I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

Post by cpursley » Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 1:26 AM UTC

andoando wrote: post #82

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #29

> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. At least you're actually doing the "I code for 3 all-nighters" step! I've stopped too many projects at the "I buy a domain name" stage, and added an intermediate "I create a Trello board" step between that and starting to write code. No need to pull all-nighters, which are hard to do with family and a full-time job, if all I need to…

Im the same way. I wish I was rich enough to hire like 10 developers and assign them to all the different projects I have in mind.

Post by cpursley » Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 1:27 AM UTC

LanceH wrote: post #21

jonplackett wrote: post #7

I have now reached the point where I won’t buy the domain name until I get a prototype ready. I’ve only bought one domain name since then and got the project out! I think the domain name is your reward for finishing your minimum viable product.

I think of this as the "garage band problem". Imagine a bunch of teens deciding to make a band. They come up with a name, make t-shirts, even get the cover for the bass drum -- but how much did they actually play? Personally, I'll snag a domain if it's really good -- like one word or a proper combo of words, spellable, etc... I won't set it to renew, though.

Post by donatj » Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 1:32 AM UTC

baduiux wrote: post #113

donatj wrote: post #25

I created a rule almost ten years ago that I won't buy the domain until I actually have something to host, and it's done me reasonably well. I however have a similar but more expensive problem, I develop side projects to an MVP and leave them up for literal decades with no one but myself using them, paying for the domain and hosting. I can't let things go. I rewrote a number of things in Go recently so they could sca…

As many pointed out: you could simply use subdomains for all the services that you use for yourself only.

Post by yen223 » Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 1:53 AM UTC

cs02rm0 wrote: post #104

yomismoaqui wrote: post #57

The trick is just buying 1 domain and putting every project on a different subdomain. Apart from this I see myself represented in this post.

You can do that for the odd small tool, but you can't launch GreatNewThing™ without having it's own full domain! Except it never gets any users. I suppose the plus side to spending months rather than days on projects that never go anywhere is I have fewer domains. Only 7 here. Sigh .

Post by abrookewood » Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 2:28 AM UTC

slackpad wrote: post #100

I ended up using one of my more generic domains ( https://www.modulecollective.com/ ) and then launching things as .modulecollective.com. It's a little wordy but it's free and creates kind of a natural place to catalog things. I figure if any of them take off then I can go buy a better name later and move it over, having the old one redirect. That would be a good problem to have :-) That particular domain was going t…