I have a project that I'm trying to turn into a product. I got it from spotting a new tech in use in a restaurant, and applied it to another market. Fingers crossed, I'll have investment coming in around Christmas.
Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
41–50 of 130 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#42I never had to look for sideproject ideas. They are there all the time by the dozen. The time to start and finish them is usually what's missing.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#43This is a cliché but honest answer — I was using a similar tool and thought to myself “man, I could make something better than this.” I have this impulse a lot, and usually I stop myself from actually following through (there is always so much complication hiding below the surface!) but I kept coming back to it.
Eventually, I set a deadline for myself; I said if, six months later, I couldn’t scratch the itch to make something better (or at least find something better) than what I was using, then I’d start working on it.
The six months passed, and so it was born:
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#44I solved a problem that I had at work. I needed a tool to make interacting with HTTP APIs easier, and didn't like any of the existing ones, so I created Insomnia [ https://insomnia.rest/ ]. It took a weekend to build a proof of concept, then I released it to the public. As I improved it, the user base grew slowly. Then, a year later, I was able to quit my job to pursue it full-time. If you're curious, I have an Inter…
Insomnia is the best graphical HTTP client for me. I've been using it and recommending it since the HN announcement. At my previous workplace it sticked and now they also use it everyday. Props for a great product.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#45I have a bad habit of buying video games that I will probably never get around to playing, and I used to keep a list of those games in a spreadsheet in the order I wanted to play them. I decided to build https://www.grouvee.com to keep track of that list instead of the spreadsheet. Apparently there are quite a few other people that have this same issue!
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#46I missed turntable.fm and I found the current alternatives lacking so I built a better one: https://www.jqbx.fm if you're interested. IMO there's no shame in working on your own derivation of an existing idea (take FB as one example). Sometimes a tweak here or there can be the difference between a good idea and game-changing one. Also it gives you the chance to 'edit' an existing product which is both a fun and thoug…
this looks awesome!
thanks- appreciate it! Hopefully I'll see you on there ;)
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#47I started by scratching my own itch, made a really simple program, then released it for free. Some people started using it. But that wasn't the great idea.
What then happened is that a couple of those people found the contact form on my website, thanked me for my program, but also asked "Would you be kind enough and interested to write this [other program that automates a task I do often]." Those ideas are the ones that actually made money for me.
So make it really easy for people to contact you and talk about the problems they have. Give something away, to encourage those people to find you in the first place. And put contact forms everywhere, so even launching email or Twitter isn't an obstacle to contacting you.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#48I couldn't find a workout app that I liked. The ones I tried just didn't fit the flow-of-use I wanted. I just wanted something to track my weight lifting, and wanted it to be super simple. So, scratched the itch with Riker.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#49I always got the best side project ideas when I was working on some other random side project.
Once you start to work on an even mediocre side project, just wait and after few days you get so many new ideas coming out of the mediocre project.
So, the message is, just start working on any idea.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your great side project idea?
#50gather 10 ideas a week -> get feedback -> wait/think -> get feedback -> build only the ideas that are revenue probable + have customer demand.