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I spent two years launching tiny projects

tinyprojects.dev

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Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#41

Post by TameAntelope »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #11

One thing I would have loved to read about is more about how they did market validation for these ideas. For a micro-bet strategy knowing which one (outside of really interesting projects that would trend on HN), it feels like market validation chops would be crucial. The author seems to be batting an insanely high average for just building things and having them actually get some traction, and be exit-able. > When I…

The whole point, I would imagine, is to not do very much market validation, and to just build the tiny project.

If it does fit or is close to fitting, great! If it doesn't fit, oh well, not much is lost (after all, it is a tiny project).

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#43

Post by reducesuffering »

drieddust wrote: post #22

While I want to execute the idea I am always put off by the essential administrative stuff such as user management, payment gateway linking, subscription management. Are there any open source plug and play options available out there which can take away this tedious but important work?

There are templates like SaaSPegasus for Django (costs $) that will do all of those for you. I'm sure there are open source ones of various quality.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#44

Post by TameAntelope »

l5870uoo9y wrote: post #3

Properly want to vet ideas a bit before executing.

Bad idea, for a bunch of reasons, the largest being the fact that your "vetting" process is at best a very rough facsimile of reality.

Quick, iterative feedback is by far a superior approach when attempting to understand how to build a successful product.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#45

Post by moffkalast »

munro wrote: post #25

> Previously I'd used this code to buy facebook.网站, only for Marky Z to snatch it back from me. Cheeky bugger. LMAO. The emoji emails is really cool though. [1] [1] https://tinyprojects.dev/projects/mailoji

I find it kind of hilarious how many domain names have been bought during these projects, renewing all that must be a full time job.

Suppose he'll just make a tinydomainmanager.com or something.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#46

Post by marban »

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#47

Post by giarc »

lancesells wrote: post #14
toto444 wrote: post #4

That was actually a pleasant read. I especially like the conclusion to which I can relate. > If you're stuck for ideas, I recommend just building something; anything; even if it's terrible, and I guarantee a better idea will pop into your brain shortly after. I have been working on a long project for a few years now and it will not be finished before another few years and I envy the speed at which the author gets fee…

That conclusion is really applicable to just about everything. Want to start woodworking? Start building something. Want to become a runner? Start running. Want to be a musician? Start making some songs. A lot of the initial tries will be terrible but it only gets better from there.

When I lived in an apartment building, a guy in the next building decided he wanted to learn to play the saxophone and practiced on his balcony everyday. I hate the advice "just start playing" :)

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#48

Post by moffkalast »

strbean wrote: post #26
dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

Maybe you should start a tiny project called TinyTaxes to handle simple tax filing for such unprofitable tiny projects!

And then TurboTax sues you into the ground.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#49

Post by bemmu »

mNovak wrote: post #39

I've been following these, and it seems like such a fun thing to do. He seems to have been lucky that he caught on to his real product on day 1 -- semi-viral blog posts. Still I imagine it's hard for most people to go 2 years on a few thousand of sporadic revenue.

I basically launch tiny projects full time, and have noticed that these have a power law to them. He'll mostly hit $0, with some occasional mid-hits as he has listed, but if he keeps at it I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the later projects make 10x as much as the best one now.
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