Side projects are better compared with other investments in your skills, such as taking classes. If you "need" them to go somewhere, you need to start on a com

Side projects are better compared with other investments in your skills, such as taking classes. If you "need" them to go somewhere, you need to start on a commercial path. Arguably, models like the App Store (while certainly flawed in many respects) do provide at least an option for hacking a project into a viable product without necessarily needing a full startup and investors, etc.