HACKER Q&A
📣 skwee357

How do I start a profitable side project?


For more than a year now, I've been focusing on building side projects(s) in order to start generating enough income and quit my job.

And while I achieved a lot, I also, still, consider myself a failure. Some days are very tough on me mentally, and today is one of these days. Hence, I'm looking for advice.

I consider myself a good web developer and can build a good website. I have some ideas for projects. Some of them are web, others are desktop/mobile application. But I can't seem to find the formula on how to get successful with my projects and start generating revenue.

I know it's possible because other people online claim to have done it. I'm not looking to build the next Facebook, or start a company. I just want to build small, useable software and generate enough income from it to quit my job and focus fully on the side projects.

And I'm sort of lost, as I don't know what to do. Some projects are too complicated that it would take years (given the free time I can dedicate) in order to build them. Others are too niche, merely a tool for myself and not a viable business idea. And some are in tech stacks and technologies I'm not proficient, like Desktop/Mobile. I'm not afraid of trying new stacks, but I think it slows the development a lot.

From people who are able to sustain their lifestyle with income from side projects, what advice would you give someone like me?


  👤 TonyHaenn Accepted Answer ✓
I think the software is the easy part (and that's still hard). The harder part is finding a problem that people will pay you to solve. I'd suggest for each of your ideas, you try to validate that there's a group of people that you can reliably find and talk to (marketing) about the problem they have. Only build something once you have confidence you can sell it.

I like the book the Mom Test. Easy read, and gives some really practical tips on how to talk to people about their problems. Focus on the problem first and wait to build something until later.


👤 cranberryturkey
marketing and sales is the hard part. building software is easy.