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Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

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Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#21

Post by greatNespresso »

greatNespresso wrote: post #4

Interested in this also, in what industry are you working? Maybe we could brainstorm some issues together?

Haha sorry this comment was not useful to you folks, I just thought that this could be the logical next step to find great problems waiting to be solved. I really feel that getting an outsider view can help uncover issues that could be the starting point for great ideas. All other advices are also very good but it falls down to: find a problem and enough people sharing it so you can monetize a solution.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#22

Post by conviencefee999 »

jaclaz wrote: post #17
dewey wrote: post #5

I know this is usually not the best strategy for coming up with side projects but for me it's just always about solving my own problem. The downside is that I'm solving the problems mostly fellow nerds have that they usually want to solve themselve instead of paying someone to do it for them. What I'm trying to do more actively now is to always keep my eyes open at my day job and try to spot problems that are solved…

Not at all a critic of your idea/tool, but I am surprised (this probably shows how old I am getting) that there can be (many) people willing to spend 10 $/month for a weekly report of twitter bookmarks. Maybe people working in the media or that however somehow monetize their twitter use?

Sounds like the next feature idea for Twitter Blue or whatever it's called now. Usually it's why you don't make these kinds of services because the company can just make it's own iteration.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#23

Post by samsquire »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #20
samsquire wrote: post #13

Journal your ideas meticulously. Everyday, just get a README.md on GitHub in a private or public repository and journal ideas. You don't need advanced tools to journal or write. But the practice of writing is organised thinking and you should try think of things that you're good at. You'll improve your thinking. I do this everyday and I'm up to 700 ideas and 25 startup ideas. They're linked on my profile.

How many of those are money making? I can probably come up with 700 ideas in a day, but that's not what OP is asking.

I decide to share my ideas to add value. If you have any ideas to share I'll read them. I also publish ideas on halfbakery and infinity family.

Mathematics, computer science, business, civilization and society advances one idea at a time. You could be part of that too.

If you're expecting me to tell you how you should earn money then I'd tell you to do some work.

part of that work is coming up with ideas. I share mine. It takes effort.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#24

Post by jaclaz »

dewey wrote: post #18
jaclaz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all a critic of your idea/tool, but I am surprised (this probably shows how old I am getting) that there can be (many) people willing to spend 10 $/month for a weekly report of twitter bookmarks. Maybe people working in the media or that however somehow monetize their twitter use?

I understand what you are saying and I felt the same way. I think as a tech person you always undervalue your products as you see it as “something I could build in a weekend”, which is very different to how other people see it. There’s many Twitter tools in the same price range and the feedback from people I got is that they are happy to pay that.

I don't know, I don't even have (never had) a Twitter account, so I completely fail to see any particular utility in the whole stuff (I mean Twitter), but since everyone went on the barricades against the 7.99, no wait 11 if via Apple ;), blue mark/whatever recent idea I figured that Twitter users were philosophically against a paid for subscription.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#27

Post by plondon514 »

jaclaz wrote: post #24
dewey wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you are saying and I felt the same way. I think as a tech person you always undervalue your products as you see it as “something I could build in a weekend”, which is very different to how other people see it. There’s many Twitter tools in the same price range and the feedback from people I got is that they are happy to pay that.

I don't know, I don't even have (never had) a Twitter account, so I completely fail to see any particular utility in the whole stuff (I mean Twitter), but since everyone went on the barricades against the 7.99, no wait 11 if via Apple ;), blue mark/whatever recent idea I figured that Twitter users were philosophically against a paid for subscription.

You mostly hear about the people that are upset with things. Not those that are complicit.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#28

Post by samtho »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #20
samsquire wrote: post #13

Journal your ideas meticulously. Everyday, just get a README.md on GitHub in a private or public repository and journal ideas. You don't need advanced tools to journal or write. But the practice of writing is organised thinking and you should try think of things that you're good at. You'll improve your thinking. I do this everyday and I'm up to 700 ideas and 25 startup ideas. They're linked on my profile.

How many of those are money making? I can probably come up with 700 ideas in a day, but that's not what OP is asking.

All it takes is one to create a single side hustle.

The journaling of ideas is a good idea if you are taking the long view of this process. I have a paper day-planer/notebook that I carry with me and constantly list ideas, but only right as they appear. Certain types of ideas will only come to you in the moment when, at a place, or just thinking about stuff in a new way. It’s best to capture it as you have them.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#29

Post by strzibny »

I wrote a book on deployment.

You can check out my SHOW HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29540808

The idea came at the intersection on what I can write about and where I have credentials (since I didn't really have any audience).

The uniqueness of my book is that it shows everything without higher level tools.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#30

Post by dewey »

conviencefee999 wrote: post #22
jaclaz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all a critic of your idea/tool, but I am surprised (this probably shows how old I am getting) that there can be (many) people willing to spend 10 $/month for a weekly report of twitter bookmarks. Maybe people working in the media or that however somehow monetize their twitter use?

Sounds like the next feature idea for Twitter Blue or whatever it's called now. Usually it's why you don't make these kinds of services because the company can just make it's own iteration.

That’s always a risk with building on any platform. The benefit of building on them is the reach but it can also take away your selling point. In that case you usually have to double down on features that are too power user specific and unlikely to be added by the platform themselves. It’s always a double sided sword.
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