Make things people want and are willing to pay for.
Verify that.
Done.
The coding is the easy part in 2026.
Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
31–40 of 119 posts
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#32I used to think the same few months back about the process. But then I learnt that 80% of sales is marketing efforts and that too educational.
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#33[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#34It is “simple”
Find out what people want
Make it
Sell it to them
Unfortunately, engineer brain loves to skip step 1
Ive recently become friends with a younger person who makes a lot of money off vibe coded mini saas. He is fanatical about step 1. If he can’t find n people begging him to make it he will go validate the next idea. He’s ruthless with this aspect and will drop an idea instantly if people dont care. It really woke me up to the reality of it all. Made me realise how much i delude myself into making things people dont want because i enjoy the making process. I will at best half ass step 1 and the proceed to spend a few months hand crafting some software no one wants. Meanwhile he spends two months validating and one month vibe coding something that people would be embarrassed to post on HN and then sell 100usd/month subscriptions to it. Its crazy
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#35Personal story time: for me it was falling for the indie hacker stuff near covid and realizing the same stuff. The best solo business is to pretend you are successful i.e. "I'm sitting on the beach sipping my drink while Claude is coding my app that's raking in 20k MRR, just use my {SEO|Social Media|Referral} tool and that will be you!". Hope to get enough people suckered in to become a "voice in the bootstrapper com…
How are dealing with the fact that building is not important, more so with AI, and how do you get traction?
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#36I fell into the same trap of "build, and they will come" multiple times. Reading The Mom Test changed my perspective on things. I cannot recommend that book enough. Good luck. It's possible. I started my SaaS 8 yrs ago and it more than pays for my lifestyle.
I read the book. It’s more entertainment than useful. I just don’t know how to find the people who have problems. I don’t have specific domain knowledge nor I built a following / circle of people to whom I can sell
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#37It is “simple” Find out what people want Make it Sell it to them Unfortunately, engineer brain loves to skip step 1 Ive recently become friends with a younger person who makes a lot of money off vibe coded mini saas. He is fanatical about step 1. If he can’t find n people begging him to make it he will go validate the next idea. He’s ruthless with this aspect and will drop an idea instantly if people dont care. It re…
I just don’t understand how does it work. Like where do you find such people? How do you make them beg you? Isn’t building in a saturated market kind of proves that there is demand?
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#38I am in same boat as well. What I learned from my experience and others' experience after talking to them is that
1. You need to focus on the problems that really do exist and for which people might willing to pay for.
2. Marketing and Distribution skills are more Important than your Engineering skills.
3. Good Things take time, if your product is useful and good as well, then it is just a matter of time and marketing. Eventually it will gain traction, so don't loose hope.
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#39I've been working in software dilligence for 7 years now and have worked with 100+ companies getting purchased or raising late-stage investement as an assessor, so I've had the rare privilege of seeing the insides of a whole bunch of companies that are doing well (PE doesn't buy companies that aren't doing well). And if there's one conclusion I can draw from this its...
Your idea bloody well does matter.
The myth that "your idea doesn't matter, it's all about execution" is complete nonsense. Successful businesses are built by people who understand a problem domain well enough to see how to solve a problem that people will pay more for than it costs to solve the problem, where "costs to solve the problem" encompasses everything, especially all the non-functional requirements.
The world is full of failed software companies where no one thought through all the cost ramifications of getting and serving a customer and figured out whether their idea will fly as a long-term profitable business. And it's also full of complete crap software (or software that started out as crap and then improved) that makes founders lots of cash because the idea was actually something people want to pay for.
I will also say, yes it takes years for most of these companies.
Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?
#40I don't think it's impossible, but absolutely incredibly difficult. I tried everything.
Shopify stores, blogs (even owned a #1 tech blog), local job boards, global job boards, dating sites (which were shut down due to payment providers refusing to service these types of sites), various SaaS sites, etc.
Nothing made any real money. I don't know if it's just me - perhaps I'm just not meant to succeed here - but I'm still trying. Still building.
I think the biggest downer was when I built the coolest SaaS for martial arts academies. I thought it was guaranteed success, as I am involved in these communities, know a ton of owners. I reached out to all of them. Offered a free setup/trial. None of them cared, or even attempted to use it.
Likewise, I just built the coolest browser extension for chess players (in my opinion). I run a local chess club. Thought everyone would want to at least try it out. Maybe 2 users installed it. Lol.
I just stopped caring, and I look at it in a new way. Yeah, I may not have paying customers for projects, but I am expanding my portfolio. These are real assets that I own. The process is fun. Abandon the idea of making money, and it becomes more enjoyable.