Solo Trial: Testing the Waters with a Gift Recommender

Editor’s Note: This is the kickoff log for my “Solo Trial” project. It’s an experiment to see if I can take a small, specific idea and turn it into a service that people actually use (and maybe pay for).

Context

Lately, I’ve been lurking on Product Hunt and Reddit, and I can’t shake this feeling.

I see so many simple, focused tools. Sometimes it’s just a single page solving one tiny problem—like summarizing long articles or styling images. They are clean, simple, and often have a price tag attached. And the craziest part? People in the comments are saying, “This is exactly what I needed!” and actually paying for it.

It’s a stark contrast to what I’m used to. Coming from a background where “compliance” and “complexity” are the norm for any web project, seeing independent developers ship and monetize so directly feels… liberating.

It gave me an “unrealistic” hope: Maybe I can do this too.

The Challenge

I started “scouting” without a map. I treated Product Hunt as my window shopping mall and Reddit (specifically r/SideProject and r/EntrepreneurRideAlong) as my classroom. I love the raw honesty there—seeing projects evolve from a buggy prototype to their first dollar.

I needed an idea that met three criteria:

Low Cost: I don’t want to burn cash on infrastructure.
Low Burden: Easy to use, no complex onboarding.
Shareable: Something people might naturally send to a friend.

The Idea: “Gift Giving is Hard” I saw a discussion on Reddit about gift recommendations. There are AI tools that generate lists, but they felt dry. I thought: Why is gift-giving hard? Usually, it’s because we aren’t sure about the other person’s “vibe.”

What if I made a tool that determines a person’s “Gift Personality” through a few fun questions, and then offers tailored inspiration? It sounds like a fun little quiz that could go viral.

The Solution

I stopped overthinking and started building.

The Stack: Next.js + Supabase. It seems to be the “Indie Hacker Starter Pack” these days. There are plenty of tutorials, so I managed to cobble together a functional site and deploy it on Vercel in just a few hours.

I sent the link to a friend. His review: “Wow, that was fast! But… uh, it’s very minimalist.” Translation: It’s ugly.

But that’s okay. This isn’t a beauty pageant. It’s a probe balloon. Its only job is to fly out there and see if there’s any wind.

The Reality Check

The “new toy” excitement faded in about three minutes when reality hit.

1. The Payment Wall I naively thought, “I have a credit card, I can receive money.” Nope. Stripe and Paddle are the gold standards, but they require a bank account in a supported region. As a developer based in China, this is a huge hurdle. Current Plan: I’m looking into Wise as a bridge. This is my top priority to figure out.

2. The “Ghost Town” Problem Who is going to use this? I can’t just stare at my own analytics. My marketing plan (the “dumb way”):

Reddit: Share the journey and ask for feedback (roast my landing page!).
X (Twitter): Build in public, share small wins.
Ads: Maybe spend a tiny amount on highly targeted ads just to test click-through rates. Consider it “tuition fees.”

Results & Learnings

The project is live (technically), but the real trial has just begun.

Key Takeaways so far:

Speed over Perfection: Shipping an “ugly” site felt better than polishing a local host project for weeks.
The Ecosystem Gap: Technical coding is the easy part. The ecosystem (payments, distribution) is where the real game is played.

This is just the beginning. Even if it fails, at least I’ll be a developer who actually tried to sail out.

About the Author

Amiko is a software engineer turned indie hacker, learning to build and sell to the global market. Follow my journey on X (Twitter) or subscribe to the RSS Feed.