[duanem]

I have a product that does of what you ask, e.g., no ads, no tracking, no "Dear valued customer".

Unfortunately: - competitors use revenue from ads, tracking, selling data to their advantage and undercut your value based on price.

- and free users love free stuff. I had a user ask me to include ads in exchange for paid features.

- and yet people still distrust you. Once I proudly posted a new feature to Show HK and the first response was "How does this post not qualify as 'spam'?". Some people automatically think you're a bad guy since you sell something.

- without advertising, how do you get the word out?

I rely on word-of-mouth, since it carries much trust, and news articles. This means it's a slow game.

It is very hard to find mutual respect (both ways) between user and maker. Most relationships start with distrust or "what is in it for me".

[a_square_peg]

Randomly saw this comment & your profile and just wanted to say hello and well done on the app.

I recently started a historical time-series weather data api based on ERA5/GFS and your story really resonated with me. Similarly, I don't come from weather background and initially built it for my work with building energy analysis, with service live but still at an extremely early stage.

Happy holidays. :)