How real demand turned a hobby app into a business

Eric Duffet, a high school teacher and indie app developer, embarked on a journey of trial and error before achieving success with his golf GPS app, Shot Pattern. Initially, Eric developed a meditation app for golfers called Undaunted Golf, aiming to help students build resilience, but it failed to gain traction due to a lack of product-market fit. Despite this setback, his passion for app development persisted, leading him to create Shot Pattern, which leveraged existing golfer behaviors by simplifying the process of measuring golf course distances. Unlike his first venture, Shot Pattern quickly gained popularity and paid off significantly, earning $185,000 in revenue in 2024, after Eric declined a $75,000 acquisition offer. His experience underscores the importance of understanding market demand and responding to consumer needs rather than trying to impose a new behavior.