Volodymyr Pavlenko (@mindinpanic) is a 40-year-old Ukrainian solo developer based in Lisbon, building Skarbi, a calm gift-planning app for families, and sharing the messy version out loud. He is, by a distance, the most transparent builder in this directory. He posts his real analytics, diagnoses his own funnel in public, and does not dress up the numbers. That honesty is exactly what makes his account the clearest lesson here. This page is our independent read of how the account behaves, in numbers. He did not write it, and it is not something he can change by claiming a product.
His posting is low volume, roughly one a day, and it is a genuine mix. Some of it is good build-in-public: real product thinking about capturing gift ideas the moment someone mentions them, and honest metric dumps. Some of it goes viral, specifically a format where he shows two versions of a screen and asks which one looks more like "AI slop." Two of those pulled a few hundred thousand views each. The rest is filler. Then he lives in the replies, but not as a cold grinder: his are connect-culture, short answers to the endless "I'm a solo founder, let's connect" posts, and a thank-you to nearly everyone who engages. It is warm, and it is real. It has grown the account.
Here is where the site's question lands with unusual force, because he has already answered it in public. The reach does not convert. His own posts spell it out on a normal day: twelve pageviews, eleven from X, one click, zero installs, zero gift ideas created. Traffic to the landing page works. Landing to install does not. It would be easy to call that a landing-page problem, and he has spent real effort there, but the deeper issue is who the traffic is. Skarbi is a three-dollar-a-month app for families who buy gifts. The people his viral design posts and his connect-culture replies actually reach are other founders and designers, who will happily argue about a font and will never install a family wishlist app. Going viral in front of the wrong audience is impressions, not customers, and this is the cleanest example of it we have, precisely because he measured it and posted the receipts. The product is thoughtful. The channel does not reach the buyer. The plays get their own breakdown in the panel, and Skarbi is below.
On X
Based on his recent weeks, with reply volume measured over late Aug to Sept 17, 2026
Posting
1/ day
A real mix: genuine build-in-public updates with honest metrics, the occasional viral design-opinion post ('which looks more AI slop, 1 or 2?'), and random news filler. Low volume, about 1 a day lately.
Commenting
15/ day
Connect-culture networking: short replies to the 'I'm a solo founder, let's connect' trend and thank-yous to everyone who engages. Warm, human, and low-volume for this directory, around 15 a day.
- He goes viral now and then. Two 'which design is better' posts pulled about 245k and 418k views. The reach is real.
- But by his own posted metrics it does not convert: a typical day reads like '12 pageviews, 11 from X, 1 CTA click, 0 installs, 0 gift ideas created'. Traffic to landing works, landing to install does not.
- The mismatch is the audience. Skarbi is a $3-a-month app for gift-buying families. His X reach and his connect-culture network are almost entirely other founders and designers.
Our independent read of public activity, as of Sep 17, 2026. Not editable by the builder.