My 2025: Building, Pausing, and Finding a Product People Need
Here’s a short summary of what I built, what failed, and what I learned.
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*1. SurelyForm*
I ran this product for two years. It had 20k+ registered users, mostly from my open-source communities. I did almost no marketing.
It converted into 2 paying customers. These users were not the real target audience. I lost patience and shut it down.
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*2. Tour123*
This product tried to solve a real problem: product demo videos become expensive to maintain as products iterate.
The idea was to generate demo videos automatically from E2E test cases. It worked technically, but no company adopted it. Engineers didn’t want to write tests, PMs said users skip docs.
It solved an engineering problem, not an organizational one.
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*3. Morphon*
Morphon started from a client custom low-code platform, then I added AI. During this period, “vibe coding” products exploded, quickly dominating the market. Token costs were high, differentiation unclear. I paused the project.
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*4. Mentorbook*
Mentorbook turns files, YouTube, or any learning material into structured courses tailored to personal goals.
By the end of 2025, it reached $600 MRR. Users paid because it genuinely helped them learn, not because of discounts or personal trust.
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*Key lessons from 2025:*
* Failures are filters * Familiar users ≠ target users * Small revenue with real dependency > fake traction * Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing how to execute
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I wrote a longer reflection on my blog: [Mentorbook 2025 Reflection](https://www.mentorbook.ai/blog/posts/my-2025)