Lessons Learned from Launching a Chrome Extension

One of the things that excites me most is building stuff that other people enjoy or find valuable. There’s something inherently rewarding about molding a vague idea into a product that helps someone out there. That’s what motivated me to build Click to Copy, a Chrome Extension that allows you to copy text, URLs, and CSS Code from websites at scale.

The idea for the application grew from my own frustration while copying text from ChatGPT into a PowerPoint. Usually, “Ctrl + C” and “Ctrl + V” works great, but not when you want to copy multiple bits of text scattered in a large block of text. With Click to Copy it’s easy.

Throughout this project, I’ve learned valuable lessons about building products which I’ll summarize below.

The Single Killer Feature. At the beginning, start by building one feature that solves one problem very well. Here’s why:

• Sticking to one feature allows you to focus efforts on a single high-quality solution, whereas building multiple dilutes your efforts.
• By sticking to one feature, you avoid problems that can arise from the interdependencies between multiple features.
• It’s unclear if people will want your product. Since it’s faster to bring a one feature product to market, you’ll learn sooner if there’s interest.
• Attention spans are short, it’s easier to market / showcase one feature to an audience rather than multiple.

Marketing is the Game. If you want someone to use / purchase what you make, you need them to know your product exists. One reason why many people who start building things fail to gain traction is their negligence toward marketing.

Learning Compounds. It’s easy to get discouraged by the flood of problems that you face with your first product. However, there’s good news: it gets easier. With each iteration of building something, you learn, develop templates, and streamline the process.

Know what you’re Building. It saves a lot of time if you know what you want to build, before writing the first line of code. With an unclear goal you’re at risk of wandering into different directions, this can be costly when programming.

Finish what you Start. It’s tempting to move from one shiny idea to the next. I’ve found myself guilty of abandoning projects due to some arbitrary problem along the way. It’s better to stick with something long enough to ship at least one feature to test the waters.