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I've found the #1 trick to finishing a side project is to build it out in the open by writing a blog (or podcast) about it and building up an audience who are i

I've found the #1 trick to finishing a side project is to build it out in the open by writing a blog (or podcast) about it and building up an audience who are interested in seeing you finish it as you go along. It also gives you an in built audience to launch with who will use it - rather than launching to a loud thud of silence - which sucks and feels like the long dark night of the soul.

antigirl 6y ago
Then you’ll just have a bunch of indie hackers following you. Not the actual customers? Real customers only care about your journey in hindsight. People want to know how Apple etc started, not many will care for journey of a new tech until it’s released.
- jv22222 6y ago
  That has not been my experience. I've always found that early adopters and innovators are very interested in being first customers and following your journey. It also depends on what side project you pick. So, there is some nuance for sure. [edit removed link]
- realusername 6y ago
  That's exactly the reason why the indiehackers website is going circles publishing products which are used within their own audience. If you are building something not targeting this demographic, that's not going to help you get more customers.
  - jv22222 6y ago
    I think that might be a generalization and likely provably not true (in the larger context of the site). https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenue https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenu...
    - realusername 6y ago
      You have to click a second time on the revenue for their sort to work but that's clearly what I had in mind when I was saying this. A lot of the highest revenue products (with a few exceptions of course, I'm not saying it's only that) on this website from this list are SAAS targeted at the startup world.
      - SenHeng 6y ago
        The good old 'sell shovels during the gold rush' trick.
  - jamil7 6y ago
    This was exactly my experience with my last side project, the standard PH, HN, indie hackers channels didn't work at all but niche subreddit communities worked really well. I now write updates about my progress in my projects own subreddit which has it's own followers.

antigirl 6y ago

Then you’ll just have a bunch of indie hackers following you. Not the actual customers? Real customers only care about your journey in hindsight. People want to know how Apple etc started, not many will care for journey of a new tech until it’s released.

jv22222 6y ago
That has not been my experience. I've always found that early adopters and innovators are very interested in being first customers and following your journey. It also depends on what side project you pick. So, there is some nuance for sure. [edit removed link]
realusername 6y ago
That's exactly the reason why the indiehackers website is going circles publishing products which are used within their own audience. If you are building something not targeting this demographic, that's not going to help you get more customers.
- jv22222 6y ago
  I think that might be a generalization and likely provably not true (in the larger context of the site). https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenue https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenu...
  - realusername 6y ago
    You have to click a second time on the revenue for their sort to work but that's clearly what I had in mind when I was saying this. A lot of the highest revenue products (with a few exceptions of course, I'm not saying it's only that) on this website from this list are SAAS targeted at the startup world.
    - SenHeng 6y ago
      The good old 'sell shovels during the gold rush' trick.
- jamil7 6y ago
  This was exactly my experience with my last side project, the standard PH, HN, indie hackers channels didn't work at all but niche subreddit communities worked really well. I now write updates about my progress in my projects own subreddit which has it's own followers.