94: Shot Pattern — Eric Duffett

On the podcast: Eric Duffett shares how he built Shot Pattern — a golf GPS app that brings "moneyball" thinking to the course — as a side project while teaching high school full-time. He talks about his first failed app, why automating an existing community workflow created instant product-market fit, turning down a 75K acquisition offer, cracking Meta ads with a scrappy zero-budget screen recording, and growing to one million dollars in total sales without ever leaving the classroom.

Top Takeaways:

⛳ Find people already doing it the hard way

If a community is solving a problem with spreadsheets, Google Maps, or shared workarounds, you don't need to convince them they have a problem — you just need to make the solution easier.

🚫 Don't rebuild your entire app for one person's feedback

Overweighting the first piece of feedback you get, especially when it requires a massive pivot like adding a new platform, is one of the most common traps for first-time developers.

📉 Intellectually knowing and emotionally knowing are different things

You can predict a seasonal downturn or a slow period, but the anxiety of watching revenue drop to zero still hits differently when you're living through it.

🎬 Market before you build

The difference between a hobby that nobody finds and a business that grows from day one can be as simple as sharing screenshots and talking about what you're making while you're still making it.

💸 Your LTV has to work before you spend a dollar on ads

Paid acquisition only becomes a money printer when your conversion and retention numbers are already strong from organic users — otherwise you're just paying to lose money faster.