Find indie projects launching soon
Proof of Traction ranks indie projects weekly using visitors measured on each maker's own site. Looking for projects launching soon? Use the weekly market to build a shortlist, then check each maker's launch announcement before adding a project to your watchlist.
The short answer
Keep launch plans and traffic in separate columns. The maker's announcement tells you the planned release. Measured visitors help you decide which projects to revisit. A place on the board is not a launch announcement.
Start with a project that solves a problem you care about. Save its project page, note the week you checked, and write down what would bring you back: a public demo, an open beta, or a release date.
Build your watchlist
- Browse for a useful project. Open the market and pick projects you would actually try. Read the description before letting traffic decide for you.
- Check the launch plan on the project's own site. Look for a dated announcement or an invitation to a beta or waitlist. Note the maker's wording and the date you checked. Keep products that are already available in a separate list.
- Record the measured week. Save the visitor count with its week, never as a bare number. Read how measurement works before comparing entries.
- Copy growth only when it is shown. The board shows week-over-week growth only when a project has enough prior data. Keep the visitor count beside it, and leave the growth field empty rather than entering zero.
- Choose a next check. Come back for the maker's announced milestone or the next weekly entry. Add what changed instead of overwriting your earlier note.
A sample watchlist organized by traffic
Sort your watchlist into these groups. They are sorting rules, not claims about particular projects or their launch dates.
| Watchlist group | What to record | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors, no growth comparison | Project page, measured week and visitors. Leave growth empty. | Treat this as your starting point. Revisit after another measured week. |
| Visitors with positive growth | Current visitors, previous visitors and the displayed growth. | Check the maker's updates. Record launch news separately from the traffic change. |
| Visitors with flat or negative growth | The same weekly figures, including the direction of the change. | Keep it if the product still interests you. Time the next check to its release milestone. |
Use this note format for each entry: Project page; launch announcement; checked on; measured week; visitors; available growth; next check.
To try the process, open Bangerkit's project page or Talk First's project page. Both are our own products listed on the board, not upcoming launches. Check their current details before adding either to your watchlist.
Mistakes to avoid
- Calling every discovery an upcoming launch. Keep a link to the maker's actual launch announcement beside the project.
- Ranking by growth alone. Read the visitor totals alongside the change before choosing what to follow.
- Reading traffic as a customer count. Label your saved metric as visitors, not sales or paying users.
- Trusting a saved date. Reopen the announcement before planning around a release.
Questions about your watchlist
Which projects should I watch first?
The ones you want to use. Let the visitor history tell you what to revisit and the maker's announcement tell you when. A project's rank is a separate question.
What should I do when growth is missing?
Save the measured week and visitors as your starting point, leave growth empty, and check a later entry. Don't fill in an estimate.