How ProjectPlannerAI grew from 0 - 2,500 users in 6 months

Meet Hosna Qasmei, a software developer and content creator based in Los Angeles, California.

Together with Cody Seibert, a software engineer and content creator (WebDevCody), she co-created ProjectPlannerAI.

ProjectPlannerAI is a project management platform designed specifically for developers, indie hackers, and solopreneurs.

The story told by Hosna

The product

The inspiration behind ProjectPlannerAI stemmed from our own frustrations with managing multiple side projects simultaneously - often leading them to become unfinished "graveyard" projects. Traditional tools like Asana, Monday, and Jira felt overly complicated and packed with unnecessary features.

Our platform simplifies project management by providing a centralized space to manage finances, resources, and collaborations efficiently, so developers can focus on bringing their innovative ideas to life without the usual chaos.

And we use our own platform to build out the platform, platform inception!

Development timeline

Starting out
We began building early December 2023 and launched MVP (Minimum Viable Product) early January 2024.

The MVP was an AI plan generator service that generated icon logos, project names, essential feature recommendations and more from the user inputting their idea, i.e. an app to help track recipes. Was a one time payment model, $5 was 5 credits, 1 credit = 1 plan generation.

Pivoting
After the first 2 weeks we got about 60 paying customers. But once the plan was generated there was nothing to keep the users coming back to the tool. So we shifted focus at the end of January 2024 to build a project management platform with a subscription based monetization model.

Growth

Initial users
It took just a week to attract our first 100 users, utilizing our platforms on X and YouTube - examples below.

We also build in public, any updates or feature additions we share and promote on X has brought traffic to our site. Also Cody creates videos on YouTube walking the viewer through how that feature was built - examples below.

Current status
We have grown to approximately 2,500 users, with around 36 paying customers. We have made about $800 in profit to date, which doesn’t seem like much. But we are working on adding another plan for even more capabilities and focusing on conversion.

We have a lot of dormant users, so we are working on setting up reminder emails and updates to the platform to get the users re engaged in the platform.

Creating funnels
To create more awareness of the product we also want to create more funnels such as free tools related to our platform. Similar to what Marc Lou does with LogoFast.

Marketing insights

Struggles
Our main challenge has been creating an emotional connection that compels users to choose our product. Identifying the right marketing channels and ideal user base has also been challenging.

Strategies
We have focused on organic growth through social media by sharing regular updates and feature improvements.

Next steps
We plan on sharing our app on platforms such as reddit, Hacker News, or Product Hunt, which could significantly broaden our reach.

Additionally, enhancing our SEO, creating engaging blog posts, and increasing our site visibility are essential strategies to attract more visitors.

Lastly, we plan on obtaining user testimonials which will be key in building trust and convincing potential customers of our product's quality.

Contact Information

• Hosna on X

• Cody on X

• Email ProjectPlannerAI

And remember to check out projectplannerai.com