week 1: The Reality Check

Shipped voice-to-tweet in 2 weeks
Got first users excited
Realized onboarding was broken

Week 2: The Pivot

Added Creator Chat (ChatGPT for X)
Built in 48 hours straight
First viral moment: 97k impressions

Week 3: The Breakthrough

Added demo button (no signup required)
Browser voice assistant
People could try without friction
Timeline started moving instantly

The Onboarding Funnel Breakdown

Spent €125 on ads in 2 days. Here’s where people dropped:

561 unique visitors
635 landings
33 reached onboarding (5.8% - terrible)
9 started registration
2 got verified
0 hit payment

The killer mistake? The “free trial” button led to a form asking for payment info immediately. No value shown first.

Lessons From Burning Cash

People need to experience the magic before committing. We added:

Live demo on landing page
No phone number required
Instant value delivery
Posts visible on demo account

2. Simplicity Wins

I rewrote a week’s worth of ads until the soul was gone. Conversion dropped. Started over with:

Simpler copy
Clearer value prop
Human language
No buzzwords

3. Consistency Beats Perfection

“i’ve shipped, tweaked, and rebuilt my product in public almost 2 months. it’s not always pretty, but the progress stacks up.”

Daily shipping taught me:

Small improvements compound
User feedback is gold
Perfect is the enemy of shipped

The Mental Game of Public Failure

Building in public is brutal. Your failures are visible. Your numbers are transparent. Your struggles are content.

But here’s what I learned:

Authenticity resonates - People root for real journeys
Transparency builds trust - Honest numbers attract honest feedback
Failure is data - Every “no” teaches you something

What I’m Trying Next

Based on the data:

Fix onboarding friction - Value first, payment later
Double down on demos - Let people experience before committing
Video walkthroughs - Show, don’t tell
Clearer positioning - “Call to tweet” is unique, lean into it

The Unexpected Win

The best part of failing publicly? The community response:

11 replies with actionable advice
13 likes from fellow builders
543 impressions of support
Real connections with other founders

For Anyone Starting Out

If you’re building in public, remember:

Your first dollars will be wasted - It’s tuition, not loss
Transparency attracts help - People want to see you win
Small pivots > Big rewrites - Iterate based on data
Demo everything - Reduce friction to zero

The Plot Twist

After all this “failure,” something interesting happened. The demo button worked. People started testing. The timeline moved.

Maybe failing in public isn’t failing at all. Maybe it’s just learning with an audience.

What’s Next

I’m filming walkthrough videos this week. Adding more demo features. Simplifying onboarding even more.

The burn rate is real. The pressure is real. But so is the progress.

Follow the journey: @x11social

Building in public? Share your “failure” stories. Let’s normalize the struggle.