Dario Tordoni

Cool website, thank you. About DMs it was because of settings

Oh yes, I would love to find smaller, more active communities

Hi, if you find something, I'm looking for the same 😊

A year ago, I started working on Drinklytics. On and off, it went public in June.
If I were starting now, I'd do this:
* Find testers in days, not weeks
* Less worrying about publishing
* Apply I.C.E. prioritization way earlier
What would you change if you restarted your project? #buildiinpublic

😄...mine is not an engineer's hat, but it always tries to slow me down

Me too. It looks to me more professional

For too long, I thought about building an app. I read about frameworks, editors, architecture... I kept delaying the start.
In the time I spent "planning to start", I could have already had a working app. You just have to start. What's the one mindset shift that finally made you start?
#indiedev

You're right, sometimes I insist on staying in front of the monitor, but it's more of a waste of time than anything else

and as soon as an idea comes to you, share it with him, so you also validate it 🙂

Finding ideas for a product sometimes requires deep concentration, other times they come when I stop thinking about it.
My best ideas come while walking in nature listening to a hilarious podcast, they bubble up from nowhere.
What is your go-to practice for generating ideas?
#buildinpublic #indiedev

I know I'm probably overthinking retention at this stage, but here's my working theory:

By giving users the freedom to leave (with all their data), you make their decision to stay more meaningful.

What do you think? Is this a good principle or just a classic case of premature optimization?

The challenge was pictures. 🖼️

They were being saved at full size, which would have eventually made the export files huge and unwieldy.

So, a wild "image compression & resizing" task had appeared! It shot to the top of my to-do list before this became a real problem.

My philosophy is simple: if you put your time and data into an app, you should be able to take it all with you. Easily. No questions asked. Your data is yours.

This feature also unearthed a new challenge I hadn't considered...

Building Drinklytics, I decided to solve a problem I definitely don't have yet: vendor lock-in 😅.

So, naturally, I spent some time building a full import/export feature. A short thread on why... 🧵

#buildinpublic #indiedev #DataOwnership

Yes, I understand. Some of my projects never saw the light of day and remained mere documentation.🙂 However, with Drinklytics I found the right rhythm.
Your project is cool, I think the kids will enjoy following the exercises.

Sometimes I also think I'm too much of an architect, but when I realize that what I produce is faithful to my expectations at the right time, I change my mind 🙂. What are you building?

My brain during a new feature idea is like Inside Out.
The architect 🏛️: Mocks, specs, a robust structure before line 1 of code.
The shipper 🚀: YOLOOOOOOOOOOOO! Build the core, ship. Done is better than perfect
I try for balance, but I'm an Architect. You?
#buildinpublic #indiedev #productdev

Very cute! Design, colors, illustrations, micro-animations, it's pleasant even just to scroll through

It is a method for setting priorities within a project, valid both in a team and alone www.productplan.com/glossary/ice...

My three go-to moves when #sideproject blocks happen:
📝 I re-read my notes/roadmap: often the idea is already there, the I.C.E. method helps with priorities
📈 Mixpanel data helps uncover problems and opportunities
🗣️ I talk to users (few), I receive good feedback through DMs
#buildinpublic

New quarter, #freshstarteffect:
Morning: feet on the ground → workout, or I will turn into a stone 🗿
Day: main work + home/family
Evening: one or two hours on side projects, because every step counts. I don't always succeed, but I try.
What's your focus for this quarter's build?
#buildinpublic

How to build an effective ASO strategy: A step-by-step guide for 2025 Follow this step-by-step approach to create an effective ASO strategy for your app/game and increase your organic downloads.

If you're also experimenting with organic app growth, I'd love to hear your experiences! What worked for you?

Also, sharing some ASO guides I used to get started
- @apptweak.com: www.apptweak.com/en/aso-blog/...
- App Radar: appradar.com/app-store-op...
- Kurve: kurve.co.uk/blog/backlin...

The work is far from over. The direction feels right, but the conversion rate (CR) could be way better. Next up on the list:

🎨 Redesigning my truly ugly app icon
🖼️ Creating more professional screenshots
🧪 A/B testing the entire store listing to improve CR

For the first ~2 months? Nothing. 🦗
But then, things started moving.

This is the keyword ranking progress in the US after 3 months. The organic-only approach seems to be working, slowly but surely.

My process was pretty straightforward, no magic tricks:

📚 Studied ASO best practices (guides, blogs)
🎯 Analyzed direct & indirect competitors
🔍 Did keyword research w/ SEO/ASO tools
✍️ Optimized my store listing (title, desc, screenshots)
❌ Tried to get backlinks (0 success so far, lol)

Drinklytics app #buildinpublic, an ASO (App Store Optimization) recap. 📈I kept seeing a theory on Reddit: without an initial ad spend, the Play Store algorithm basically ignores you.
So an experiment: 100% organic from scratch. Here's what happened after 3 months.. 🧵👇
#buildinpublic #ASO #indiedev

Mmm, wrong priorities

For the first ~2 months? Nothing. 🦗
But then, things started moving.

This is the keyword ranking progress in the US after 3 months. The organic-only approach seems to be working, slowly but surely. It is possible to get visibility without ads.

My process was pretty straightforward, no magic tricks:

📚 Studied ASO best practices (guides, blogs)
🎯 Analyzed direct & indirect competitors
🔍 Did keyword research w/ SEO/ASO tools
✍️ Optimized my store listing (title, desc, screenshots)
❌ Tried to get backlinks (0 success so far, lol)

I also think that 12 testers don't prove anything; I think it was introduced as a barrier to reduce publication. Ultimately, among friends and potential end users of the app, you can find twelve interested people. Until recently, I think there were 20 people, then they reduced it.