What I ran into while launching Adal

At first, I built this project purely for myself. I wanted a reliable way to receive requests from the internet on my own device while developing. The initial requirements were simple: receive a request and forward it to a local machine that might be hidden behind NAT or a firewall.

Then I started adding features: storing requests in the app when the client is offline, and forwarding queued requests after it reconnects. What if I don’t actually need to receive the requests on my device, but only want to inspect their contents? And so on. Eventually, a simple app turned into a full-fledged development tool.

On May 20, 2026, I opened Adal to the public.

At first, I planned to build Adal’s public presence on my own, mostly through search engine indexing. But after a few conversations with people who had already launched products, I came to the conclusion that in today’s world, it is hard to get visibility and recognition without promotion. So I decided to publish Adal on startup platforms and other relevant directories.

The first platform I chose was Product Hunt. I prepared thoroughly for the launch: I wrote the copy and even recorded a video showing how to use Adal. But on launch day, I got... almost nothing. Yes, for a project with no advertising and no prepared audience, getting even two or three upvotes on Product Hunt is already not bad. In the end, it turned out to be a decent result.

Because after that, I started receiving a large number of offers with varying degrees of usefulness. All of them came from people who specialize in promoting startups after a Product Hunt launch.

I won’t name any people, platforms, or channels, so I don’t give them either publicity or bad publicity, but I will describe the offers themselves.

Advertising on LinkedIn

I have an Adal page on LinkedIn, and I try to maintain it and post updates there. Then, literally a few hours after Adal was published on Product Hunt, a woman from India sent me a connection request with an offer to publish a paid post on her personal page. The price was not exactly small either: $50.

After looking at other posts on her page, I saw comments saying that people were going to vote for projects on Product Hunt. In other words, this was basically upvote manipulation. I don’t think that is a good or honest strategy for a new product whose name is literally about honesty.

I found a vulnerability in Adal

I received an email with this kind of message on the same day Adal was published on Product Hunt. After checking the contact, I found a person with the same name on LinkedIn, and his profile said he was a “penetration tester.” That is interesting, and genuinely important for the project. Since I am building Adal by myself, without a team, I, like anyone else, cannot think through every possible scenario. I may miss something that seems obvious to me, or simply not know about a non-obvious vulnerability.

I wrote a polite reply saying that the project does not currently have a bug bounty program, but I would be grateful if he could provide at least some information. In response, I got a message along the lines of “I’ll show you, but for money.” I even agreed to that and wrote that I was ready to pay a small amount if the vulnerability was serious. After that, the person disappeared and stopped replying.

And this is the important part: I am not against paying for serious findings, but first I need to understand at least the class of the problem, the affected component, and the potential impact. Otherwise, it is not responsible disclosure; it is selling uncertainty.

Why is this clarification about the severity of the vulnerability important? Because, formally speaking, not having a CAPTCHA on a contact form is also a vulnerability. In practice, though, that vulnerability only allows bots to send messages. Is that a serious vulnerability? Does it pose a danger to users or their data? Absolutely not. There may be several “formal vulnerabilities” like this, but they do not affect the system as a whole and do not threaten users or their data.

Advertising on YouTube

I received this offer on the second day after publishing on Product Hunt. A person from India offered to sell me advertising on his channel with 80,000 subscribers. YouTube advertising is a very interesting channel: as a user, I run into it every day; as an advertiser, I have not dealt with it even once.

Using the usual “check for fake activity” rules, I looked at the proposed channel and saw that with 80,000 subscribers, the videos were getting 2,000–4,000 views and 1–3 comments each. I am not claiming the creator is inflating anything, but the audience engagement is very low. I turned this offer down as well, because I am not ready yet to pay $40–$120 for a questionable result.

Invitations to other platforms

After publishing on Product Hunt, I received emails at the official Adal address saying things like, “You published Adal on Product Hunt, we invite you to publish it on our platform too.” Overall, this is a relatively free distribution channel: it only costs the time required to publish and occasionally monitor the listing. Even if these platforms bring nothing, that is fine — I have not invested anything in them. Except time, perhaps.

So what’s the takeaway?

In the end, launching a SaaS is a new and interesting experience for me. I am getting feedback, talking to people on international platforms, and making important decisions. This is no longer “building a project for myself” or “working through Jira tickets.” It is real ownership and responsibility for a product. From here on, there will be more of it — and it should get better and more interesting.

Next time, I’ll write about how new users find Adal, what they run into, and why something that is obvious to one person can be completely non-obvious to someone else.