Founder's Journey / Blog Article

Read our latest company news and announcements, as well as useful insights from our team here at User Mastery.

Day 13 - Being lean, getting user feedback and iterating
13 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
The lean startup approach is all about building, measuring, and learning quickly. Instead of spending months or years building the "perfect" product, if you’re a startup, focus on creating a minimum viable product (what’s called an MVP), get it in front of real users, and iterate based on actual real-world feedback.
Hey there!
The lean startup approach is all about building, measuring, and learning quickly. Instead of spending months or years building the "perfect" product, if you’re a startup, focus on creating a minimum viable product (what’s called an MVP), get it in front of real users, and iterate based on actual real-world feedback.
For User Mastery, rather than trying to build every feature I've imagined it to have, I’ll focus on its core functionality. What's the smallest version of this product that would still deliver real value? Ask yourself that same question for your own business.
So, that's the feature announcement system combined with basic help documentation. Roadmap, feature requests, and testimonials? Those can come later, once I've gotten some traction.
Scary to ship something that feels incomplete, sure, but trust the process.
I’m posting every weekday. See you tomorrow!
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Day 10 - Announcements, help docs, feedback, roadmapping—tools to help user engagement
10 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
One thing I've learnt is that while there are many tools that handle individual pieces of the problem I’m solving for, none of them create that seamless experience I'm after.
Hey there!
Big milestone day! It’s 10 days into my indie hacker journey. I've got a much clearer vision for “User Mastery” now—the SaaS I’ll be focusing my attention on.
One thing I've learnt is that while there are many tools that handle individual pieces of the problem I’m solving for, none of them create that seamless experience I'm after.
I’m know I’m not building a new market.
As an indie hacker, don’t go into new markets. Remember what I said before, don’t spend time validating the market. Find markets that already exist, figure out how you can be different or better, and go from there.
So, what I'm doing is taking existing tools that solve parts of the problem (announcements, help docs, feedback, roadmapping), and integrating them into a single, cohesive and compelling platform. Product teams will be able to create a unified experience that actually drives engagement and adoption.
It’ll be awesome! Super excited.
Today is Friday. Things are going to start moving very fast from this point. I'm posting every weekday. See you in a couple of days!
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Day 9 - I've decided to work on a tool to help product teams engage with users
09 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
What is it? User Mastery is a platform for product teams to announce features, share roadmaps, create help documentation, gather user feedback, and collect testimonials - all in one place.
Hey there! Day 9 of my startup journey!
Super excited today.
I talked about how it is hard to build in public, and how there doesn’t seem to be a platform to support this. But, it’s not just about building in public, right; it’s also challenging for new startups to connect, engage and get users excited about their product journey.
I've decided to build a platform called User Mastery to help with this!
What is it? User Mastery is a platform for product teams to announce features, share roadmaps, create help documentation, gather user feedback, and collect testimonials - all in one place.
I’m building this to scratch my own itch of course, but I’m also I'm solving a problem I've watched teams struggle with for years.
Super pumped. Super excited
I’m posting every weekday. See you in the next one! It’s time to get to work.
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Day 8 - Product teams don't seem to have an easy way to engage with users
08 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
I’ve been looking for a tool to share my progress, but there isn’t a single, unified and compelling platform to announce features, share a roadmap, write awesome help documentation and collect user feedback and testimonials.
Hey there! Day 8 of my startup journey!
It turns out building in public is a lot harder than I thought initially.
For years, I worked with product teams across startups, enterprises, and government orgs—and behind the scenes, it was always the same drill. A feature would launch, and users barely noticed. Or, they noticed and were confused. Or, they tried it, got stuck, and bounced.
Why? Because teams were patching together multiple different and disconnected channels to reach users: email blasts no one read, changelogs buried in footers, help docs siloed in some wiki, feedback locked inside some support app, and Zapier integrations that kinda/sorta work—but really, it was duct tape and chaos.
I’ve been looking for a tool to share my progress, but there isn’t a single, unified and compelling platform to announce features, share a roadmap, write awesome help documentation and collect user feedback and testimonials.
Is this a gap or what? I could build something to solve all that. Excited?
I’m posting every weekday. Talk tomorrow.
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Day 7 - Why build in public?
07 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
It's a way to be accountable. It's a marketing strategy. It's a way to build community.
Hey there! Day 7 of my startup journey!
I’m building in public, but why build in public you may ask?
I think there are really three reasons.
  1. It’s a way for me to be accountable. I’m compelled to work on my startup and chip away at it daily, because I need to have something to report, and hopefully there’ll be people that will keep me honest.
  2. Number 2 - It's a marketing strategy. It establishes credibility. In time, it’ll showcase my thought process and expertise, and that can be invaluable when I’m ready to launch.
  3. Number 3 - It's a way to build community. By being transparent, I can connect with potential customers or collaborators, and get feedback and support.
Is there more to it than just 1 minute videos? Oh Yes! Absolutely Yes!
I’m posting every weekday. Stay tuned because I’m going to take this to the next level in the coming days.
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Day 6 - Embrace your constraints
06 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
You can't afford to go out there, and create and validate a new market. Instead, as a strategy, pick an area that's big enough, where there are competitors, and big ones. They've done the market validation for you. All you need to do is carve a small percentage from them.
Hey there! It’s Day 6 of my startup journey!
As a new startup, it can be really distracting to talk to too many people. People will tell your idea’s not innovative enough, it’s been done before, or there are tons of competitors already.
They’ll tell you that you literally don’t stand a chance!
As an indie hacker, I think it’s important to embrace your constraints.
You have limited funds and time.
You can't afford to go out there, and create and validate a new market. Instead, as a strategy, pick an area that's big enough, where there are competitors, and big ones. They've done the market validation for you. All you need to do is carve a small percentage from them.
So, find a niche. Showing your target market why your solution is better, or simpler or cheaper. Your small size is an advantage. Just because something’s been done before, doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
I’m posting every weekday. See you tomorrow.
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Day 3 - Finding the right problem to solve
03 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
As a software developer, I'm naturally drawn to building solutions. Over the years, I've realised something important: Finding the RIGHT problem to solve is actually more important than having the PERFECT solution.
Hey there! Day 3 of my startup journey!
Just got back from the gym and excited for another day. Today, I want to touch on something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. And, that is:
Choosing the right problem to solve.
As a software developer, I'm naturally drawn to building solutions. Over the years, I've realised something important: Finding the RIGHT problem to solve is actually more important than having the PERFECT solution.
The challenge really is:
  1. Is this a problem that is genuinely painful
  2. Is this a problem something I'm uniquely positioned to solve
  3. Is this a problem people value enough that they’d pay for a solution
In my line of work, running a software development agency, I see this all the time. This applies to pretty much every type of work, not just startups.
Take a moment to reflect on this.
Today’s Friday. I’m posting every weekday. I’ll see you in a few days!
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Day 2 - What do I want my business to represent?
02 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
I think it’s important before start a new business, it's important to have a clear understanding of the “what” as well as the “why”. For me, this journey isn't solely about making money.
Hey there!
Day 2 of my solo founder journey, and I'm diving deeper into what I want my business to truly represent.
I think it’s important before I start, I need to have a clear understanding of the “what” as well as the “why”. For me, this journey isn't solely about making money.
For me, I deeply believe a business can be both purposeful AND profitable. My intention is to focus on creating something purposeful, something intentional, something reflects my values, something that puts people first, something that adds genuine value that I can be proud of.
And, and I want to do it in a way that allows me to remain independent. So, no venture capital, no vanity metrics, no pressure to scale at all costs. Take my time and get it right.
Is this approach naive in today's business climate? Maybe. Or is it exactly what we need more of? Drop your thoughts below, and let's keep this conversation going!
I’m posting every weekday. See you tomorrow for Day 3!
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Day 1 - Starting my SaaS Journey
01 October 2025 — Dave Cheong — Founder's Journey, Weekday Video Updates
I have some startup ideas, but I don’t quite know what I’ll turn my attention to just yet. What I do know is I want to embrace building in public. That means, I’ll document my entire journey and process, I’ll share what I’m thinking and working on, what I’m trying.
Hi guys!
Today is the 1st of October 2025. It is actually Day 1 for me as a solo entrepreneur and indie hacker. After years of talking about it, I’ve decided to start my own SaaS journey. It just feels like the right time—in the past, I’m always too busy, or the money running a software development agency’s just too good, but an opportunity has presented itself and I’ve decided to take the plunge.
This video is a quick “Hello World”.
I’m excited about what’s next. I have some startup ideas, but I don’t quite know what I’ll turn my attention to just yet. What I do know is I want to embrace building in public. That means, I’ll document my entire journey and process, I’ll share what I’m thinking and working on, what I’m trying. I show you my numbers, and you’ll be able to see all my flaws and failures. It’s all super scary of course, but if nothing else, it’ll serve as a cautionary tale of what not to do.
Drop me a comment. Wish me luck. I’ll be posting every weekday. Follow me. I’ll see you in the next one!
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