First, you did something. Nothing can take that away from you. So be proud of what you did. Next, you learned a valuable lesson that will come with you into your next projects. Learning to "sell" is absolutely critical for so much of life - not just tech startups.
Finally, this is not the end. There will be more ideas and more opportunity. You're already on to the next thing. Keep moving forward. It's not how long or short the game is, or how quickly you move. It's how long you stay in the game. Keep playing the game.
History is replete with examples of people who have found measurable success later in life. I might recommend starting with a review of those people and their lives and looking for any parallel that may suit you. Let me just leave one example from my culture, Rabbi Akiva, one of the most influential and revered Rabbi's of all time, that I often think of at times like these:
"When Akiva married the daughter of Ben Kalba Sabua,[a] a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem, Akiva was an uneducated shepherd employed by Ben Kalba Sabua. His wife's first name is not provided in earlier sources, but a later version of the tradition gives it as Rachel.[2][6] She stood loyally by her husband during the period of his late initiation into rabbinic studies after he was 40 years of age.[2] and in which Akiva dedicated himself to the study of Torah.
A different tradition[6] narrates that at the age of 40, Akiva attended the academy of his native town, Lod, presided over by Eliezer ben Hurcanus. Hurcanus was a neighbour of Yosef, the father of Akiva. The fact that Eliezer was his first teacher, and the only one whom Akiva later designates as "rabbi", is of importance in settling the date of Akiva's birth. These legends set the beginning of his years of study at about 75–80."
I love your work and admire your approach. But you should recognize a void will emerge and void get filled. Someone (probably reading this thread) will clone your idea and make it a supported for pay service.
It wont be me. But some enterprising engineer/pm/group who was recently laid off in this downturn will probably make a go of it.
If the client is worth enough to you, get on a plane and physically shadow the workers who use your system for a few days. Absolutely nothing can replace direct face to face engagement with real life users.
In this case the person you are speaking with is a boss who either will not or can not articulate his needs. You need to go the the source - the front line users.
While I’m sure everything in this PR is true, I’m also gonna take a moment to read between the lines. Apple will/should leverage this relatively unprecedented/innocuous statement to accelerate diversity in their supply chain.
With the US squeezing China with sanctions it is only a matter of time before China retaliates against Apple. Politically, reducing pressure on China in the US is not tenable in this climate. We’re in a one way ratchet and Apple needs to diversify away from China as quickly as possible. Covid lockdowns in China ultimately provide a fantastic opportunity and official/formal face saving measure for Apple (and all other US manufacturers) to establish alternate supply chains without openly antagonizing China.
This is not going to turn out well. Do we really want to edit reality in this way? This is like the printer that automatically watermarks your prints - for your security and protection! Coming to a child protection law near you real soon.
Want to take a picture of that Ferrari? That’ll be an extra $5.
No, you really can’t take photos in airports.
Thats a police officer(s). (Literally) Nothing to see here, move along.
Vampires/Ghosts. A class of people who’s faces are in a master redact database. You know, like some real CIA Jason Borne stuff.
Military installation? What military installation? Replace with slave labor camp or, a more economically favorable rendition - “sweatshop.”
All power to you! Congratulations. For me, the takeaway is that XR (AR+VR) opens up a new market and attracts new people (customers). Everything in our world is a continuum. Candles to lightbulbs, horses to ICE to EV mobility. Telegraphs to phone to cell. The adoption curve is the continuum.
Your comment is such a clear signal that this technology, XR, has a place on this continuum. It will evolve and attract new people to it who have not been sold on/motivated to engage with previous generations of presentation - in your case exercise.
Well done and congratulations on shipping something that works. As you are still early in your journey, keep that with you. At the end of the day the specific tech and techniques will often recede into the background. What people - you, your colleagues, your bosses, your customers, even your competitors - will remember is that you delivered something that got the job done.
Apple should be paying enough money that that issue is not a consideration. If I’m Apple (or anyone else for that matter) I’m paying absolute top dollar times two to resolve these issues. And I’m not even thinking twice about it.
My takeaway from the ask is what can you get done as a “solopreneur” and which tools do you use to do it. It looks like there are many answers and no single “right” answer. I’m particularly interested to know why people pick the tools that they pick.
Finally, this is not the end. There will be more ideas and more opportunity. You're already on to the next thing. Keep moving forward. It's not how long or short the game is, or how quickly you move. It's how long you stay in the game. Keep playing the game.