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Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

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Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#151

Post by zipppy »

ryandrake wrote: post #138

Surprised this has not been mentioned yet: Make sure your current employer is cool with side projects and moonlighting. Very few companies I've worked for are OK with it, even if done completely with personal equipment/time. You don't want to build the next Facebook in your free time and get fired over it or have your current employer claim IP ownership of it.

This is good advice; do you think most companies are against side projects, or is it just unlucky that you've worked for so few that are okay with it?

I guess it would surprise/disappoint me if the majority of companies disallow programming on the side.

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#152

Post by snarf21 »

Touche wrote: post #135
snarf21 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you that time is the big limiting factor. I think the other trap that people fall into is starting a side project that is too big. If you can't finish it in less than 2 months, odds are that you never will. Focus on something specific enough that it does something after two months. Then do v2.0 or switch to a new project. I've personally found the "don't spend money" part to be demotivating. I have sever…

I disagree with "2 months". It's definitely true that launching early is the way to go. I think the biggest thing is continuing momentum. If you commit to working on the project every day for 1-2 like some others have said, you will accomplish small little things each day, and that will motivate you to continue.

Yeah, I wasn't implying that you should have to "launch" anything by two months. Picking something small enough is important so you can say that part is "done". You can then iterate on v2 and keep building momentum or decide that it is too big or not interesting and start again with something else. I think the momentum of 2 hours a day is great but I think it has to have a goal. I think picking a goal that is 2 months out is a good size and will help you focus.

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#153

Post by xapata »

theparanoid wrote: post #27
xapata wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, with a good idea, the rest is just "a simple matter of implementation."

Look at YCombinator startups, most fail to come up with a product that people will actually pay money for.

Maybe it was the right product, but the implementation was shoddy. We'll never know.

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#155

Post by danielsamuels »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #141
simonbarker87 wrote: post #130

My side projects always come from personal needs, in each case I built it to solve my own problem before turning it in to a full product (summaries below). If you are going in with the sole intention of making money then make sure you know that there is a need for what you want to make and that you can get your project in front of people. You don't need to use the latest and greatest tech, in fact, I would urge you d…

Thanks to the person who highlighted a typo on taptimer.com and sent in the contact form about it - no email address supplied so I'm thanking them here.

Not sure if it was the "Beautifull", but it doesn't need two 'L's

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#156

Post by TheCoelacanth »

amelius wrote: post #85

If thousands of engineers are looking for something to build that others will pay for (but can't find it), then that tells me there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the economy works. Shouldn't it be the other way around? People who have a certain need express it, and engineers just pick one and work on it.

That does happen. It's called a job.

Someone asking this question is trying to start a business; not just looking for work as an engineer.

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#157

Post by danielsamuels »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #149
tixocloud wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Radfan looks pretty ingenious and actually I could see a lot of use for it at my alma mater's dorms as they are all using radiators. Great idea.. Let me know if you need help pushing/promoting it in Canada.

Thanks, once we've got Europe sorted we'll branch out to the last remaining countries that use steel panel radiators (turns out most countries don't pump hot water around their houses!).

> (turns out most countries don't pump hot water around their houses!)

At the risk of sounding ignorant, what's the alternative that other countries use? Simply electricity?

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#158

Post by danielsamuels »

averagewall wrote: post #51

I've made a Windows GUI for a powerful command line open source application that was for Linux. It makes a few thousands dollars a month. It did take many years of part time programming along with user feedback to get to that stage though. Desktop and Windows might seem like a dying market but that's what people use at work and those are the people who can pay for things.

May I ask what it was?

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#159

Post by llorensj28 »

Definitely build something you personally need. Try to see what you can do without building a product. For example, site for a service that could eventually become a product in the future, but allows you to validate early on and figure out a business model prior to touching any code.

Re: Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

#160

Post by gsylvie »

amelius wrote: post #83
gsylvie wrote: post #36

Here's what I did: at work I needed something. (A git commit graph). But the one I found was #1. buggy, and #2. too expensive. It wasn't my money, but I just couldn't allow my company to pay that much. So I made my own, and fixed the bug: http://bit-booster.com/best.html And then I realized I needed a rebase button on the pull-request screen... and so it continues to evolve. Here's the thing: I've always known I'm a…

I have the strong feeling that there isn't much money in software tooling. Also, like it or not, any successful product will eventually be replaced by an open-source equivalent.

Yes, software tooling is not a huge market compared to say, JIRA. My add-on is 287th place for sales in the last 30 days ($2800). Most of the add-ons ahead of me are for JIRA or Confluence: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/addons/top-selling

Successful tooling often faces competition from open source. But I'm still using IntelliJ...

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