Google is gonna kill my product? 100%.
When I was a kid, I loved to play this game:
Imagine being a kid, but also a foosball prodigy, constantly tinkering with new moves to surprise your opponents.
You spend hours practicing. The thrill of beating everyone increases.
But then, a fear creeps in – what if another player copies and improves your moves?
👉 This fear of being outpaced by others is a constant battle for many indie hackers.
I had this amazing idea, a better way to use Gemini, and I thought...why not make it into an extension, this would be perfect, it's like the perfect dogfooding experience.
Using Gemini to give Chrome users a better Chrome experience.
However, just like in foosball, I had this fear that releasing my idea would also be its demise. At any point tomorrow I expect Google Chrome to go and add the same feature (and better) natively to the browser..
Hold on, first let me tell you about Gemini Side Panel
Ever felt like you're constantly juggling between browser tabs while using AI? You write a line of JavaScript, switch to a reference doc, then jump back and forth comparing code snippets.
Or maybe you're trying to answer on LinkedIn?
👉 Click here and click there, open a tab start a prompt...
This context-switching can kill your productivity and slow down your entire development flow.
As indie hackers, like you and me, we understand the struggle of maximizing efficiency with limited resources.
That's where Gemini Side Panel comes in.
When is it a good idea, when is it a feature and when is it doomed?
It's hard to say when your idea is gonna be a business, or just a feature that some major player is gonna just implement.
One thing is for sure, when I released Gemini Side Panel on Product Hunt it got to #2
I am proud of this and no matter what happens, I had a good amount of fun making the trailer, hunting it, getting it to #2 and of course building it with good ol' JavaScript :)
I even made a trailer: https://youtu.be/dTsk_NtGFFM
If they're going to kill you it will either be by building it themselves or by acquiring you. Let's hope for the latter!
Yeah let's hope they gonna kill it gently
It sounds like you had a thrilling experience growing the Gemini Side Panel! It's understandable to have worries about competitors; however, your ardor and creativity shine through. Your success in achieving #2 on Product Hunt is something to be proud of, regardless of what takes place next. Keep up the proper work and experience the procedure of constructing and innovating.
Very simple but effective idea, I would advise you to enrich it with more features so google can't copy you entirely.
Just wanted ask, you have got 372 upvotes, did you create a mailing list or following that helped or it was pure organic from product hunt feed? or both?
I have a lot of friends on twitter that supported me, nothing else, just friends.
That's amazing! I can bet it took you a good amount of effort to make that following and friends. Well done! Do you have any tips for me if I want to launch in one month and need to create such a following and clout on Twitter?
Good question, I think you're not gonna be able in 1 month unless you create a twitter profile that is captivating, or your can try to join and engage in a pre built community like megamaker.co or similar
Great thoughts.
Thank you Joy
Edge/bing/ whatever the current name for Internet Explorer has made that with bing AI so...
nice, do u have a screenshot to share?
nvm found it : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/media/copilot/copilot-edge-sidebar-800x472.png