I gained 50k users for my app with NO marketing
Hi Hackernews, Last year around February, I found myself having to pay contractors for various services that they provided me as I completed my new home. An occurring question that kept coming up with each conversation was - how do you want me to pay you or do you have “X” payment app on your phone that I can send the cash to? I realized that some preferred Venmo, others preferred cash app - some had neither only relied on PayPal. Being the software engineer that I am, I figured why not build an app where a person can just list all their payment apps and then I can pick which ever worked for…
In plain words
Paylinkz is a platform that consolidates multiple payment app links into a single shareable profile, similar to Linktree but focused exclusively on payment methods. Users can list all their preferred payment apps—such as Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal—and share one link instead of asking contacts which payment method they prefer. It was created to solve the friction point of coordinating payment methods with contractors and service providers.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi Hackernews, Last year around February, I found myself having to pay contractors for various services that they provided me as I completed my new home. An occurring question that kept coming up with each conversation was - how do you want me to pay you or do you have “X” payment app on your phone that I can send the cash to? I realized that some preferred Venmo, others preferred cash app - some had neither only relied on PayPal. Being the software engineer that I am, I figured why not build an app where a person can just list all their payment apps and then I can pick which ever worked for me. Similar to linktree but ONLY for payment apps So I did just that, built the app - [https://paylinkz.app/](https://paylinkz.app/) and released it to the store without any fan fare - I didn’t even tell my close relatives because I could care less whether they used it or not. I also didn’t want any high expectations from anyone so did it in silence 10 months later we have 50k users with $0 spent on ads. It is worth noting that the initial audience that I had in mind were not even the people who used it the most. Today some of the use cases I have seen on the app are people using it for fund raising, mariachi bands, barber shops, landlords and Uber drivers for collecting tips, fantasy leagues... FWIW - this is not my first rodeo at building an app and I think luck must have favored me this time around. It also helps that it is something that the market needed but never had. Although I was lucky in 2022, my goal is to put some effort into marketing to see where this goes. Would love some overall feedback!
More growth this month
the category →
AstraPixels▲267A pixel-art solar system at its real current positions.
Growth · 29d ago · astrapixels.com
Launched alongside, January 2023
the whole month →- NA
This works suprisingly well. Just give it instructions like "make it winter" or "remove the cars" and the photo is altered. Here are some examples of transformations it can make: Golden gate bridge: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brycedrennan/imaginAIry/ma... Girl with a pearl earring: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brycedrennan/imaginAIry/ma... I integrated this new InstructPix2Pix model into imaginAIry (python library) so it's easy to use for python developers.
AI · 2023 · github.com
HyperSwitch▲715Fast, reliable, and affordable open source payments switch
Dev tools · 2023 · hyperswitch.io
- IV
The project is called QueryStorm. It uses Roslyn to offer C# (and VB.NET) support in Excel, as an alternative to VBA. I've posted about it before, but a lot has changed since then so figured I'd share an update. The current version includes a host of new features, namely a C# debugger, support for NuGet packages, and the ability to publish Excel extensions to an "AppStore" (which is essentially a NuGet repository). The AppStore can be used by anyone with the (free) runtime component. Another great addition is the community license, which is a free license for individuals and small companies…
Work · 2023 · querystorm.com
- IM
Hey HN! Some more info: I’m an NHS doctor and the founder of Pi-A (https://www.pi-a.io) which developed Lungy (https://www.lungy.app). Lungy is an app (iOS only for now) that responds to breathing in real-time and was designed to make breathing exercises more engaging and beneficial to do. It hopefully has many aspects of interest to the HN community – real-time fluid, cloth and soft body sims running on the phone’s GPU. My background is as a junior surgical trainee and I started building Lungy in 2020 during the first COVID lockdown in London. During COVID, there were…
Life & fun · 2023 · lungy.app
