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I also never ponder personal projects from a commercial standpoint. But I sure see that narrative here on HN frequently. I have to conclude that most people o
by gertlex 3y ago
I also never ponder personal projects from a commercial standpoint. But I sure see that narrative here on HN frequently.
I have to conclude that most people on HN talking about commercializing are doing purely software projects.
My projects very often include hardware. Commercializing hardware+software projects is hard... orders of magnitude harder than just software. That's probably a factor in why the idea of making money from wiring/soldering/dremeling/hacking things is so far from the forefront of my mind.
As for what's attractive... novelty and usability/street cred do seem to be my subconcious goals. "Street cred" or even just aspiring to have people use a software tool is certainly a form of non-profitable entrepreneurship.
- hyperthesis 3y agoHN began as startup news, and remains part of YC (news.ycombinator.com): commercialization bias.
- jfil 3y agoThat's right - remember that the prevailing opinion here is just "one way to be". You are allowed to do things just for fun.
- xmprt 3y agoStreet cred is a pretty big part of why anyone does anything. Money is one way to get that but having something that no one else does is even better in my opinion. I spent a few weeks making a custom version of a board game that I really enjoy and while I could never commercialize it (for copyright, trademark, and a whole slew of other intellectual property reasons), I think having it for myself makes it even more valuable.