Two and a Half Years of Jungle Labs: What I've Learned
A retrospective on two and a half years of running an indie studio. From web agency positioning to a product pivot, the mistakes, the lessons, and what comes next.
Mid-2023: web agency for small businesses. Mid-2025: product studio with two apps in development. The pivot took time because showcase websites paid quickly but didn't build anything long-term.
The Context
I created Jungle Labs in mid-2023. Freelancing had given me autonomy, but I wanted to build my own products. Initially, I positioned myself in web development -- it's what I'd known since I was 13.
The Web Agency Phase
I've been building websites since I was 13 -- it was natural to start there. When I launched Jungle Labs, I positioned myself as a web agency. Framer, Webflow, custom development depending on the need. Word of mouth through entrepreneur friends brought me clients regularly.
The problem wasn't the tools or the quality. It was the market. Clients comparing you to Wix at 15 euros/month, budgets under 1,000 euros for work worth 5 to 10 times more.
I detailed this pivot in Why I stopped building showcase websites. The short version: wrong target, crushed margins, and a growing unease at being reduced to "the guy who makes websites" when my skills allowed for much more.
First lesson: positioning yourself on what you know how to do is not the same as positioning yourself on what sells. Websites were my first skill, but the real business was elsewhere.
The Pivot to Products
The decision built up gradually. Alongside my freelance work, I started developing my own apps. First Inner Gallery -- a local, encrypted photo vault for iOS. Then Coachy -- a strength training tracking app with Event Sourcing and AI.
Freelancing funds the transition. I work on client projects during the day, and develop my products evenings and weekends. The split is described in Building your products alongside freelance work.
This mode demands discipline, but it has one advantage: zero financial pressure on the products. I can take the time to do things right without chasing immediate revenue.
The Mistakes
Too Many Projects in Parallel
Early on, I had ideas for 5 different products. I started 3 of them. Result: none of them progressed fast enough to reach critical mass.
I learned to sequence. Inner Gallery first, Coachy second. One product at a time in active phase, the others on hold.
Underestimating Marketing
I spent 95% of my time coding, 5% on marketing. A classic developer mistake. An invisible product sells nothing, even if it's technically excellent.
Today I force a better balance. This blog is part of it -- sharing what I learn, making the studio visible, creating conversations.
Perfectionism on v1
Inner Gallery v1 took longer than necessary. I recoded the interface multiple times, optimized things nobody would notice. Scoping an MVP is an art in itself.
What Worked
Keeping Freelance as a Safety Net
Many founders make the mistake of dropping everything to focus on their product. Without stable income, the pressure turns every product decision into a survival decision. Freelancing gives me the freedom to make the right technical choices without compromise.
Choosing Stacks I Master
Inner Gallery runs on Swift/SwiftUI + CryptoKit + Foundation. Zero third-party dependencies. Coachy uses Flutter + NestJS + PostgreSQL. In both cases, I use technologies I know deeply. No time wasted learning a framework while building a product.
Documenting and Sharing
Writing about my technical choices brought me two things: clarity on my own decisions, and visibility. Freelance clients reach out after reading an article. Developers ask me questions about Coachy's architecture. Sharing creates a virtuous cycle.
The Honest Numbers
No product revenue yet -- Inner Gallery hasn't launched on the App Store, Coachy is in development. Freelancing represents 100% of my current income.
The time investment is real: about 10 hours/week on personal products for the past year. In euros, that's a significant opportunity cost. But it's an investment.
The goal hasn't changed since day 1: achieve financial independence through products. Freelancing is the means. Products remain the goal. Every passing month brings that tipping point closer.
What Comes Next
Inner Gallery: App Store submission planned soon. One-time purchase with packs and bundle.
Coachy: in development, TestFlight beta planned for the first half of the year. The AI Coach powered by Gemini will be the differentiator.
Freelance: still full-time for now. The long-term goal: scale down to part-time when the products generate enough.
Further reading:
- Solo studio: organization, tools, reality -- how I manage a one-person studio day to day
- Why I stopped building showcase websites -- the details of the agency-to-products pivot
- Building your products alongside freelance work -- the day-to-day split