The Story
I Built This Because I Needed It Myself
I've been a software engineer for over 2 years, working across multiple companies and tech stacks. But outside of work, I'm the same as you - a solo developer with a notes app full of "brilliant" ideas and a graveyard of half-built projects.
The pattern was always the same. Get excited about an idea on a Friday night. Spin up a repo. Start building without validating anything. Two weeks in, the scope had tripled. A month later, I'd discover a new idea that felt more exciting. The old project? Silently abandoned. No accountability. No record of what happened. Just another folder collecting dust.
I tried everything. Notion databases. Trello boards. Linear. Jira (yes, Jira for a solo project... I was desperate). None of them worked because they were all built for teams. They gave me infinite flexibility when what I actually needed was constraints. Guardrails. Something that would call me out when I was quietly expanding scope at 2 AM.
So I built FoundStep. Not as a startup pitch or a VC play. I built it because I was frustrated, and I knew I wasn't the only one. Every indie developer I talked to had the same story: too many ideas, too little shipping, zero accountability.
FoundStep is opinionated on purpose. It forces you to validate before building, locks your scope so you can't silently expand it, and keeps a permanent record of every time you break your own rules. It's not gentle. It's not flexible. It's the system I wish I had years ago.
Our Mission
Help Solo Developers Finish What They Start
Project management shouldn’t feel like a second job. FoundStep strips away the noise and gives indie developers only what matters: clarity, constraints, and the accountability to actually ship. We exist so that your next side project isn’t just another abandoned repo.
Our Vision
A World Where Indie Devs Ship With Confidence
We see a future where solo developers go from idea to launch without drowning in backlogs or burning out. Where simplicity fuels discipline, small daily wins compound into shipped products, and every indie developer has a Harbor full of finished work they’re proud of.
What We’re Building Toward
Validate Before You Build
A 6-stage AI validation that kills bad ideas before they kill your time.
Lock Scope, Ship Faster
Scope locking with permanent accountability. No more silent feature creep at midnight.
Build a Harbor, Not a Graveyard
Turn your project history from a list of abandoned repos into a wall of shipped work.
Our Principles
What We Stand For
Privacy First
Your ideas and data belong entirely to you. We never mine, share, or monetize them.
Built With Empathy
Every feature exists because I hit the same wall you did. No hypothetical solutions.
Community Driven
We grow with real developer feedback. You shape the roadmap, not imaginary personas.
Opinionated By Design
No blank canvases. No infinite flexibility. Just the constraints that actually help you ship.
Your Side Projects Deserve
Better Than a Graveyard
If you’re tired of starting projects and never finishing them, FoundStep was built for you. By someone who had the exact same problem.
Want insights on shipping side projects? Read our blog
Built by a solo dev
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