The term is "build in public" not "talk about money in public". If you enjoy chatting about the esoteric details of building a useful thing then great. If you're mostly trying to attract customers and you don't enjoy it, then don't do it.
Does “building in public” work?
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Re: Does “building in public” work?
#82I really dislike that so much of hacker culture is $$ focused now. 1. Being a hacker means walking the world being constantly dissatisfied by all of the inefficiency you see on a daily basis and wanting to fix it. 2. Being a hacker means feeling like most of the software world is fraudulent and you are going to build a solution that actually works. 3. Being a hacker means building something because it is fun or cool.…
I definitely resonate with #1 and #3, but I got bills to pay. And some of the things I want to see in the world, well, they would require a lot of money.
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#83I really dislike that so much of hacker culture is $$ focused now. 1. Being a hacker means walking the world being constantly dissatisfied by all of the inefficiency you see on a daily basis and wanting to fix it. 2. Being a hacker means feeling like most of the software world is fraudulent and you are going to build a solution that actually works. 3. Being a hacker means building something because it is fun or cool.…
> Would you still build that app, because it solves an annoying real world problem even if you got paid $0? Assuming you’re talking about building an app for other people , I personally would not, no. The market is sending a clear signal that it values the app at zero dollars. In other words, they don’t want it. > If not then the problem you are solving is probably not important and a waste of your time anyway. This…
By that logic, isn't building a family something one should never do? There is no market to sell your family, so that must be a clear signal that your attention and energy should go elsewhere...?
I'm sure this analogy is a bit absurd (and I'd love to see it torn apart), but I hope it opens readers to the premise that some highly desirable and important emotional, intellectual and social objects should exist even when there is no market for some of their forms
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's another very large subgroup you're missing: the hackers that build things (even for $0) because they're fun/cool, not because they solve a specific annoying problem/inefficiency.
That’s not hacking, that’s called a hobby. Hacking is something that challenges social norms or might even get you in trouble.
Hacking, at it's very core, is the exploration and enjoyment of systems. Anything else beyond that raw definition is extra and varies.
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Would you still build that app, because it solves an annoying real world problem even if you got paid $0? Assuming you’re talking about building an app for other people , I personally would not, no. The market is sending a clear signal that it values the app at zero dollars. In other words, they don’t want it. > If not then the problem you are solving is probably not important and a waste of your time anyway. This…
By that logic, isn't building a family something one should never do? There is no market to sell your family, so that must be a clear signal that your attention and energy should go elsewhere...? I'm sure this analogy is a bit absurd (and I'd love to see it torn apart), but I hope it opens readers to the premise that some highly desirable and important emotional, intellectual and social objects should exist even when…
I don’t build my family for other people either.
Edit: I can’t tell if you’re willfully misreading what I wrote or just trying to be cute. At no point did I assert that nothing should be created without a market. But if you’re creating something for other people then those other people are, by definition, your market, and you should pay close attention to signs that they actually want what you’ve created (like a willingness to trade dollars or time or attention).
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#86Anecdotal, but it seems like all the people who “build in public” end up trapped by their chosen distribution strategy. What I mean by this is, if you’re building in public there’s a 99% chance you’re going to end up building products for other indiehackers who are interested in following people who build in public. This means you’re probably going to end up building yet another micro-Saas dev tool (Saas boilerplate,…
I've seen the other side of this, which is zero organic growth and enormous strain on founders to become salespeople and customer support for customers that perpetually keep your software in a trial period. Depending on where you want to allocate your resources that may or may not make sense compared to building in public.
That said, the bigger risk is building products for hobbyists/students/tourists because it won't have the ability to "cross the chasm" as you put it. At least with the hacker scene you have a few legit people to drive development forward.
Selling stuff and growing is hard.
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#87Anecdotal, but it seems like all the people who “build in public” end up trapped by their chosen distribution strategy. What I mean by this is, if you’re building in public there’s a 99% chance you’re going to end up building products for other indiehackers who are interested in following people who build in public. This means you’re probably going to end up building yet another micro-Saas dev tool (Saas boilerplate,…
> What I mean by this is, if you’re building in public there’s a 99% chance you’re going to end up building products for other indiehackers who are interested in following people who build in public. Sounds a bit like a variation on Conway's Law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_law
There must be some named law that states that the set of people you listen determine most of your thoughts. But it's something way wider in scope than Conway's Law.
There are some proverbs, because it's a very old observation. But there must be named laws too, because it's a very common observation.
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#88Anecdotal, but it seems like all the people who “build in public” end up trapped by their chosen distribution strategy. What I mean by this is, if you’re building in public there’s a 99% chance you’re going to end up building products for other indiehackers who are interested in following people who build in public. This means you’re probably going to end up building yet another micro-Saas dev tool (Saas boilerplate,…
What your basically saying is:
If you build a product for indiehackers, you’ll never be able to sell it beyond that initial target market.
I feel like that’s a bit like saying a Social Media platform built for college students won’t never go mainstream.
So I’m wondering: is there any product that started as indiehacker product and eventually ended up becoming a mass market product?
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
If no one will pay for the solution, the problem might not be that important.
Well, that pretty much rules out email, maps/navigation, messaging, and quite a bit more. Somehow, this suggests that perhaps your rubric needs amending.
Paid services for all of these things existed before some global monopoly with insane profits launched competing versions for free.
Re: Does “building in public” work?
#90I really dislike that so much of hacker culture is $$ focused now. 1. Being a hacker means walking the world being constantly dissatisfied by all of the inefficiency you see on a daily basis and wanting to fix it. 2. Being a hacker means feeling like most of the software world is fraudulent and you are going to build a solution that actually works. 3. Being a hacker means building something because it is fun or cool.…
There's another very large subgroup you're missing: the hackers that build things (even for $0) because they're fun/cool, not because they solve a specific annoying problem/inefficiency.
See for example: https://justforfunnoreally.dev/
Discussed on Hacker News here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33255920 and more recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41496725